The Matzah that Papa brought Home
Author:
Fran
Manushkin
Genre:
Multicultural/Diversity
Summary: This
book is about the Jewish tradition of Passover. The story tells you all about
what a family does for Passover. It all starts with the Matzah that Papa
brought home and the story takes off from there. The story keeps adding
different parts of the tradition, but it keeps repeating what they did before
that. For example: “This is the Feast that Mama made with the matzah that Papa
brought home.” The story goes on like this and by the end you are reading a long
list about what happens during Passover. After the story is over there is a
history section that tells you all about Passover
Characters: Papa,
Mama, children, family, dog
Setting: Home of
the Papa
Plot: A family and their Passover traditions.
Theme: Passover
Author:
Joseph Bruchac
Genre:
Multicultural
Summary:
The
story is about the first man and woman ever created and their lives together.
They have a very good life together until one day the husband becomes mad that
the wife was out picking flowers instead of preparing dinner. She wanted him to
see the beautiful flowers but as soon as she came he yelled at her. She then
ran away and he ran after her however the woman was faster than the man. The
man tried to catch up but he couldn’t, so then sun helped him catch up to her.
The sun tried by placing berries in her way but she was to mad to notice.
Finally he put strawberries in her way and she stopped to pick and eat them.
Then the man finally caught up to the woman through the help of the sun!
Characters:
man,
woman, sun
Setting:
Indians
home
Plot:
Bringing
a man and woman back together through the use of strawberries.
Theme:
Strawberries, Love and bringing people back
together.
I Hate English!
Author: Ellen Levine
Genre:
Diversity
Summary:
This book is about a child named Mei Mei and her big move to New York. Mei Mei
and her family moved from China to New York, and although Mei Mei thinks New
York is ok, she hates English! She thinks the Chinese language is so much
better and she really does not want to learn to speak or write English. She
starts going to the Chinatown Learning Center to be around other children who
are Chinese but she still refuses to speak English! One day a lady named Nancy
came to the learning center to help Mei Mei with English. The teacher started
reading Mei Mei a story and although Mei Mei did not want to hear it she
started listening and learning new words in English! The next day she came back
mad at the teacher for making her learn English! She went right up to the
teacher and told her “I don’t care!” Nancy was happy that Mei Mei said an
English phrase so they went on a walk where Nancy talked and talked and talked
until finally Mei Mei was tired of listening and she told Nancy to stop
talking! Mei Mei then told Nancy about the Chinese New Year, and now Mei Mei
speaks in both English and Chinese!
Characters:
Mei
Mei, family, Bing ( cousin who takes her to learning center), Nancy
Setting:
School, New York, Chinatown Learning Center, Chinatown
Plot:
A
girl adjusting to a new place and a new language.
Theme:
English, culture, adjustment, learning, change
Mr. Lincoln’s Way
Author:
Patricia Polacco
Genre:
Diversity
Summary:
This book is about the coolest principal ever Mr. Lincoln, all the children at
his school love him and think he is the greatest except for Eugene. Eugene is a
bully to the children and disrespectful to his teachers. Mr. Lincoln tries to
find a way to connect to Eugene to help him turn his life around. One day Mr.
Lincoln catches Eugene admiring a bird and he knows this is the way he will
connect with Eugene. The next day Mr. Lincoln calls Eugene into his office to
help him figure out a bird problem; Eugene helps him and tells Mr. Lincoln he
learned about birds from his grandpa. Although reluctant at first, Eugene and
Mr. Lincoln form a friendship; they plant trees together in the atrium so birds
will come for the children to see. Eugene is doing much better until one day
his father gets mad at him for spending time with Mr. Lincoln and tells Eugene
that Mr. Lincoln is not their kind. Mr. Lincoln compares people to birds and
Eugene sees his father is wrong. In the end Eugene turns his life around and
becomes a model citizen. At the end of the story Eugene’s grandpa returns and
Eugene tells him that he wants to live with him.
Characters:
Mr. Lincoln, Eugene, grandpa, dad
Setting:
School, Atrium
Plot:
Changing a child’s life through using something they are interested in
Theme:
Racism, overcoming racism, turning your life around
Lon Po Po: A Red Riding Hood Story from China
Author:
Ed Young
Genre:
Diversity
Summary:
This book is about the Chinese version of Red Riding Hood. It is very different
from our version. In Lon Po Pop, the mother goes off the see the grandmother
and children are left alone while she is off visiting her. There is a knock on
the door at night and the person claims to be Po Pop, so the children let her
in. But they quickly realize that this is not Po Pop but a wolf! They devise a plan to go get Gingko nuts,
however they are in a tree and the children claim that Po Po must come up the
tree to get them, so they pull the wolf up in a basket but keep dropping him.
Finally the wolf dies, the children are safe, and the mother returns from Po
Po’s to hear the story.
Characters:
Wolf, Po Po, Shang, Tao, Paotze, and their mother
Setting:
Home of the children
Plot:
Story
about a wolf who tricks children and acts like their grandma.
Theme:
Overcoming
Danger, Bravery
Author: Yangsook Choi
Genre: Multicultural/ diversity
Summary: This book is about a little girl named Unhei who moves from
Korea to America with her family. On her way to school children ask her what
her name is and when she tells them, they make fun of her. So when she arrives in
Mr. Cocotos classroom she tells her class that she hasn’t picked one yet but
will decide and tell them by next week. Her class wants to help her so they
fill a jar with different names for her to pick from. Unhei means Grace and her
family as well as the grocery store owner Mr. Kim thinks it is a beautiful
name, but Unhei doesn’t want her peers to pick on her! One day while Unhei was
still trying to pick a name a classmate name Joey came up to her and asked what
she was doing, she was stamping her name with
the stamp her grandma gave her. Joey took the paper and went to Mr.
Kim’s to find out what her name was. A few days later Joey runs into Unhei at
Mr. Kim’s, he hears her name and the next day at school the name jar is
missing. Unhei decides she loves her Korean name so tells her classmates it.
After school Joey came over with the jar, he wanted Unhei to pick her real name
so he took the jar. He also had a Korean stamp in his hand that says Chinku or
Friend.
Characters: Unhei, Mr. Kim, Mr. Cocotos, Joey, Unhei’s Grandma and
family
Setting: Unhei’s house and school, Mr. Kim’s market
Plot:
A
little girl moving from Korea and nervous to tell people her real name so she
decides to pick an American name.
Theme: acceptance, being different is
good, fitting in
In Our Mother’s House
Author:
Patricia Polacco
Genre:
Nonfiction,
cultural, children’s book
Summary:
This book is about a different type of family, but in the end they are still
like every other family who live on their street. The children in this book
were all adopted by 2 women who were called Meemaw and Marmee; they adopted a
total of 3 children. The book is from a child’s point of view, the book tells
us all about what it was like growing up in this house, how loved she felt by
her mothers, however one person on their block cannot accept the fact that the
children’s parents are lesbians. She is always mean to the family and at the
block party, she tells the mothers that she doesn’t like who they are. However
even during that tough moment their mothers stayed strong and had a great
support system from the neighbors. The children got older and moved out but all
got married under the tree house that they made together (Thistle House). The
mothers both end up dying but are buried together on the hillside where they
married each other. Will inherits the house and the home remains the gathering
place for the family.
Characters:
Marmee
and Memaw (moms), the children which included the author, Will, and Millie, The
Lockners (neighbors who dislikes the moms), the family of the mother, and the
friends.
Setting:
The
narrator’s mother’s house.
Plot:
3
children’s lives in a different type of family.
Theme:
Different
Families
Junkyard Wonders
Author:
Patricia Polacco
Genre:
Historical fiction
Summary:
This
book is all about a special class called the “junkyard”. The teacher of this
class Mrs. Peterson wants the children to know they are geniuses and to not let
anyone tell them different. The book tells us about all the things Mrs.
Peterson did for the class to help make them feel accepted and loved. Mrs.
Peterson split the class up into tribes, who needed to work together when they
had assignments; this is when the children in the class really started
connecting to one another. The most
important thing she ever did for them was taking them to the junkyard and
having them recreate something old and make it into a totally different thing.
Trisha, Ravanne, Thom, and Gibbie are all in a group and Gibbie wants the group
to recreate an old model plan. They work hard and the project is finally complete,
it has a motor attached to it and the children are going to launch the
“junkyard wonder” off the roof of the school for the science fair. They picked
the name Junkyard Wonder because Thom wanted it to be called that and before
the children could launch it Thom passed away due to his condition. Although
Barton tried to put a stop to the launch the children launched the plan from
the roof and the whole school cheered.
Characters:
Trisha
(main character), Mrs. Peterson (teacher), Thom (friend of Trisha), Jody (Tall
boy in Trisha’s class, dies), Dad, Gramma, Kay (Friend who will no longer talk
to Trisha since she is in the Junkyard), Ravanne (never talks in Trisha’s
class), Gibbie (turrets),Barton (bully to the kids)
Setting:
Classroom, which is
better known as the “junkyard”
Plot:
Children
who are a part of a Special education classroom and the teacher who changes
their live.
Theme:
Children
in the Special education room
One Green Apple
Author: Eve Bunting
Genre:
Multicultural/ Diversity
Summary:
One
Green Apple is about a young girl who just moved to America. She is having
trouble fitting in because she does not really know English and does not
understand the culture of Americans. On Farah’s second day of school her class
takes a field trip to a farm. All the children are allowed to pick one apple,
and Farah picks a different one then everyone else’s. Farah’s apple is small
and green, she feels as though the apple is like her, different in the world.
The children take the apple and make cider, even Farah joins in on the fun!
Farah even makes a friend named Anna who is so proud of Farah when she says her
first new English word. Farah feels very proud and knows that Apple will be one
of the many words she will learn!
Characters:
Farah,
Anna, children in class, teacher
Setting:
Farm
Plot:
Story about a girl moving to America from a
different country.
Theme:
Culture,
moving to a strange place, being different
And Tango Makes Three
Author: Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
Genre: Diversity
Summary: This book is about the Central Park Zoo and two different penguins there. Roy and Silo were very different from the penguins in the zoo. Unlike the other boy penguins who at a certain time would find girls attractive, Roy and Silo were not into that. They spent every day together and did everything together! The zoo keeper Mr. Gramzay saw them and knew they must be in love, the penguins acted like all the others in their house, but instead of one being a girl, they were both boys. One day they discovered they could not have babies. This gave Mr. Gramzay an idea; he took an egg that needed to be cared for and gave it to them! After sitting on the egg for a long time their baby was finally born, her name was tango because it takes two to make a Tango!
Summary: This book is about the Central Park Zoo and two different penguins there. Roy and Silo were very different from the penguins in the zoo. Unlike the other boy penguins who at a certain time would find girls attractive, Roy and Silo were not into that. They spent every day together and did everything together! The zoo keeper Mr. Gramzay saw them and knew they must be in love, the penguins acted like all the others in their house, but instead of one being a girl, they were both boys. One day they discovered they could not have babies. This gave Mr. Gramzay an idea; he took an egg that needed to be cared for and gave it to them! After sitting on the egg for a long time their baby was finally born, her name was tango because it takes two to make a Tango!
Characters: Roy, Silo, Mr. Gramzay, Tango
Setting: Central Park Zoo
Plot: Two boy penguins who are very
different from the other penguins
Theme: different types of families
Whoever You Are
Author: Mem Fox
Genre: Multicultural
Summary: This book is all about individuality and how although we all may be different we all are alike in some way! The author does a great job explaining this concept to children. She writes that we all have the same blood, pain, love, and joys even if we have a lot of differences. The book tells the children that there are people just like them all over the world.
Characters: The children from around the world
Setting: All around the world
Plot: Story about how although we are all different we all have something in common
Theme: Acceptance, differences in people, everyone has something in common
The Skin You Live In
Author: Michael Tyler
Genre: Multicultural
Summary: This book is all about the differences in peoples skin tones. The book is set up in a rhyming form and talks about all the things you do in your skin. The book ends by saying how important it is to be you.
Characters:Children with different skin tones
Setting: All over
Plot: This book is all about children and their skin!
Theme: Friendship, acceptance, diversity
The Colors of Us
Author: Karen Katz
Genre: Diversity/Multicultural
Summary: This book is about a young girl names Lena. She wants to paint a potrait of herself and use brown paint for her skin. However when she takes a walk around the neighborhood she learns that there are many shades of brown. All of the shades are compared to food.
Characters: Lena, mother, all the friends and family in their neighborhood
Setting: Lena's neighborhood
Plot: A young girl finding out their are many shades of her skintone.
Theme: Diversity, acceptance
I Love My Hair
Author: Natasha Tarpley
Genre: Diversity/Multicultural
Summary: This book is about a young girl named Keyana. She is an African American girl and encourages others to love their hair like she does. She talks about the nightly routine her and her mother have while doing her hair. When it hurts her to brush through it her mother tells her how lucky she is to have such beautiful hair. The book also encourages African Americans to accept their culture and heritage.
Characters: Keyana and her mom
Setting: Keyana's house
Plot: A young girl embracing her hair and culture.
Theme: Hair, Acceptance, Culture
Chocolate Me!
Author: Taye Diggs
Genre: Multicultural/diversity
Summary: This book is about a young boy who is tired of being different from everyone else. One day he goes home and tells him mother he wants to be just like everyone else because he is tired of getting picked on. At school children ask him why is skin is like dirt and many other questions. However by the end of the book his mother teaches him to love his skin!
Characters: Young boy, mother, children at school
Setting: Young boys house, town, and school
Plot: Story about a young boy who is tired of being different.
Theme: loving yourself, acceptance, differences in people.
All Families Are Special
Author: Norma Simon
Genre: Multicultural/Diversity
Summary: This story is about a teacher and her classroom. When Mrs. Mack says she will soon be a grandmother, her class and her have a discussion about families. They talk about the different sizes of family, the different types of family, and the different people who make up families.
Characters: Mrs. Mack and her class
Setting: Mrs. Mack's classroom
Plot: A class discussing their different types of families.
Theme: Family
Author: Mem Fox
Genre: Multicultural
Summary: This book is all about individuality and how although we all may be different we all are alike in some way! The author does a great job explaining this concept to children. She writes that we all have the same blood, pain, love, and joys even if we have a lot of differences. The book tells the children that there are people just like them all over the world.
Characters: The children from around the world
Setting: All around the world
Plot: Story about how although we are all different we all have something in common
Theme: Acceptance, differences in people, everyone has something in common
The Skin You Live In
Author: Michael Tyler
Genre: Multicultural
Summary: This book is all about the differences in peoples skin tones. The book is set up in a rhyming form and talks about all the things you do in your skin. The book ends by saying how important it is to be you.
Characters:Children with different skin tones
Setting: All over
Plot: This book is all about children and their skin!
Theme: Friendship, acceptance, diversity
The Colors of Us
Author: Karen Katz
Genre: Diversity/Multicultural
Summary: This book is about a young girl names Lena. She wants to paint a potrait of herself and use brown paint for her skin. However when she takes a walk around the neighborhood she learns that there are many shades of brown. All of the shades are compared to food.
Characters: Lena, mother, all the friends and family in their neighborhood
Setting: Lena's neighborhood
Plot: A young girl finding out their are many shades of her skintone.
Theme: Diversity, acceptance
I Love My Hair
Author: Natasha Tarpley
Genre: Diversity/Multicultural
Summary: This book is about a young girl named Keyana. She is an African American girl and encourages others to love their hair like she does. She talks about the nightly routine her and her mother have while doing her hair. When it hurts her to brush through it her mother tells her how lucky she is to have such beautiful hair. The book also encourages African Americans to accept their culture and heritage.
Characters: Keyana and her mom
Setting: Keyana's house
Plot: A young girl embracing her hair and culture.
Theme: Hair, Acceptance, Culture
Chocolate Me!
Author: Taye Diggs
Genre: Multicultural/diversity
Summary: This book is about a young boy who is tired of being different from everyone else. One day he goes home and tells him mother he wants to be just like everyone else because he is tired of getting picked on. At school children ask him why is skin is like dirt and many other questions. However by the end of the book his mother teaches him to love his skin!
Characters: Young boy, mother, children at school
Setting: Young boys house, town, and school
Plot: Story about a young boy who is tired of being different.
Theme: loving yourself, acceptance, differences in people.
All Families Are Special
Author: Norma Simon
Genre: Multicultural/Diversity
Summary: This story is about a teacher and her classroom. When Mrs. Mack says she will soon be a grandmother, her class and her have a discussion about families. They talk about the different sizes of family, the different types of family, and the different people who make up families.
Characters: Mrs. Mack and her class
Setting: Mrs. Mack's classroom
Plot: A class discussing their different types of families.
Theme: Family
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