Diversity+Awareness

Using Children's Literature to Raise Awareness of Diversity
This list was compiled by Writing Project teacher-consultants Kelly Jo Buckley (Springdale Public Schools, Arkansas) and Martha Jane Weber (University of Arkansas Fort Smith, Arkansas).

** Picture Books **
United States Marshal in the area that was to become oklahoma. || boys as they trek thousands of miles seeking safety in Ethiopia, then Kenya, and finally in the United States. ||
 * Title jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj || l Interest Level and Book Level llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll ||
 * ** //Bad News for Outlaws// ** by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson || MG - BL: 5.2 - This biography profiles the life of Bass Reeves, a former slave who was recruited as a deputy
 * ** //Chicken Sunday// ** by Patricia Polacco || LG - BL: 3.7 - to thank old Eula for her wonderful sunday chicken dinners, the children sell decorated eggs and buy her a beautiful Easter hat. ||
 * **//Brothers in Hope: The Story of// //the//** **//Lost Boys of Sudan//** by Mary Williams || MG - BL: 4.7 - Eight-year-old Garang, orphaned by a civil war in Sudan, find the inner strength to help lead other
 * ** //The Cow that Went Oink// ** by Bernard Most || LG - BL: 2.0 - A cow that oinks and a pig that moos are ridiculed by the other barnyard animals until each teaches the other a new sound. ||
 * ** //Just One Flick of a Finger// ** by Marybeth Lorbiecki || MG - BL: 3.7 In this book, a young boy takes a gun to school to scare off the bully who has been tormenting him, and the gun is accidentally fired during a scuffle. ||
 * ** //Maria Molina and the Days of the Dead// ** by Kathleen Krull || LG - BL: 2.7 Maria's infant brother and her grandmother have died in the last year, and the girl and her family honor them during the Days of the Dead celebration. As her mother explains the various Mexican customs involved, readers, too, learn about them. ||
 * ** //The Other Side// ** - Jacqueline Woodson || LG - BL: 2.7 - Two girls, one white and one black, gradually get to know each other as they sit on the fence that divides their town. ||
 * ** //Painted Dreams// ** by Karen Lynn Williams || LG - BL: 4.0 - Because her Haitian family is too poor to be able to buy paints for her, eight-year-old Ti Marie finds her own way to create pictures that make the heart sing. ||
 * //** The Name Jar **// by Yangsook Choi || LG - BL: 3.1 - After Unhei moves from Korea to the United States, her new classmates help her decide what her name should be. ||
 * ** //Smoky Night// ** by Eve Bunting || LG - BL: 2.4 - A child's eve view of urban violence in a riot-torn city. ||
 * //**When I was Young in the Mountains**// by Cynthia Rylant || LG - BL: 3.6 - The story of an Appalachian childhood which evokes a love of place, a family, and a way of life. ||
 * **//Wilma Unlimited//** by Kathleen Krull || MG - BL: 5.1 - A biography of the African-American woman who overcame crippling polio as a child to become the first woman to win three gold medals in track in a single olympics. ||

Young Adult

 * Title and Author 00000000000000000 || Interest Level and Book Level 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 ||
 * //** The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian **// by Sherman Alexie || UG - BL: 4.0 - Budding cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all -white farm town school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. ||
 * //**American Born Chines**////**e**// by Gene Luen Yang || MG+ BL: 3.3 - Three seemingly unrelated tales combine the problems of young chinese Americans with traditional Chinese fables. ||
 * //**Ask Me No Questions**// by Marina Budhos || MG+ BL: 4.8 - Fourteen- year-old Nadira, her sister, and their parents leave Bangladesh for New York City, but the expiration of their visas and the events of September 11, 2001, bring frustration, sorrow, and terror for the whole family. ||
 * //**Autobiography of a Face**// by Lucy Grealy || UG - BL: 7.4 - Lucy Grealy describes what it is like to be a child and a young adult torn between wanting to be perfect and being loved for who we are. ||
 * //**Blister**// by Susan Shreve || MG - BL: 5.4 When a family tragedy occurs, Alyssa Reed changes schools and moves to an apartment with her depressed mother, while her father gets his own place. ||
 * //**Bridge to Terabithia**// by Katherine Patterson || MG - BL: 4.6 - the life of a ten-year-old boy in rural Virginia expands when he becomes friends with a newcomer, who subsequently meets an untimely death trying to reach their hideaway, Terabithia, during a storm. ||
 * // **Chinese Handcuffs** // by Chris Crutcher || UG - BL: 6.0 - Still troubled by his older brother's violent suicide, eighteen-year-old Dillon becomes deeply involved in the terrible secret of his friend Jennifer, who feels she can tell no one what her stepfather is doing to her. ||
 * //**Confetti Girl**// by Diana Lopez || MG - BL: 4.1 After the death of her mother, Texas sixth-grader Lina's grades and mood drop as she watches her father lose himself more and more in books, while her best friend uses Lina as and excuse to secretly meet her boyfriend. ||
 * //**The Cook's Family**// by Laurence Yep || MG - BL: 4.7 - As her parent's arguments become more frequent, Robin looks forward to the visit that she and her grandmother make to Chinatown where they pretend to be the cook's family, which gives Robin a better insight into her Chinese heritage. ||
 * //**The Crazy Horse Electric Game**// by Chris Crutcher || UG - BL: 5.5 - A young athlete is brain-damaged in an accident and must deal with his disability. ||
 * //**The Crossing**// by Gary Paulsen || UG - BL: 5.8 - Thirteen-year-old Manny, a street kid fighting for survival in a Mexican border town, develops a strange friendship with and emotionally disturbed American soldier who decides to help him get across the border. ||
 * //**Crossing the Wire**// by Will Hobbs || MG: - BL: 4.3 - Fifteen-year-old Victor Flores journeys north in a desperate attempt to cross the Arizona border and find work in the United States to support his family in central Mexico. ||
 * //**Cut**// by Patricia McCormick || UG - BL: 4.6 - While confined to a mental hospital, fifteen-year-old Callie slowly comes to understand some of the reasons behind her self-mutilation, and gradually stars to get better. ||
 * //**Deadline**// by Chris Crutcher || UG - BL: 5.1 - given the medical diagnosis of one year to live, high-school senior Ben Wolf decides to fulfill his greatest fantasies, ponders his life's purpose and legacy and conversed through dreams with a spiritual guide known as "hey-Soos." ||
 * //**Deenie**// by Judy Blume || UG - BL: 4.2 - A thirteen-year-old girl seemingly destined for a modeling career finds she has scoliosis. ||