Multicultural

Reading level: 2.8
Interest level: Pre-K-3

Amina is going to Africa and she hopes her tooth her loose tooth falls out there. She has heard from her dad that if her tooth comes out while the family is visiting Mali, Amina will receive a chicken from the Tooth Fairy. The illustrations for this book were created to look like ceramic tile by the author's father. Vibrant and true to heritage, the story gives young readers a taste of West African culture.

Interest Level: K-3
Reading Level: 3.2
This Newberry Honor book was recommended by the CCBC as one of the 50 multicultural books all students should know. This book is a beautiful story about 8 generations of black women who pass down the art of quilt making designed with secret messages and directions, known as a "Show Way". The story begins with Soonie, a slave child who is sold away from her family at the age of seven and travels through the women in her family to the narrator, who is Soonie's great granddaughter. Through it all, readers are entranced by the quilt images that illustrate the pages.

Reading Level: 4.3
Interest Level: K-3
This wonderful picture book shows and describes everyday life in Cuba. Families share daily activities as well as history and traditions that make Cuba the place it is today.

Interest Level: YA
Reading Level: 7.2
Twelve year old Leela is the beloved daughter of a wealthy Indian family. Married at 9 years old, Leela awaits the day she will move to her husband's home. Tragically, her husband dies and she is a widow at twelve years old. As tradition requires, Leela must "keep corner" for twelve months and must never marry again. Through her time of mourning, Leela works with a teacher from her school and learns of the unrest in India and of the peaceful and progressive ideas of Ghandi. Leela's eyes are opened about the caste system and the world around her as she thinks about how to liberate herself from the traditions that bind her.

Reading Level: 4.4
Interest Level: 5-8
Just before lunch on that snowy school day, a white, very white, tall boy with long curly hair showed up in Frannie's classroom. Right away some of the boys started harassing him, telling him he belonged on the other side of the highway with all the white people, calling him Jesus Boy because of his long hair. When given a chance, he introduced himself as Jesus and argued that he wasn't white. Is this new boy really Jesus? There are certainly some interesting changes occurring since his arrival. Are these changes miracles? Or hope?

Reading level: 6.1
Interest level: grades 6-8
The Middle Passage refers to the second leg of the triangular route used by traders from Europe to the New World. on the middle section of the journey, slaves would be picked up in Africa and taken to America to drop off slaves and pick up sugar cane and other commodities.
Calhoun is a newly freed slave in New Orleans in 1830. He steals away on a ship in order to escaped marriage, but finds that he is aboard a ship bound for Africa to pick up slaves. Calhoun cannot get off the ship, so he learns much about the ship, the crew, and the African tribal community that are soon to become manacled slaves aboard the Republic. Johnson stays true to the time period and even uses the vernacular of the mates aboard the slave ship. Read to find out what Calhoun learns about his African heritage and how he solves the problem of his dangerous predicament.