"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

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!