40 Diverse Book Recommendations | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Entertainment

40 Diverse Book Recommendations

"We Need Diverse Books" is an organization that strives to put diverse books into the hands of young minds.

90
40 Diverse Book Recommendations
Susan P Baker

"We Need Diverse Books" is an organization that recognizes the importance of diverse reading materials for children and young adults. Representation matters and the more well rounded a child's reading is, the more likely they are to grow into a compassionate adult. For any and all diverse readers, seeing someone similar in a book gives the confidence needed to become successful. Finding diversity in books is important to me as an educator and I can always use more educating myself. So I compiled a list (it may seem long but there are so so so many I had to leave out for the sake of brevity) of my favorite diverse books in several categories. This is by no means exhaustive; these are simply books that I have been able to read so far or of which I have heard excellent reviews. Check out the AMAZING work of "We Need Diverse Books (TM)" to become better educated on books with diverse characters.

Books About People with Physical or Learning Disabilities:

1. Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant- Daniel Tammet

2. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime - Mark Haddon

3. Rules- Cynthia Lord

4. Laughing at My Nightmare- Shane Burcaw

5. The Christmasaurus- Tom Fletcher

6. Out of My Mind- Sharon M. Draper

7. When Mr. Dog Bites- Brian Conaghan

8. Old Before My Time: Hayley Okines' Life with Progeria- Hayley and Kerry Okines

9. El Deafo- Cece Bell, David Lasky (Colorist)

10. Wonderstruck- Brian Selznick

11. A Blind Guide to Normal- Beth Vrabel

12. Fish in a Tree- Lynda Mullaly Hunt

13. Wonder- R.J. Palacio

14. Ugly- Robert Hoge

15. This Star Won't Go Out: The Life and Words of Esther Grace Earl- Esther Earl, Lori and Wayne Earl


Books with Persons of Color as Protagonists

1. The Devil's Arithmetic- Jane Yolen

2. Night- Elie Wiesel

3. Farewell to Manzanar- Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston

4. The Name Jar- Yangsook Choi

5. Nine, Ten- Nora Raleigh Baskin

6. Dare to Disappoint: Growing Up in Turkey- Ozge Samanci

7. Before We Were Free- Julia Alvarez

8. Serafina's Promise- Ann E. Burg

9. Bintou's Braids- Sylviane A. Diouf

10. The Red Pencil- Andrea Davis Pinkney

11. Ms. Marvel series- G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona (Artist)

12. Kid President's Guide to Being Awesome- Robby Novak and Brad Montague

13. Hidden Figures- Margot Lee Shetterly

14. Zapato Power: Freddie Ramos Takes Off- Jacqueline Jules

15.The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian- Sherman Alexie

Books with LGBTQ+ Themes

1. George- Alex Gino

2. Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda- Becky Albertalli

3. Honor Girl- Maggie Thrash

4. 10,000 Dresses- Marcus Ewert

5. None of the Above- I.W. Gregorio

Books with Fierce Female Leads

1. The Princess in Black- Shannon and Dean Hale

2. Ruby Redfort series- Lauren Child

3. Rosie Revere, Engineer- Andrea Beaty

4. Ada Twist, Scientist- Andrea Beaty

5. Nick and Tesla series- Bob Pflugfelder, Steve Hockensmith


I hope this list has put some books in your to-read pile! Any suggestions are welcome!

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
Entertainment

Iconic Duos: Timeless Legends

From Luke and Leia to Beyonce's twins...

774423
Luke and Leia from Star Wars, a iconic duo
Lucasfilm

“Name a more iconic duo... I'll wait." OK, well, if you insist. In no particular order, here's a list of 100 iconic duos that seem to be timeless.

SEE MORE: This Is The ICONIC Disney Sidekick You Are To Your BFF, According To Your Zodiac Sign

Keep Reading...Show less
Entertainment

College Life: As Told By Bob's Burgers

If there's anyone who understand the struggles of college, it's the Belcher family

515
Bob's Burgers

College is a time of gaining independence, exploring new things, and copious amounts of Netflix. If you're like me, you often find yourself laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of the situations you find yourself in. Here are ten times Bob's Burgers accurately captured college life.

1. What you're pretty sure your upstairs neighbors do at 3am every morning.

Keep Reading...Show less
Student Life

Why Theater Kids Are the Greatest People Ever

Supportive and spontaneous human beings are the best.

394
Theater Kids

Throughout school, the theater department has always been my go-to place with go-to people when I need advice, a dance party, or just someone to listen to me vent.

You never know what's going to happen when you're dealing with theatre or what kind of characters you'll encounter. We have too much fun doing anything! One time in my senior year acting class, we spent an entire class period watching Bob's Burgers, and it was the greatest class period ever.

Keep Reading...Show less
Gilmore Girls
Hypable

In honor of Mother’s Day, I have been thinking of all the things my mom does for my family and me. Although I couldn’t write nearly all of them, here are a few things that moms do for us.

They find that shirt that’s right in front of you, but just you can’t seem to find.

Keep Reading...Show less
Relationships

10 Reasons To Thank Your Best Friend

Take the time to thank that one friend in your life you will never let go of.

7205
Thank You on wooden blocks

1. Thank you for being the one I can always count on to be honest.

A true friend will tell you if the shirt is ugly, or at least ask to borrow it and "accidentally" burn it.

2. Thank you for accepting me for who I am.

A best friend will love you regardless of the stale french fries you left on the floor of your car, or when you had lice in 8th grade and no one wanted to talk to you.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments