Multicultural Stories

Enter the hilarious world of ten-year-old Kenny and his family, the Weird Watsons of Flint, Michigan...

Esperanza Ortega possesses all the treasures a young girl could want: fancy dresses; a beautiful home filled with servants in the bountiful region of Aguascalientes...

Set in Mississippi at the height of the Depression, this is the story of one family's struggle to maintain their integrity, pride, and independence in the face of racism and social injustice....

It’s 1936, in Flint Michigan. Times may be hard, and 10-year-old Bud may be a motherless boy on the run, but Bud’s got a few things going for him....

Mia Tang has a lot of secrets. She lives in a motel, not a big house. Every day, while her immigrant parents clean the rooms, 10-year-old Mia manages the front desk of the Calivista Motel and tends to its guests. Her parents hide immigrants. The mean motel owner can't find out....

Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents Kwame Mbalia's epic fantasy, a middle grade American Gods set in a richly-imagined world populated with African American folk heroes and West African gods....

In her own award-winning style, Sharon Creech intricately weaves together two tales....

Within Cole Matthews lies anger, rage, and hate. But the attack of the Spirit Bear that may save his soul....

Amari Peters has never stopped believing her missing brother, Quinton, is alive. Not even when the police told her otherwise, or when she got in trouble for standing up to bullies who said he was gone for good....

The 1619 Project’s lyrical picture book in verse, adapted for audio, chronicles the consequences of slavery and the history of Black resistance in the United States....

Twelve-year-old Jerome is shot by a police officer who mistakes his toy gun for a real threat. As a ghost, he observes the devastation that's been unleashed....

Eleven-year-old Delphine and her younger sisters Vonetta and Fern travel to Oakland to meet their mother, Cecil, who abandoned their family years earlier....

Ghost. Lu. Patina. Sunny. Four kids from wildly different backgrounds. But they are also four kids chosen for an elite middle school track team....

The debut picture book from iconic voting rights advocate and number one New York Times best-selling author Stacey Abrams is an inspiring tale of determination, based on her own childhood....

Celebrate the joys of Black boyhood with stories from 17 best-selling, critically acclaimed Black authors - including Jason Reynolds (the Track series), Jerry Craft (New Kid), and Kwame Mbalia (the Tristan Strong series)....

It all started with a birthday present that Omri didn't want: a small plastic Indian that was no use to him at all. But an old wooden cupboard and a special key brought his unusual toy to life...

This deeply sensitive and “compelling” (BCCB) debut novel tells the story of a 13-year-old who must overcome internalized racism and a verbally abusive family to finally learn to love herself....

A boy tries to steer a safe path through the projects in Harlem in the wake of his brother’s death in this outstanding debut novel that celebrates community and creativity....

Nobody could capture the Phantom. She was the wildest mare on Assateague Island. They said she was like the wind, that the white "map" on her shoulders was her mark of freedom....

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was only 25 when he helped organize the Montgomery bus boycott and was soon organizing black people across the country in support of the right to vote, desegregation, and other basic civil rights....

Even as a child, Martin Luther King, Jr. was shocked by the terrible and unfair way African-American people were treated. When he grew up, he decided to do something about it - peacefully, with powerful words....

This chapter-book edition of the number-one New York Times best seller by luminaries Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds is an essential introduction to the history of racism and antiracism in America....

From number one New York Times best-selling author Nic Stone comes a middle-grade road-trip story through American race relations past and present, perfect for fans of Jacqueline Woodson and Jason Reynolds....

All her life, Edie has known that her mom was adopted by a white couple. So, no matter how curious she might be about her Native American heritage, Edie is sure her family doesn’t have any answers....

Although the mission school bans all that is Navajo, Ned secretly clings to his native language and culture....

Meet Oona. She’s a little mermaid who loves special treasure and big adventures – and often ends up in big trouble! But with her best friend Otto by her side, Oona is on the hunt for the grandest treasure of all - and she’s about to find out it’s not what she thought it was.

When Jada Jinks finds a box of magic tricks in her granny’s flat, she uncovers her granny’s secret dream of becoming a magician. Jada soon decides that she’s going to help Granny Jinks fulfil her dreams, but one thing stands in her way - her dad, Jonny Jinks, who hates magic! Will Jada be able to help Granny Jinks pass the auditions for Dalton Green Magic Society, and will she learn some tricks of her own along the way? 

Ever since the baby dragons were returned to the magical realm, things have been off. The New York summer has been unusually cold. A strange sleeping sickness is spreading across the city. And Jaxon’s friends, Kenny and Kavita, have begun to change, becoming more like the fairy and dragon they once cared for. On top of all that, Jax is hiding a secret - Vik entrusted him with a phoenix egg! Jax wants to help his friends and learn how to hatch the phoenix, but so far his lessons as a witch’s apprentice haven’t seemed very useful. 

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Tama is sent to live in a War Relocation Center in the desert. All Japanese Americans from the West Coast - elderly people, children, babies - now live in prison camps like Minidoka. To be who she is has become a crime, it seems, and Tama doesn’t know when or if she will ever leave. Trying not to think of the life she once had, she works in the camp’s tiny library, taking solace in pages bursting with color and light, love and fairness. And she isn’t the only one. 

Eleven-year-old Izzy feels as though her whole world is shifting, and she doesn’t like it. She wants her dad to act like he did before he was deployed to Afghanistan. She wants her mom to live with them at the marina where they’ve moved instead of spending all her time on Block Island. Most of all, she wants Piper, Zelda, and herself - the Sea Stars - to stay best friends, as they start sixth grade in a new school.  

This Splash Read collection includes seven historical fiction short stories about Black Americans. While Splash Read stories are enjoyed by kids of all ages, they were written to facilitate a conversation between a child and parent or student and teacher. Each story introduces an influential person from history. Stories discuss life skills, challenges, problem-solving, and important issues. We’ve heard positive reviews from kids as young as first graders and as old as 10th graders.

Children are shaped by their ancestors, and this book celebrates the village it takes to raise a child. In the vein of I Am Enough and Eyes That Kiss in the Corners, this powerful book is a joyful recognition of the people and places that help define young listeners and adults alike. 

The true story of Black activist Opal Lee and her vision of Juneteenth as a holiday for everyone will inspire children to be brave and make a difference. Growing up in Texas, Opal knew the history of Juneteenth, but she soon discovered that most Americans had never heard of the holiday that represents the nation’s creed of "freedom for all".

Eleven year-old Peter Lee has one goal in life: to become a paleontologist. Okay, maybe two: to get his genius kid sister, L.B., to leave him alone. But his summer falls apart when his real-life dinosaur expedition turns out to be a bust, and he watches his dreams go up in a cloud of asthma-inducing dust. 

It's almost time for Christmas, and Maria is traveling with her mother and younger brother, Juan, to visit their grandmother on the border of California and Mexico. For the few minutes they can share together along the fence, Maria and her brother plan to exchange stories and Christmas gifts with the grandmother they haven't seen in years. But when Juan's gift is too big to fit through the slats in the fence, Maria has a brilliant idea.

A naughty white kitten, Sagwa, comes from a long line of royal Chinese cats. Her mischief changes the spirit of a cruel magistrate and helps shape the future for her ancestors. This beautiful story illustrates why Siamese cats are really Chinese cats and why their faces, ears, paws, and tails turn darker as they grow up.

Meet Phoenix! She's a culturally enthusiastic young girl who comes from a multicultural Ethiopian and African American family. But, she lacks the confidence to show off her Ethiopian cultural wear in front of her new friends at school. That is, until her mother begins to remind her of how beautiful and significant the two cultures are, while also encouraging her to show up exactly as she is.

Nîso kisêwâtisiwak iskwêsak. Mâmawâyâwinihk namôya wîhkâc osâmi otinamâsowak. Âsponâtisiw, pakwâtikosiw maci-pisiskiw. Kakwâyaki misiwanâtan kihci-okâwîmâw. Maskawisîwin ohci âhkamêyihtamowin, êkwa tanisi isi aspêyimowin, sâkihiwêwin, tapahtêyimisowin mîna ahcahkowin ta-kî-pakitinam maskawâtisiwin êkwanima mosci kwêskinam êwako ôma pimohtêwin.

Bo and her mom always had their own rhythm. But ever since they moved to Harlem, Bo’s world has fallen out of sync. She and Mum are now living with Mum’s boyfriend Bill, his daughter Sunday, the twins, Lili and Lee, the twins' parents...along with a dog, two cats, a bearded dragon, a turtle, and chickens 

Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ’Round is a deeply moving middle-grade memoir about what it means to be an everyday activist and foot solider for racial justice, as Kathlyn recounts how, drawn to activism from childhood, she went from attending protests as a teenager to fighting for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday to become a national holiday as an adult. A blueprint for kids starting down their own paths to civic awareness, it shows life beyond protests and details the sustained time, passion, and energy it takes to turn an idea into a law.