Culturally Responsive Classroom Libraries Titles

Culturally Responsive Classroom Libraries

All APS elementary, middle, and K-8 schools received Culturally Responsive Classroom Libraries in Fall of 2019. In order to help children feel welcomed and engaged in school, we must show our students that we see and value all aspects of them, including their language and culture. It is our hope that by putting books in front of children in which their cultures  or cultures of other students are represented, we can positively impact a student’s acceptance of their own race and others’ races. These culturally responsive texts are a start to an initiative that we will continue to expand yearly.

The list of books, below, was created by APS departments Language and Cultural Equity (LCE) and Library Services and Instructional Materials (LSIM). In 2017, LCE and LSIM began collaborating on the Multicultural Library, a resource for teachers, librarians, and other APS employees to check out high-quality, engaging, and culturally responsive books.

The Multicultural Library then served as a starting point for the creation of the Culturally Responsive Classroom Libraries. LCE and LSIM worked with educators who are members of the African American, Native American, Hispanic, and LGBTQ+ communities to gather input about which titles to include.

Kindergarten - 2nd Grade

• Red: a Crayon's Story
• And Tango Makes Three
• The Princess and the Warrior
• Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress
• This is the Rope
• A Different Pond
• Love
• Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos
• Danza: Amalia Hernadez and El Ballet
• Crown: an Ode to the Fresh Cut
• Mae Among the Stars
• Fall in Line, Holden
• Dreamers
• Under My Hijab
• Tiny Stitches: The Life of Medical Pioneer Vivien Thomas
• Duke Ellington: the Piano Prince and His Orchestra
• Let the Children March
• Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History
• Adrift at Sea: a Vietnamese Boy's Story of Survival
• Lowriders to the Center of the Earth
• Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets
• All Around Us
• Before She Was Harriet
• Drum Dream Girl
• Yo Soy Muslim
• Alma and How She Got Her Name
• The Field
• Islandborn

 Early Chapter

• Make Way for Dyamonde Daniel
• Lola Levine is Not Mean (Book 1)
• Juana and Lucas
• Ling and Ting: Not Exactly the Same

3rd - 5th Grade

• Chester Nez and the Unbreakable Code
• Son Who Returns
• In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse
• The Birchbark House
• Step up to the Plate, Maria Singh
• Hurricane Child
• They Call Me Guero: a Border Kid's Poems
• How Tia Lola Came to Stay
• Melissa (previously titled George)
• Aminas Voice
• Stella by Starlight
• Long Pitch Home
• Inside Out and Back Again 

 6th - 8th Grade

• Listen Slowly
• How I Became a Ghost
• Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team
• Kira Kira
• Code Talker
• Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (8th Grade)
• Enrique's Journey
• The Red Umbrella
• El Deafo
• Brown Girl Dreaming
• Enchanted Air
• Full Cicado Moon
• As brave as you
• The Distance Between Us
• The Only Road
• Long Way Down
• The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora
• Piecing me Together
• #Notyourprincess (8th Grade)
• Lucky Broken Girl
• Pashmina
• First Rule of Punk
• Booked
• Better Nate Than Ever
• Crossroads
• Bravo! Poems About Amazing Hispanics
• Under the Mesquite
• Dreamer
• One Crazy Summer
• Ghost
• I Lived on Butterfly Hill
• Crossover
• Stars Beneath Our Feet
• Amal Unbound
• The House you Pass on the Way
• The Hate U Give (8th Grade)
• Before We Were Free