Teaching Cultural Compassion

Research has shown us that representation matters in media; yet children of color, girls, and other diverse backgrounds are still drastically underrepresented in picture books published in the United States.  Below is a search to help you navigate these waters!  

By narrowing your search of over 2,500 books, this tool will help you find something new, something exciting, something perfect for you.  You can filter by the age of the child you'll read with, ethnicity/heritage or gender you are hoping to see represented, or topics you want to take on with your young reader.  By showing a child they are represented and can save the day, you give them a mirror in which to see their own worth and power.  By showing a child someone who doesn't look like them as the hero of the story gives them a window through which they can learn the worth and power of others.  Join me in teaching our children cultural compassion.

Clicking the blue library icon in the Find column will take you to the WorldCat website where you can enter your zip code and find which libraries near you have the book in their catalog!  

Clicking the $ icon will take you to bookshop.org where you can purchase the book. If the entry does not have a dollar sign, it may not be listed on Bookshop. Teaching Cultural Compassion will earn a small commission on any books purchased through the links below.

For the sake of transparency, I will tell you that I have curated this list with an intent to grow compassion, and therefore I have not included titles I feel are not compassionate.  If you would like a search for diverse books without my opinions added to it, I highly recommend visiting the DiverseBookFinder from Bates College and their blog!


If you know a book you think should be on the list, please email me at revtura@gmail.com to let me know!