A close friend of mine has spent years looking for and cataloging diverse children’s books.
When she shared the list I was overwhelmed by it. I asked her permission to share it here because it’s the best list I’ve seen to date on the topic. Hopefully some of you find as much in this list as I did. While the list below is all linking directly to Amazon, I’d strongly encourage you to find a title you like and do your best to shop local. You can search for a local bookstore here – https://bookshop.org/pages/store_locator.
- Geraldine the Music Mouse, Lionni
- Maple, Nichols
- Maple and Willow Together, Nichols
- The Two Mutch Sisters, Brendler
- Can I Eat That?, Stein
- What’s Cooking?, Stein
- The Five Forms, McClintock
- The House in the Night, Swanson
- Kitten’s First Full Moon, Henkes
- One Day a Dot, Lendler
- Blue Ethel, Reinhardt
- Bubbles, Kit Chase
- Maybelle, Burton
- Katy and the Big Snow, Burton
- The Little House, Burton
- Accident!, Tsurumi
- Crab Cake, Tsurumi
- Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match, Brown
- Little Red Writing, Holub
- Sky Color, Reynolds
- The Dot, Reynolds
- How the Crayons Saved the Rainbow, Sweeney
- A Hat for Mrs. Goldman, Edwards
- Journey, Becker
- Secret Tree Fort, Farley
- Miffy books, various
- Maisy books, Cousins
- Chirri & Chirra books, Doi
- Dim Sum for Everyone, Lin
- Over in the Ocean in a Coral Reef, Berkes
- Officer Buckle and Gloria, Rathman
- Love, Z, Sima
- My Heart is a Compass, Marcero
- Stop That Yawn, Levis
- Stardust, Willis
- Chicks Rule!, Bardhan-Quallen
- Neither, Anderson
- Tomorrow I Will Be Brave, Hische
- Lucy Fell Down the Mountain, Cornell
- No Such Thing, Bailey
- Time for Bed Miyuki, Galliez
- The Weather Girls, Holt
- When Sophie Gets Angry, Bang
- The Princess and the Pony, Beaton
- 10 Little Ninjas, Paul
- Mira Forecasts the Future, Andrews
- The Tea Party in the Woods, Miyakoshi
- The Way Home in the Night, Miyakoshi
- Flower Garden, Bunting
- The Bear Report, Heder
- The Little Reindeer, Killen
- Mama Lion Wins the Race, Muth
- Cat & Bunny, Lundquist
- The Midnight Library, Kohara
- Ghosts in the House, Kohara
- The Most Magnificent Thing, Spires
- The Twins’ Blanket, Yum
- Natsumi, Lendroth
- The Music of the Sea, Isern
- Duck for Turkey Day, Jules
- Extra Yarn, Barnett
- Harriet Gets Carried Away, Sima
- Knuffle Bunny Free, Willems
- Sam & Eva, Ohi
- The Secret of Black Rock, Todd-Stanton
- The Fox Wish, Aman
- Now, Portis
- Also an Octopus, Tokuda-Hall
- Shine, McDonell
- This is How We Do It, Lamothe
- Grandmother Fish, Tweet
- Snow Sisters, Kokias
- Should I Share My Ice Cream?, Willems
- The Book of Mistakes, Luyken
- ALMA and how she got her name, Martinez-Neal
- Nanette’s Baguette, Willems
- Big Sarah’s Little Boots, Bourgeois
- A Chair for my Mother, Williams
- Sheep Won’t Sleep, Cox
- Owl Moon, Yolen
- Hannah’s Night, Sakai
- We don’t eat our classmates, Higgins
- Wee Sister Strange, Grant
- The Girl Who never made mistakes, Pett
- Interrupting Chicken, Stein
- Black Dog, Pinfold
- Louise and Andie, Light
- Louise loves Art, Light
- Zero, Otoshi
- A River, Martin
- Juna’s Jar, Bahk
- Mice Skating, Silvestro
- Bears Make the Best Reading Buddies, Oliver
- Another way to climb a tree, Scanlon
- They Say Blue, Tamaki
- Stella Luna, Cannon
- And the Robot went, Robinson
- The Funny Little Woman, Mosel
- Noodlephant, Kramer
- There are no Bears in this Bakery, Sarcone-Roach
- Much Too Much Birthday, Morris
- The Nature Girls, Aki
- Molly’s Organic Farm, Malnor and Hunner
- Moon, Teckentrup
- Maybe Tomorrow?, Agell
- Zin! Zin! Zin! a Violin, Moss
- Tinyville Town Series, Biggs
- Little Doctor and the Fearless Beast, Gilmore
- Charlotte Jane Battles Bedtime, Wolfe
- Let’s Go, Williamson
- Little Robot, Hatke
- Good Night, Wind – Marshall
- A BIG Mooncake for Little Star, Lin
- Gracie Meets a Ghost, Sena
- Hey, Water!, Portis
- On Meadowview Street, Cole
- Christina Katerina & the Box, Gauch
- How to be on the Moon, Schwarz
- Cece Loves Science and Adventure, Derting
- How to solve a problem, Shiraishi
- Koala is not a bear, Gray
- Karate Kakapo, Cunti
- How do you dance?, Heder
- Wild honey from the moon, Kraegel
- Mia Mayhem is a superhero, West
- Martha & me, It’s Raining Elephants
- Rocket says look up, Bryon
- Natsumi’s song of summer, Weston
- All are welcome, Penfold
- Power up, Fishman
- A normal pig, Steele
- Kamala and Maya’s big idea, Harris
- Jules versus the ocean, Sima
- Sunny’s tow truck saves the day!, Pace
- Small world, Mercurio
- Ruby Lu, brave and true, Look
- Moles, the superpower field guide, Poliquin
- Amy Wu and the perfect bao, Zhang
- A friendship yarn, Moser
- Pokko and the drum, Forsythe
- Child of glass, Alemagna
- Sandcastle, Tsarfati
- The hike, Farrell
- What Color Is My Patka?, Pujji
- Abbit Invests, Simon
- Katy Has Two Grampas: Who Happen to be Gay and Married to Each Other, Lyford
- I’m Not a Girl: A Transgender Story, Lyons & Verdi
Jami & I found a few gems on the list and I hope a few of you do as well.