{"id":3628,"date":"2026-10-26T12:25:53","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T04:25:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fnnbd24.com\/blog\/?p=3628"},"modified":"2026-10-26T12:25:53","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T04:25:53","slug":"can-you-suggest-children-s-books-with-diverse-characters-4e28-105b80","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.fnnbd24.com\/blog\/2026\/10\/26\/can-you-suggest-children-s-books-with-diverse-characters-4e28-105b80\/","title":{"rendered":"Can you suggest children’s books with diverse characters?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I started my children\u2019s books supply business seven years ago, I had no idea how much the landscape of kids\u2019 literature was shifting. Back then, my main focus was on sourcing books that were visually engaging and age-appropriate\u2014bright illustrations, simple plots, stories that made kids laugh. But over time, I started getting emails from parents, teachers, and librarians asking a question that stopped me in my tracks: \u201cDo you have books with characters who look like my child?\u201d That question wasn\u2019t just a request for representation; it was a recognition that children\u2019s books don\u2019t just entertain\u2014they mirror, validate, and expand a kid\u2019s sense of the world. Today, as someone who curates a collection for classrooms, libraries, and family homes, answering \u201ccan you suggest children\u2019s books with diverse characters?\u201d is at the heart of what I do. And the answer isn\u2019t just about checking a box\u2014it\u2019s about building a collection that feels like every kid who picks up a book sees themselves in its pages, while also giving them a window into lives different from their own. Children’s Books<\/a><\/p>\n

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Let me start with what \u201cdiverse characters\u201d actually means, because it\u2019s not a one-size-fits-all term. When we talk about diversity in children\u2019s books, it\u2019s about more than just skin color. It\u2019s about characters with disabilities, LGBTQ+ identities, neurodivergent experiences, low-income backgrounds, rural vs. urban upbringings, religious differences, and even kids who are part of multiple cultural backgrounds. For too long, many kids\u2019 books centered on a narrow set of experiences: white, able-bodied, middle-class, cisgender kids. That not only made marginalized kids feel invisible\u2014it also taught majority kids that there\u2019s only one way to be a kid. My job as a supplier is to avoid that. I don\u2019t just look for books that feature a Black protagonist or a disabled character; I look for books where that diversity is integral to the story, not a afterthought. A book about a Latinx kid whose abuela teaches them to make tamales is diverse because it\u2019s about their family, their culture, and the ways that shapes who they are\u2014not because it includes a single line about their heritage.<\/p>\n

Take one of my go-to recommendations for young readers (ages 4\u20137): The Kindest Red<\/em> by Regina M. Hern\u00e1ndez. It\u2019s a follow-up to The First Strawberries<\/em>, and it follows a little girl named Lupe who\u2019s excited to join her abuela\u2019s neighborhood parade. Lupe uses a wheelchair, and her disability is never framed as a \u201cchallenge\u201d\u2014instead, she uses her wheelchair to lead a drum line, and her creativity (she paints her wheelchair with bright flowers) is the heart of the story. I\u2019ve seen this book spark such beautiful moments in classrooms: a student with cerebral palsy told me they\u2019d never seen a character who used a wheelchair and loved dancing, and a classmate whose family didn\u2019t celebrate parades asked so many questions that the teacher ended up doing a unit on cultural holidays. That\u2019s the magic of diverse books: they create conversation. Another favorite for this age group is I Am Every Good Thing<\/em> by Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Gordon C. James. It\u2019s a poem celebrating Black boyhood, full of lines about being \u201ca rainbow in skin\u201d and \u201ca wild, unapologetic thing.\u201d Kids who pick this up don\u2019t just read a story\u2014they see themselves in every word. A teacher from a rural school told me last year that her students, many of whom are white, hung posters of the book\u2019s illustrations in their classroom and started calling each other \u201cevery good thing\u201d when someone did something kind. That\u2019s representation working.<\/p>\n

For elementary readers (ages 8\u201312), the choices are endless, and I focus on books that let characters drive their own stories, not just their diversity. Front Desk<\/em> by Kelly Yang is a perfect example. It\u2019s about Mia Tang, a Chinese-American girl who helps her parents run a motel in California. Mia is hardworking, loves writing, and navigates being the new kid at school while also dealing with the stress of her parents working long hours. Her experience as an immigrant isn\u2019t just a plot point\u2014it\u2019s how she solves problems: she uses her job at the motel to help a homeless family, stands up to a boss who treats her parents unfairly, and writes stories about the guests to make their lives feel seen. This book resonates with so many kids: immigrant kids who recognize the struggle of making a new home, kids who love reading about someone who uses their creativity to stand up for others, and kids who might not have experienced that kind of life but learn what it means to belong. Another great pick here is The Girl Who Speaks Bear<\/em> by Sophie Anderson. It\u2019s a fantasy story about Yanka, a Uralic girl who has a bear\u2019s leg and is ostracized in her village. Yanka\u2019s identity as someone who\u2019s different is the core of the book\u2014she doesn\u2019t just \u201covercome\u201d being different; she learns to embrace her heritage (her grandmother was a witch) and uses her unique traits to save her village. I\u2019ve had librarians tell me that this book gets kids who usually shy away from diverse stories hooked because it\u2019s an adventure, not a \u201clesson\u201d about diversity. That\u2019s key: diverse books should feel like stories first, representation second.<\/p>\n

When I talk about diversity, I also make sure to include characters with disabilities that aren\u2019t always front and center in kids\u2019 books. Too often, disability representation is limited to characters in wheelchairs or with obvious physical differences, but neurodivergent characters are just as important. All My Stripes<\/em> by Shaina Rudolph and Danielle Royer is a board book perfect for younger kids, about a zebra named Zane who has autism. Zane talks about how his stripes make him unique\u2014some stripes mean he loves quiet spaces, others mean he gets excited about spinning, and all of them make him who he is. For kids (and parents) who might not be familiar with autism, this book explains it in gentle, relatable terms, and for autistic kids, it\u2019s a way to see their own experiences reflected. For older elementary kids, Mockingbird<\/em> by Kathryn Erskine is a powerful novel about Caitlin, an 11-year-old with Asperger\u2019s, who\u2019s dealing with her brother\u2019s death. Caitlin\u2019s way of processing grief\u2014through drawings, lists, and a focus on \u201cbeing kind\u201d\u2014is so authentic that many parents have told me it helped their own neurotypical kids understand a sibling or classmate who thinks differently. I always stock these books because I know they fill a gap: so many families are looking for books that explain neurodiversity without making the character\u2019s identity a tragedy.<\/p>\n

LGBTQ+ representation is another area I prioritize, and again, it\u2019s about stories that are rooted in identity, not tokenism. Julian Is a Mermaid<\/em> by Jessica Love is a beloved picture book about a little boy named Julian who, after seeing a group of women in mermaid costumes on the subway, decides to dress up as a mermaid for a parade. His abuela initially worries, but she comes around and helps him finish his costume. This book is gentle, joyful, and focuses on Julian\u2019s creativity and self-expression, not on his abuela learning to accept his identity. It\u2019s one of those books that works for every kid: whether they\u2019re a kid who loves dressing up, a kid with two moms (or two dads), a kid who\u2019s exploring their own gender, or a kid who just loves a beautiful story. For elementary readers, George<\/em> by Alex Gino is about a trans girl named George who wants to play Charlotte in her school\u2019s production of Charlotte\u2019s Web<\/em>. Her friends and teacher initially don\u2019t get it, but George proves that she\u2019s the right person for the role. This book sparked so many important conversations when it came out, and I still get requests for it from schools looking to teach empathy. What I love most about these books is that they don\u2019t make LGBTQ+ characters \u201cspecial\u201d\u2014they\u2019re just kids who have feelings, friends, and adventures, like everyone else.<\/p>\n

Now, you might be wondering: why does this matter? I\u2019ve heard from customers that they used to worry that diverse books would \u201climit\u201d their collections, that parents would only buy books if their kid saw themselves in them. But the opposite is true. A recent study by the Cooperative Children\u2019s Book Center found that when kids see diverse characters in books, they\u2019re more likely to develop empathy, to feel connected to people who are different, and to see themselves as capable of being any kind of person. For children who are marginalized, these books can be lifelines: a kid who\u2019s shy and Korean might read The Name Jar<\/em> by Yangsook Choi and realize it\u2019s okay to take time to make friends, just like Unhei does. A kid whose family lives in poverty might read Last Stop on Market Street<\/em> by Matt de la Pe\u00f1a, where a boy and his grandmother take a bus through the city, and learn that joy can be found in small moments, even when life is hard. These books don\u2019t just tell stories\u2014they help kids feel less alone.<\/p>\n

As a supplier, my job isn\u2019t just to stock these books\u2014it\u2019s to curate them. I spend time talking to authors, reading reviews from teachers, and testing books with kids to make sure they\u2019re authentic. I\u2019ve turned down books that feature diverse characters because they felt exploitative, or because the stories treated diversity as a plot twist instead of a part of the character\u2019s life. I also make sure to have books across all age groups, from board books to young adult novels, because diversity shouldn\u2019t be only for older kids. Recently, I added a series of early readers about Muslim kids going to school and playing with friends, after a teacher told me her Muslim students were too young for chapter books but wanted something they could relate to. Small, targeted collections like that make a big difference.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a parent, teacher, or librarian looking to build a diverse collection, start with the basics: look for books by BIPOC authors, disabled authors, LGBTQ+ authors. When an author writes a story from their own identity, it\u2019s more authentic. Ask kids what they want to read\u2014they\u2019ll tell you if a character feels real. And don\u2019t shy away from books that tackle hard topics, like poverty or grief, as long as they\u2019re rooted in hope and humanity.<\/p>\n

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At the end of the day, children\u2019s books are about giving kids the chance to imagine, to feel, and to understand. When we include diverse characters, we\u2019re not just adding more stories\u2014we\u2019re helping every kid see that they belong, and that every story has a place. If you\u2019re interested in building a diverse collection for your home, school, or library, I\u2019d be happy to discuss how I can help you select the right books.<\/p>\n

Puzzle<\/a> Reference:
\nCooperative Children’s Book Center. (2022). The State of Children\u2019s Book Diversity<\/em>. University of Wisconsin-Madison.
\nRudolph, S., & Royer, D. (2014). All My Stripes<\/em>. Magination Press.
\nHern\u00e1ndez, R. M. (2021). The Kindest Red<\/em>. Arthur A. Levine Books.
\nBarnes, D., & James, G. C. (2018). I Am Every Good Thing<\/em>. Nancy Paulsen Books.
\nYang, K. (2018). Front Desk<\/em>. Arthur A. Levine Books.
\nAnderson, S. (2019). The Girl Who Speaks Bear<\/em>. Chicken House.
\nLove, J. (2018). Julian Is a Mermaid<\/em>. Candlewick Press.
\nGino, A. (2015). George<\/em>. Scholastic Press.
\nChoi, Y. (2001). The Name Jar<\/em>. Delacorte Press.
\nde la Pe\u00f1a, M. (2015). Last Stop on Market Street<\/em>. Putnam Books for Young Readers.<\/p>\n

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