Diversity Resources
Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Children’s Books
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The Children's Peace Education project is a home and classroom curriculum for young children and is also a library of specially selected books to teach peacemaking with young children between one and six years of age.
Lectorum has more than 25,000 titles of Spanish-language books for adults and children. They are the exclusive U.S. distributor of children’s books by world-class publishing companies including: Anaya, Bruño, Corimbo, Edebé, Edilupa, Ekaré, Entrelibros, Everest, Fondo de Cultura Económica, Global, ING Editores, La Galera, Juventud, Kalandraka, Kókinos, Litexsa, Lóguez, Melhoramentos, Molino, Noguer, Serres, and Tandem. Lectorum is also the sole distributor of the Harry Potter series in Spanish in the U.S and Puerto Rico.
Lee & Low Books is an independent children’s book publisher specializing in multicultural themes. Its goal is to meet the need for stories that children of color can identify with and that all children can enjoy. Lee & Low makes a special effort to work with artists of color, and takes pride in nurturing many authors and illustrators who are new to the world of children’s book publishing. Lee & Low Books has published over 200 titles in hardcover, paperback, lift-the-flap, and board book formats. Many of their titles are translated into Spanish.
Kane Miller Books
Kane Miller is a very small, specialized, independent publishing company. The web site states: “We believe that children’s books should comfort and challenge, that they should awaken the imagination and the conscience. We publish books we think are important to bring to American children. We truly believe in bringing the world closer to a child and the children of the world closer to each other. We want books that capture life’s and lives experiences and present them in a way that will make children say both ‘wow, that’s just like me’ and also ‘wow, that’s different.’ “We search the world for books that through great stories and arresting illustrations enrich the lives and the imaginations of the children who read them. American children need to learn not just about the United States, but about the world. They need to know that they can share adventures, and fantasies and dreams. Because our children will not simply be citizens of their own countries, they truly will be citizens of the world.” Kane Miller offers children’s books written by authors from around the world as well as books in Spanish.
Bilingual Books for Kids, Inc.
Bilingual Books for Kids, Inc. offers children’s books written with Spanish and English appearing side by side. They also offer language-learning tapes and games. From the Web site: “We have carefully selected these books, language-learning tapes, and games for their educational value, engaging prose, delightful illustrations and for depicting multicultural images in an affirmative manner.”
The Book Vine is a distributor of hand-picked, high quality books for infants, toddlers, and preschool children. They offer book collections on a variety of topics, including multi-cultural books, bilingual books in Spanish and English, and books in Spanish.
Language Lizard
From the Web site: “Our dual-language books, CDs and posters are offered in over 40 languages, including both popular and less commonly taught languages. The stories are innovative and creative while teaching children about other cultures and traditions. The beautiful illustrations in the books and posters celebrate the diversity in our communities. Our products have been consistently well reviewed in respected review publications and have won prestigious awards.”
Milet is an independent publisher of books for children, young adults and adults. Milet publishes a large range of bilingual children’s books, featuring more than 300 titles in English with over 25 languages. Milet also publishes a line of picture dictionaries and flashcards, in English and bilingual; an award-winning collection of artistic children's books in English; a celebrated series of multicultural young fiction; a contemporary range of language learning books; a World Literature list; and a line of Turkish-English dictionaries and phrasebooks.
Star Bright Books is a publisher of multicultural, bilingual, and foreign language books for children. They publish books in 16 languages - some are bilingual, some are single language.
From the Web site: “Oyate is a Native organization working to see that our lives and histories are portrayed honestly, and so that all people will know our stories belong to us. For Indian children, it is as important as it has ever been for them to know who they are and what they come from. For all children, it is time to know and acknowledge the truths of history. Only then will they come to have the understanding and respect for each other that now, more than ever, will be necessary for life to continue. “Our work includes critical evaluation of books and curricula with Indian themes, conducting of ‘Teaching Respect for Native Peoples’ workshops and institutes; administration of a small resource center and reference library; and distribution of children’s, young adult, and teacher books and materials, with an emphasis on writing and illustration by Native people.” The list of books in the “preschool and up” category include books written in English as well as bilingual books that combine English with Native languages such as Cree, Diné, Dene, Ojibwe, and Lakota. The web site also includes a link to a page titled “Books to avoid.” Each “book to avoid” has a link to an essay that talks about why there are problems with the book. The essays are written by Native people. Their children's books are organized by reading level.
Colours of Us
Colours of Us was founded by a social worker and adoptive mom who struggled to find multiracial children’s books for her daughters. Svenja initially began cataloging books just for her family, but quickly learned that other parents of transracial adoption and parents of color were struggling to find similar resources. She launched Colours of Us to highlight multicultural children’s books that reflect the diversity of our world in an empowering and non-stereotypical way. On the site, you will find books organized by topic, ethnicity, and age.