Diversify your bookshelf!

Books are a wonderful way to communicate so many important messages to children. Having one or two books can make a difference, but there is a risk of those books becoming tokenistic. The benefits of a diverse bookshelf are wide ranging, from allowing the children in your class to see themselves and their families represented, to allowing you to embed different cultural perspectives across many subjects through quality literature.

There are lots of people doing great work in this area, like @diverse_kids_books @inclusivestorytime and @hereweread on instagram. Many of the new additions to my bookshelf have come through recommendations from these pages.

The other important benefit of having a diverse bookshelf, rather than one or two texts, is that differences become normalised.

Eyes that Kiss in the Corners - Joannah Ho

This gorgeous book is told by a young girl who notices that her eyes are different to some of the others in her class, but that they are just like the eyes of her little sister, her mother and her grandmother and that this is a beautiful thing.

One great discussion around this book is that it is important to notice differences, but that these differences are what make us unique, that different doesn’t mean bad (or as another great book says, All Bodies are Good Bodies!).

Crabbing with Dad - Paul Sedden

This is a fun book about two children talking about how much they love going out on the boat with their dad, and is a great way to talk about the importance of connecting to Country for First Nations Australians.

Your Name is a Song - Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow

This book is a new but very welcome addition to my classroom bookshelf. Most classrooms are filled with a wonderful variety of names and some of these can be tricky for teachers and other children to get right at first. It is so important that we take the time to learn how to correctly pronounce the names of all the children in our class without encouraging them to shorten their names or take alternative names. Some children want to do this, which is entirely their choice, but after asking a couple of children in my class who have been known by shortened names the last few years what they would prefer, they all asked to be called by their full name.

Picture books are also wonderful ways to explore cultural celebrations with your class. I don’t feel comfortable talking about the importance of cultural celebrations that I am not familiar with, so being able to reach for a book written by someone who is part of that culture is wonderful. It is so important to allow children to share their experiences, but equally important not to expect this, or to ask them to speak for their whole community.

The Nian Monster - Andrea Wang

The observation of Lunar New Year is a big part of many school communities. This sweet book tells the story of the Nian Monster and also includes some Author’s Notes at the back to further explain elements of the story.

Festival of Colours - Kabir and Surishtha Sehgal

This bright book is a great introduction to the Indian festival of Holi and tells the story of two siblings preparing for this festival.

The DK Life like Mine series is outstanding. There are a number of books in this series covering Celebrations, Faith, Food, and Schooling, and one of the things that I love the most is that the stories are all based on real children and often written in their own words.

What are your favourite diverse or culturally inclusive books? Share in the comments below so we can all find some new inspiration for our bookshelves!