Top 10 Tuesday is hosted by the good folk at the Broke and the Bookish. The theme this week is “Top 10 Books for X”.
It’s been two years since the start of the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign brought everyone’s attention to how much all kids need diverse books. Three cheers for that! Most of the book lists I’ve seen have been focused on realistic and historical fiction. The most diverse fantasy and science fiction lists were for teens – all very good, but give me a good middle grade fantasy any day. Here are 12 fantasy novels with protagonists who aren’t of white European ancestry, for both the kids who are used to seeing themselves reflected on book covers and those who aren’t.
Ambassador and Nomad by William Alexander
Bayou Magic by Jewell Parker Rhodes –
Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu
Geeks, Girls and Secret Identities by Mike Jung
Greenglass House by Kate Milford
Hoodoo by Ronald L. Smith
The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste
Shadows of Sherwood by Kekla Magoon
So You Want to Be a Wizard by Diane Duane
The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex
Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer by Kelly Jones
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin
What are your favorites?
alibrarymama 
I love love love all the lists I’m seeing featuring diverse books. I try to focus on diverse lit at my blog, and I’m hoping to do more diverse sci fi, since there’s a noticeable lack there of. I know there’s SOME out there though, so thanks for helping me find it! I’m a reading tutor for a 12 year old, and I’m positive there’s something on this list that will interest her.
My TTT: http://brownbooksandgreentea.com/2016/04/12/clearing-the-shelf-for-arc-april/
Thank you! It is hard to find, but there is diverse sci-fi out there. Stephanie at View from the Tesseract has done several lists focused on specific ethnicities – African-American, Latino/a, etc., and Charlotte at Charlotte’s Library does annual round-ups of all the diverse middle grade sci-fi and fantasy she can find being published each year.
Thanks so much!
Great list! Thanks for sharing.
I’m glad you liked it!
Awesome list. I’m putting this on my Reader’s Advisory Pinterest board.
Sweet! Thank you for letting me know!
This is a great list to share with the kids in my family. Thanks
Thank you! I hope they enjoy!