Multicultural/Diversity

1. The Matzah that Papa Brought Home by Fran Manushkin

Summary: A family enjoys Passover.

2. First Strawberries: A Cherokee Story by Joseph Bruchac

Summary: The first man and woman of the earth get into a fight over dinner, so the woman leaves him.  With some help from the Sun, they realize their fight was silly.

3. I Hate English! By Ellen Levine

Summary: Mei Mei moves from Hong Kong to New York and is worried that she will lose her Chinese culture.

4. Mr. Lincoln’s Way by Patricia Polacco

Summary: An African American principal deals with prejudice from Eugene, an angry young student.

5. Lon Po Po: A Red Ridding Hood Story from China by Ed Young

Summary: Three girls are left alone when the mother leaves to visit their Po Po.  A wolf tricks the girls into letting him in by pretending to be their Po Po.  The girls figure this out and end up killing the wolf.

6. The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi

Summary: A girl leaves her home in Korea to come to the United States.  Her classmates set up a name jar to give her a new name.

7. In Our Mother’s House by Patricia Polacco

Summary: Two lesbians raise a family, and teach their children not to worry about their home being different.

8. Junkyard Wonders by Patricia Polacco

Summary: Trisha learns the value of herself as her and her classmates work on a special project.

9. One Green Apple by Eve Bunting

Summary: Farah, an immigrant, and her class go on a field trip to an orchard.

10. And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell

Summary: Two boy penguins become friends at the zoo in NYC.  They watch the other penguins and what they do when they mate.  The two boy penguins follow suite of the other penguin couples but nothing happens.

11. The Keeping Quilt By Patricia Polacco

Summary: This story is about Anna come to America and to remember where she came from she decided to have her mother stitch a quilt. This quilt represents her heritage and was passed down through the family for generations.

12. Jin Woo By Eve Bunting

Summary: This story is about a family adopting a baby boy from Korea. David doesn’t want to have a baby boy because he likes his family the way it is. They go to the airport to wait for him to arrive and bring him home and show him to the rest of the family and David enjoys having Jin Woo

13. The Wall By Eve Bunting

Summary: This story is about a boy and his father visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to look for the boy’s grandfather. While there the boy notices different people like the man in a uniform with no legs.

14. The Wednesday Surprise By Eve Bunting

Summary: This story is about the Grandmother and Anna. Every time Grandma comes over her and Anna read stories to help Anna learn to read. Saturday came which was Anna’s dad’s birthday and that is when Anna surprised every with showing how she learned to read.

15. Mrs. Katz and Tush By Patricia Polacco

Summary: This story is about Larnel who asks his neighbor Mrs. Katz to take care of a kitten. She accepts only if Larnel helps. They become friends and start to share stories about African heritage and Jewish heritage