Best Diversity Books for Preschoolers

Reading to your preschooler will not only help them learn to read, but can instill a love of reading in them. Reading will help your child succeed in life. It should be about joy. It is also a great opportunity to teach your children. I believe, especially for those of us who are white, we have a responsibility to our children and to society to teach our children about diversity early and often. So I put together some of my favorite preschool books on this page that introduce children to the idea of differences. So put away your toys and pick up your books!

Diversity books for preschoolers can be as simple as books about accepting differences and as deep as telling about atrocities that were committed in the past. They can be books that are focused on children of color because your child deserves to build a love for all humans. I have tried to include a variety of these books in this list.

1. Encounter

A story from the perspective of a young Indigenous boy. He tells of his first Encounter with white people and how though there were many warnings, he and his people did not listen.

2. Eyes That Kiss in the Corners

Some girls have deep blue eyes. Some have bright green eyes. And some have Eyes that Kiss In the Corners. A beautiful story about an Asian girl and her eyes that make her unique from others, but tie her to her family.

3. Fry Bread

Fry Bread is delicious, and it is about community. This common children’s story is a Native Story about how to make dry bread. Or at least how it brings together community. It is a traditional dish originating back to the Diné people as a survival meal.

4. I Am Not a Number

A deep, beautiful story, I Am Not a Number is about a Native child who is stolen from her people and forced to accept white traditions in a boarding school. This book was intense, and I will say my 4-year-old needed time to debrief it. It includes violations of rights such as cutting sacred hair and burning a child because they spoke their mother tongue. Despite how intense it is, I feel it is very important not to look away from the atrocities committed against Indigenous people of our countries (USA and Canada specifically). I highly, highly recommend this one.

5. Not Your Typical Dragon

Young Crispen Blaze is Not Your Typical Dragon. He doesn’t breath fire like everyone else. Follow his journey as he makes an unexpected friend and learns to accept himself, even though he is different.

6. Stellaluna

Sweet Stellaluna is a young bat who loses her mother when she is young and is raised by birds. One day she meets other bats and learns about bat life. In the end, her bird siblings and her are very different, but they are still a family.

7. Stolen Words

Stolen Words is a story about a Cree grandfather who must explain to his granddaughter that he cannot speak their language anymore because of his time at a Canadian residential school. She asks questions to try to understand and he answers the best that he can. Before you question if this is something for your child to learn about, know that the last residential school in Canada closed in 1996. That is not even long enough ago to be history yet.

8. Tikkie Tikki Tembo

A Chinese folklore, this talks about the origins of names. Young Tikki Tikki Tembo has a great long name, but that long name causes too much delay when he is in trouble.

9. TūTū and the Ti Plant

A Hawaiian story, TuTu and the Ti Plant talks about how two children and their grandmother must weather a storm. They discuss the importance of the Ti plant in their culture to keep them safe. It is sprinkled with Hawaiian words as well.

10. We Are Water Protectors

This book talks about how sacred water is from the Indigenous perspective. We Are Water Protectors is about the Dakota Access Pipeline that cuts through their lands and where it spills it ruins everything. It depicts a child fighting for the rights of the land and protecting the water.

11. When We Were Alone

Another beautiful story about an Indigenous child in a residential school. This child arrives with her sister, and while they follow the rules of the whites, they remember their home. But only, When We Were Alone, where it is safe, as they try to find what makes them happy and keep their traditions.