The books we give kids are a representation of the world — how we see it, what we think is important, and how we think it should be. If you have a white child (as I do) and you want to raise that child to be anti-racist (as we all should), you'll need to pay attention; it's all too easy to wind up with a bookshelf that looks exactly like your white kid...which is a problem.

It's a problem because we perpetuate bias by assuming white boys are the default, and everyone else is, well, Other. We expect kids of all genders and races to identify with books about white boys (and all girls to identify with books about white girls), but assume that books about girls are only for girls, books about Black kids are only for Black kids, books about Asian kids are only for Asian kids, and so on. When we read and talk about books with our kids, we're building their empathy; if we want white kids to be able to empathize with non-white kids, we should make sure they're seeing and reading books that invite them to do just that.

Here are a couple other things I keep in mind as I look for books (both for gifts and for my kid):

1. I look for books about daily life. Obviously, it’s incredibly important to talk about oppression and difference, but I don’t want my son to experience a book-world where white boys do fun “neutral” stuff and non-white kids have “ethnic” experiences. I have plenty of picture books about experiences of discrimination and oppression, and fully intend to read and talk about them when my son's a little older and able to track the story better.
2. The books should meet kids where they are in terms of language development, vocabulary, imagery, and complexity. I don't love when board books have a post-graduate reading level. If you’ve got an alphabet book where “L” stands for “LGBTQIA,” I think you can print it on regular paper, because it’s going to make sense sometime after its readers learn not to chew the book.
3. I don’t love abridgments, biographies, or other adaptations of adult stories. This is kind of a personal preference, and I know there are a whole bunch of super cute toddler-level biographies in board book form. We’ll read those stories a couple years down the line.

Let's get to the books!

You can find all of these online, but please buy them at your local bookstore if you have one. Even if they have to order them, it helps them learn about more diverse books and potentially start carrying them as part of their regular stock.

Books with non-white kids as the subjects

• Yo! Yes? by Chris Raschka (we have the non-board book, but it looks like it's coming out in board book format soon)
• I Am So Brave!, I Can Do It Myself!, and I Know A Lot! by Stephen Krensky, illustrated by Sara Gillingham. (Right now, our favorite page is "I know stoves are hot," because we're really working on standing back from a hot stove.)
• Rain! by Linda Ashman, illustrated by Christian Robinson
• Baby Dance by Ann Taylor, illustrated by Marjorie van Heerden
• Baby's First Words, by Christiane Engel (A word book featuring a little girl and her two dads. Also available in Spanish/English.)
• Whose Toes Are Those? and Whose Knees Are These? by Jabari Asim, illustrated by LeUyen Pham
• More, More, More Said the Baby by Vera B. Williams (great for bedtime snuggles)
• Corduroy, by Don Freeman
• Ten Nine Eight by Molly Bang (E loves holding up his 10 clean toes next to the 10 clean toes on the first page, and he loves pointing out the little girl's daddy. This is one of our best bedtime books.)
• Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
• Say Hello! by Rachel Isadora

Books with diverse groups of humans

• Sleepy Time and Let's Play by Gyo Fujikawa
• Everywhere Babies by Susan Meyers, illustrated by Marla Frazee
• What a Wonderful World illustrated by Tim Hapgood ("the colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky, are also on the faces of people going by" is a lovely entry-point to talking about the different colors of humans we see in the world)
• How Do You Dance? by Thyra Heder (not a board book, but the loving, inclusive expressiveness of these illustrations is just spectacular, and it always gets us moving)
• How Mamas Love Their Babies by Juniper Fitzgerald, illustrated by Elise Peterson (we're in a deep mama-mama-mama phase, and this book is great for talking about mama-love)
• Our Rainbow (features assorted artists; Elliot loves to read this one and often picks it out at bedtime)
• Byron Barton books: Trucks, Boats, Planes, etc. (Let's be real, the people are not the point here. But my child is VERY excited about dump trucks, for reasons I cannot fathom, so I've bought a lot of books featuring dump trucks. At least these have a diverse collection of tiny people driving, riding, and standing around the vehicles.)
• Fast and Slow, by Britta Teckentrup
• We also love a couple of books we were given that feature art by First Nations artist Roy Henry Vickers: One Eagle Soaring and Hello Humpback.

Many of the authors and/or illustrators I listed have written other books. bell hooks has a number of delightful books with Black protagonists: Skin Again, Happy to be Nappy, Homemade Love, Grump Groan Growl, and Be Boy Buzz. Mem Fox's books also tend to have diverse groups of babies.

A few of the better lists I've seen out there:

• Bring the World Inside Your Home With These Diverse Baby Books!
• 20 children’s books to spark important discussions about race + tolerance
• Diverse books for babies and toddlers
• 50+ Children’s books that feature kids of color just being kids
• Children’s Books That Tackle Race and Ethnicity

Beyond the books, obviously

Buying board books is really just a way to start practicing and grounding conversations about the world. You might start by talking about what color different toes are, or how the kid in the book has two daddies instead of a mama and a daddy. I'll be honest: naming the whiteness of the teacher in Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? makes me a little uncomfortable, but I think it's good for me to practice working through that discomfort.

For more about how and when to have those conversations, see Raising Race Conscious Children.

Resources about the wider push for more diverse children's books

• We Need Diverse Books
• Selection is privilege
• Where Are the People of Color in Children’s Books?
• Writing the Next Chapter in Children’s Literature
• If you want to learn more about this kind of thing, I highly recommend following Katherine Capshaw. She was my advisor at UConn, and has written several fantastic books about the history of representation in children's literature.