My 19 year old son is currently studying Early Childhood at TAFE and recently did a unit on cultural diversity. He asked me to get a few picture books from my collection that represented diversity for one of his assignments.
I went through and picked out six books, one was from my son’s collection, and the rest are mine.
The book I chose were:
- The Voyage by Robert Vescio – this is the story about a refugee family fleeing a war. My nephew calls it ‘The War Book!’. It’s a great book to open up discussion about refugees with young kids.
- The Box Cars by Robert Vescio – I added this book to the pile as it’s the story about kids who are playing with box cars. Each child has a different ethnicity and it’s great to see kids from different backgrounds playing together and being friends.
- The Story of Princess Audrey by Kristen Waldbieser – Kristen is an author from the USA, while the other books on this list are from Australian authors. I chose this book as it features a princess in a wheelchair, showing diversity in abilities.
- Ash Dresses Her Friends by Fu Wenzheng – this gorgeous book is illustrated using a traditional Chinese style of art, showing a diversity in the author/illustrator. It’s also a story with a great message about friendship.
- Boondaburra by Natalie Lonsdale – this story features Australian animals and shows how being unique can also be a strength.
- The Echidna and the Shade Tree – this is an Aboriginal story from my son’s picture book collection that we added when he first started studying diversity in picture books. I realised we didn’t have many stories from Australia, and I’m actively finding books to add to our collection.
Are there any books you would add to this list?
