Last fall, as Thanksgiving neared, I was reading to my children numerous books on the topic of giving thanks. I was pleasantly surprised when we opened one of these books and saw that it featured a mixed-race family.
Up until that point, I had seen very few children’s books that feature families like mine (a black parent and a white parent with mixed kids). These books certainly are out there, but the vast majority of children’s books feature homogeneous families. My kids enjoy and learn from these books, but it certainly is nice to open a book and see characters that reflect their reality!
I began searching our local library system for books on mixed-race families. I was pleased to find quite a few! I’ve divided these books into two categories:
- Books that aren’t about race. These books feature mixed-race families, but the books aren’t about the topic of race. They are about relationships, the seasons, holidays, etc.
- Books that are about race. These books that feature mixed-race families discuss race, ethnicity, or culture. They are about different skin colors, the use of more than one language in the home, mixing cultural traditions, etc.
Right now we’re almost exclusively reading the former. This is because my kids are so young that they have no understanding of race. People are just people. They’ve certainly realized that there are different skin tones, but I think they see skin color in the same way they see hair color or eye color. It’s just variety. However, I imagine a day will come when they will realize our family is a little “different.” If this happens, then the latter may be very useful.
Books for kids that feature mixed-race families
Books that aren’t about the topic of race
Age range: 3-8 years
A simple, lyrical reminder about being thankful to God for everyday things like families, homes, and food.
Age range: 5-8 years
A small girls’ sneeze sets off a chain reaction of calamities that ends with a lesson in responsibility.
Age range: 1-6 years
A child’s account of all the wonders that occur near, through, and beyond a window at her Nanna and Poppy’s house.
Age range: 5-8 years
A collection of poems that describe the month-by-month activities of a New England family.
Age range: 4-8 years
A young girl lovingly cares for chicks as they grow into chickens. Please note that this book addresses the topics of sorrow and the death of animals.
Age range: 4-8 years
Fun accounts of the wacky ways friends try to pull a young boy’s loose tooth.
Age range: 1-7 years
A celebration of the loving interactions within three baby-grownup dyads.
Age range: 3-7 years
Three children find ways to entertain themselves indoors when they can’t go outside because of the rain.
Age range: 4-8
A depiction of the early milestones (e.g., smiling, crawling, blowing kisses) of a firstborn child.
Age range: 4-8 years
A young girl takes note of the signs of autumn: Apples being picked, leaves falling, geese flying south, etc.
Books that are about the topic of race
Age range: 4-8 years
A poem that shares how the members of an interracial family delight in one another and in life.
Age range: 4-7 years
An account of how one boy’s parents learned to compromise and learned about each other’s cultures.
Age range: 4-8 years
A mixed-race girl by the name of Marisol McDonald learns that it is okay to be who she is, even if this means combining things that seem mismatched.
Age range: 4-8 years
A young girl learns about her biracial identity as she and her grandfather learn to speak each other’s language.
Age range: 5-8 years
A young boy takes a baked good that represents his Jewish and Mexican backgrounds to his school’s International Day.
Age range: 5-8 years
A young girl experiences the joys of her European and Mexican ancestries as she spends her weekends with her grandparents.
Age range: 8-10
A boy and his classmates learn about diversity, family, and heritage.
Age range: 4-8 years
Three unique bear cubs learn that they are each special to their parents just because.
Final thoughts
I hope you get to read a few of these with your kids! Regardless of what skin tone or tones comprise your family, you’ll find a few gems among these books.
Are you aware of other books that feature mixed-race families? If so, please share about these in the comments section below.
Shared at the following:
Modest Monday, You’re the Star, Happy Now, Homemaking Linkup, Encouraging Hearts and Home, Thoughtful Thursday, Awesome Life Friday, Friday Frivolity, and Over the Moon.
Love this! I’m trying to build a small collection of books as I prepare to foster children. As a new parent and person of non-brown ethnicity/ancestory/national origin, posts like this are invaluable to me as I look to be culturally sensitive and inclusive of all kinds of kids that may walk through the doors of my home, no matter what their background/ethnicity/ancestory/national origin. I want to everyone to see themselves in the pages of books being read, and to see a true reflection of our world— diverse in every way. Thank you!
I love that you are opening your home and heart to foster children, Catherine. I think the fact that you want to build a library of books that will mirror the kids in your home speaks to how blessed they will be to be in your care!
Like the above commenter, my husband and I do not have a mixed race family, but we hope to someday. Currently we have two biological children. We hope to have more in the future both biologically and by adoption. We would be happy to adopt any child the Lord leads us to regardless of race! And in fact would love to have a family like His, with members of every tribe, tongue, and nation! But we recognize that there would be challenges in that, so even now, when we are by no means prepared for adoption (I have health problems we are working to resolve and our adoption fund isn’t there yet) we have begun to assess what we have in our home in terms of diversity and whether it would make our potential multiracial family members comfortable. This list is a blessing and I will most likely be putting several from the first category on our list for birthdays and Christmas! I just want to add that the book “I Love You Just Because” has either a sequel or prequel which we own called “I Love You All The Same.” I love that one because it is good for multiracial families but is subtle enough that, as you mentioned, it doesn’t treat different skin color as any more significant than different hair or eye color. It is good for teaching any siblings- whether all the same race, all biological or multiracial, some adopted, whatever- that their parents appreciate them AND their differences. I assume it would also work for children who may appear different from one parent or the other. At any rate, as I mentioned above, you are blessed to have a diverse family because your family’s diversity reflects the diversity of God’s family! Praying that all of our families will reflect His in love and truth and in whatever individual ways He has formed us for! Thank you for the list!
I Love You All The Same looks great! I’ll have to keep it in mind for upcoming birthdays. Thanks for sharing about it, Kathryn. Thanks also for the reminder that our families can reflect God’s love and truth with or without racial diversity.
Grace as you move forward on this journey of growing your family!
As an ex child minder, children’s books that are multicultural were always on my bookshelf, I am not familiar with any of these, they must be quite here#thoughtfullthursday@”full”thursday@_karendennis
Hi Karen,
Some of these really are great! I’d love to hear which multicultural books were your favorites.