Best Children’s Books about Diversity

Learn about all kinds of kids, one for each letter A through Z. Simple words and joyful illustrations show all the things that make each child unique, and also just like every kid you know.

This box set includes fives titles: Families, Hair, On-the-Go, How We Eat and Celebrations, each book celebrating the diversity found across the world in the way our families look, the hair we have, how we move, how and what we eat and what we celebrate.

At first, Musa thinks his classmates are too different from him to be his friends. They all celebrate different holidays, eat different foods and come from very different cultures. But the more they share about themselves, the more they realize they really can be best friends.

This book is a celebration of all the different ways human bodies can look, including shape, size, skin tone and hair type. With engaging illustrations and simple language, it encourages a love-your-body mindset and instills confidence and acceptance.

Whether your hair is fluffy or sleek, whether you’re tall or short, whether you wear braces, whether you have prosthetics, one thing is for sure: lovely is different, weird and wonderful, and we are all lovely!

IntersectionAllies is a beautifully illustrated primer to intersectional feminism told through the stories of nine characters who advocate and support each other and show what it really means to be allies.

Dreamers tells the stories of immigrants and the many gifts and strengths they bring to the new places they call home. It’s a celebration of the inner strength it takes to navigate unfamiliar territory, make mistakes and find your own way, as told through poetic text and vivid illustrations.

When Charley meets Emma, a girl with limb differences, he doesn’t know what to think. But after getting to know Emma, he realizes that different doesn’t mean weird, bad, sad or strange, it just means different. This book encourages kindness and respect for all, regardless of what we look like.

Riley loves wearing all kinds of different clothes, and their creative self-expression isn’t limited by gender. When other kids ask if Riley is a boy or a girl, they quickly realize that it doesn’t matter—a friend is a friend. What Riley Wore celebrates diversity in self-expression and encourages children to see beyond the gender of clothing.

There are so many different kinds of families in the world! Families with two dads, or one mom, or one mom and one dad. There are families with grandparents or aunts and uncles instead, families with siblings or only one child or families who aren’t related by blood but who love each other just the same.

This sweet poem is all about accepting others and being there for them no matter what they look like, where they’re from, how they get around or how old they are.

With vivid images of just how different everyone in the world is, All People Are Beautiful illustrates the color and joy of a diverse global community, and imagines how boring things would be if everyone was the same. All people are colorful and unique in their own way, and all people are beautiful and worth celebrating.

No matter how many people need shelter, no matter who they are, this umbrella is always big enough. In a charming metaphor for equality and acceptance, The Big Umbrella encourages children to make space for everyone, no matter what.