As they grow, their clever skin does too, enjoying hugs and tickles, protecting them inside and out, and making them one of a kind.įran Manushkin’s rollicking text and Lauren Tobia’s delicious illustrations paint a breezy and irresistible picture of the human family-and how wonderful it is to be just who you are. Just savor these bouquets of babies-cocoa-brown, cinnamon, peaches and cream. You can read more about our affiliate policy here.
The San Francisco Public Library put together the following list of the books that represent diversity to encourage students to recognize that despite our differences, we’re all also very much the same.Ģ3 Books To Teach Diversity To Elementary & Middle School Students So much of great teaching is about packaging content so that students recognize it as something they need to know and can actually use, rather than something to do because I said so and you don’t want a zero do you?”īooks manage to do exactly that - students aren’t instructed, or even expected, to feel a certain way about a character or situation but the art of storytelling allows an appreciation of others, their perspective, and experiences to develop in a more natural sense. But what about authenticity? There’s nothing worse than ‘schoolifying’ something a child actually needs to know. ”In your classroom, there are dozens of natural sources of empathy.
Both can be difficult to teach, and yet our current cultural conversation makes it clear that there’s a need to bring greater understanding and context to these concepts that are such an integral part of community, and in a broader sense, humanity.Īs Terry Heick said in How To Teach Empathy: More simply put, literature is an excellent vehicle for demonstrating empathy and diversity in an impactful way.
See also 30 Of The Best Books To Teach Children Empathy George Eliot said, “The only effect I ardently long to produce by my writings, is that those who read them should be better able to imagine and to feel the pains and the joys of those who differ from them in everything but the broad fact of being struggling, erring human creatures.” Teaching complex and nuanced subjects through novels makes sense, if for no other reason than complex and nuanced topics are why many novels exist.Ī good book either gives readers the opportunity to see through the eyes of another - allowing them to slip into a life, place, and experiences they wouldn’t otherwise have - or the gift of recognizing bits and pieces of themselves in the characters within, and the comfort and sense of belonging that comes with understanding that so many human struggles are universal. A Collection Of Books For Teaching Diversity To Elementary & Middle School Students