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November 2014 | Volume 56 | Number 11
It is essential for students to be able to identify with the characters they're reading about. Providing your students with texts that feature a variety of ethnicities and viewpoints—especially ethnicities similar to their own—can help strengthen their cultural identity, according to experts.
Check out the following multicultural booklists, awards, and other resources to diversify your classroom library with texts carefully selected by reading experts. Many, including those recommended by the Southern Poverty Law Center, are aligned to the Common Core State Standards.
You can also find tips for creating a more representative reading experience in the November Education Update article, "Are All Heroes the Same Color?"
RIF's Multicultural Booklists, compiled by Reading Is Fundamental
"How to Choose the Best Multicultural Books," Scholastic.com
"Fifty Multicultural Books Every Child Should Know," Cooperative Children's Book Center
"Ten Recommended Sites for Multicultural Children's Books," Ezra Jack Keats Foundation
IBBY Honour List, compiled by the International Board on Books for Young People
Notable Books for a Global Society, compiled by the International Reading Association's Children's Literature and Reading Special Interest Group
Multicultural Literature for Children, Internet Public Library
Compiled by National Louis University, the Multicultural Awards list captures many of the most important honors for multicultural children's and young adult books. The university also features lists of Multicultural Children's Literature books.
The Southern Poverty Law Center's (SPLC) new Perspectives for a Diverse America is a free, online literacy-based K–12 anti-bias curriculum. It includes approximately 300 texts, searchable by grade level and text type, selected to reflect a balance of perspectives and aligned to the Common Core State Standards. In selecting the collection, SPLC "took a serious look at how these texts will be introduced in the classroom and how students will engage with them," says Emily Chiariello, who headed the project development team.
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