What is all this about books for kids?

So, I asked for a category name for books that are about cultures and people other than white English speakers. The best I got was multi-cultural, but that wasn’t quite what I was looking for, so until someone gives me a better recommendation, I’m going with Non-WASP.

You’re going to start to get some overlap here, because I have books that are about female characters that are also minorities etc.

Verna Aardema: Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears (1975)

The mosquito said, “I saw a farmer digging yams that were almost as big as I am”

“What’s a mosquito compared to a yam?” snapped the iguana grumpily. “I would rather be deaf than listen to such nonsense!” Then he stuck two sticks in his ears and went off, mek, mek, mek, mek, through the reeds.

Ada Twist Scientist (2016)

Cynthia Chin-Lee: Amelia to Zora (2008)

Jen Cullerton Johnson: Seeds of Change (2010)

Demi: One Grain Of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale

Long ago in India, there lived a raja who believed that he was wise and fair, as a raja should be.

Cathy Goldberg Fishman: When Jackie and Hank Met (2012) (Sports) (History) (Non-WASP)

Jackie and Hank were born eight years and one thousand miles apart.

Nobody knew these babies would grow up and play baseball. Nobody knew Jackie and Hank would meet and become heroes.

Arthur A. Levine : The Boy Who Drew Cats

In fifth grade this story was in my reading book. There weren’t any pictures, but the story stuck in my mind, and eventually I decided to try and find the story. First, there are several versions of this story. The one I first read was the more gruesome of the tales.

Avoid large places at night–keep to small!

Paul Goble: The Girl Who Loved Horses

Susan Hood: Ada’s Violin: The Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay (Music)

Rachel Isadora: The Princess and the Pea

Ezra Jack Keats: Goggles (1969)

“Archie, look what I found,”
Peter shouted through the pipe.
“Motorcycle goggles!”
Archie watched Peter through the hole.
He listened and smiled.

The Snowy Day (1962)

I love winter and the snow, so this was an easy pick for me.

Kathleen Krull: Wilma Unlimited (2000)

No one expected such a tiny girl to have a first birthday. In Clarksville, Tennessee, in 1940, life for a baby who weighed just over four pounds at birth was sire to be limited.

But most babies didn’t have nineteen older brothers and sisters to watch over them.

Most babies didn’t have a mother who knew home remedies.

Gerald McDermott: Anansi the Spider

One year I received a book that was a collection of folktales from around the world (that book will come up later) and some of my favorite tales were Anansi the Spider tales.

It’s one of the reason I was so delighted by Neil Gaiman‘s American Gods, because of Aunt Nancy.

Rafe Martin: Rough Faced Girl

Arlene Mosel: The Funny Little Woman (1972)

Long ago, in Old Japan, there lifed a funny little woman who liked to laugh, “Tee-he-he-he,” and who liked to make dumplings out of rice.

Arlene Mosel: Tikki Tikki Tembo (1968)

Once upon a time, a long time ago, it was the custom in China to give firstborn sons great, long, important names. Second sons were given only little, short names.

In a small village there lived a mother with two sons. The second son was called Chang, which means “little or nothing”. But the first son was called Tikki tikki tembo nosa rembo chari bari ruchi pip pen pembo, which means “the most wonderful boy in the whole world”.

Mal Peet: Cloud Tea Monkeys (2000)

Tashi and the monkeys met in their usual place, where the endless rows of tea bushes were broken by a jumble of rocks and a tree spread its shadow on the ground. Here she sat and crossed her legs. The monkeys watched her with their deep, serious eyes.

Andrea Davis Pinkney: Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra (2006) (Music)

You ever hear of the jazz-playin’ man, the man with the cats who could swing with his band? He was born in 1899, in Washington D.C. Born Edward Kennedy Ellington. But wherever young Edward went, he said, “Hey, call me Duke.”

Christopher Raschka: Charlie Parker Played Be Bop (1997)

Never leave your cat alone.

Be bop.

Mysterious Thelonious (1997)

John Coltraine’s Giant Steps (2002) (Music)

I love jazz. It’s the music that influenced so much of what we listen to day, but the music and the men who composed and played it were just as amazing.

Allen Say: Tea with Milk (1999)

From the window in her room, the girl could see the city of San Francisco. She imagined that it was a city of many palaces. And one day her father would take her there, he had promised, riding on a paddle steamer across the shining bay.

Her parents called her Ma-chan, which was short for Masako, and spoke to her in Japanese. Everyone else called her May and talked to her in English.

Click through on any of the title (or book covers) to see the books on Amazon. (And if you buy, I get a few parts of pennies to build up towards a book for me!)