BOOK LIST:

Talking About Race: Children and Tween Reads

Updated: December 19, 2023

Book cover for Can I touch your hair? : poems of race, mistakes, and friendship
Can I touch your hair? : poems of race, mistakes, and friendship
Latham, Irene
Call Number: x 811 L352-3

Book cover for Chocolate me!
Chocolate me!
Diggs, Taye.
Call Number: xz

Book cover for The colors of us
The colors of us
Katz, Karen
Call Number: xz

Grades pre-K - 2

Seven-year-old Lena and her mother observe the variations in the color of their friends' skin, viewed in terms of foods and things found in nature.

Book cover for The Day You Begin
The Day You Begin
Woodson, Jacqueline
Call Number: xz

Woodson’s lyrical text and Lopez’s vibrant illustrations work in tandem to create a sense of empathy and understanding between characters who feel outcast because of their different backgrounds and experiences. The day we are brave enough to acknowledge and embrace what makes us different, we can begin to connect to the shared humanity of others.—K - Grade 3


Book cover for Don't touch my hair!
Don't touch my hair!
Miller, Sharee (Illustrator)
Call Number: xz

Book cover for Hands Up!
Hands Up!
McDaniel, Breanna J.
Call Number: xz

Book cover for Happy in our skin
Happy in our skin
Manushkin, Fran
Call Number: xz

Book cover for Honeysmoke : a story of finding your color
Honeysmoke : a story of finding your color
Fields, Monique
Call Number: xz

Book cover for I am enough
I am enough
Byers, Grace
Call Number: AE xz

Book cover for Let's talk about race
Let's talk about race
Lester, Julius
Call Number: x 323.1 L642

Book cover for Magnificent Homespun Brown: A Celebration
Magnificent Homespun Brown: A Celebration
Doyon, Samara Cole
Call Number: xz

Book cover for Mixed me!
Mixed me!
Diggs, Taye
Call Number: xz

Book cover for New Kid
New Kid
Craft, Jerry
Call Number: 740.9999 C885

Middle schooler Jordan Banks had hoped to attend art school, but mom sends him to a private prep school where he is one of a handful of black kids. No one at Riverdale Academy Day School is openly hostile towards him for his race, but he deals with a series of microaggressions, like being called the name of another black student, or everyone looking at him when the teacher is discussing students on financial aid. Craft mixes humor with heart in this hilarious yet thoughtful graphic novel.


Book cover for Not my idea : a book about whiteness
Not my idea : a book about whiteness
Higginbotham, Anastasia
Call Number: x 323.1 H635

Book cover for One Crazy Summer
One Crazy Summer
Williams-Garcia, Rita
Call Number: x

Grades 4-8. During the summer of 1968, eleven-year-old Delphine and her two younger sisters travel to Oakland, California to visit their mother, who abandoned them as babies. While there, they reluctantly spend time at a summer camp run by the Black Panthers.


Book cover of Our skin : a first conversation about race
Our Skin: A First Conversation About Race
Madison, Megan
Call Number: x 305 M182 2021

Book cover for Racism and intolerance
Racism and intolerance
Spilsbury, Louise
Call Number: x 323.1 S756

Book cover for Shades of people
Shades of people
Rotner, Shelley
Call Number: xz

Book cover for Skin again
Skin again
hooks, bell
Call Number: xz Ed.a

Book cover for Sulwe
Sulwe
Nyong'o, Lupita
Call Number: xz

Book cover for This book is anti-racist
This book is anti-racist
Jewell, Tiffany
Call Number: 323.1 J59

Book cover for The Undefeated
The Undefeated
Alexander, Kwame
Call Number: x 811 A376-1

Book cover for What's the difference? : being different is amazing
What's the difference? : being different is amazing
Richards, Doyin
Call Number: xz

Book cover for Why am I me?
Why am I me?
Britt, Paige
Call Number: xz

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