Books About Many Cultures, Many Realities

It is so easy to fall into the trap of thinking that our lives are the only reality. When you read about other cultures and the realities of other people, you gain incredible insight into the way the entire world works, instead of your tiny portion of it.

Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid

The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich

Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya

The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis

Buried Onions by Gary Soto

Chandra’s Secrets by Allan Stratton

Child of the Owl by Laurence Yep

Children of the River by Linda Crew

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Cuba 15 by Nancy Osa

El Bronx Remembered by Nicholasa Mohr

Esperanza Rising Pam Munoz Ryan

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

Fly Girl by Omar Tyree

The Friends by Rosa Guy

Go and Come Back by Joan Abelove

Habibi by Naomi Shihab Nye

A Hero Ain’t Nothing But a Sandwich by Alice Childress

Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan

House Made of Dawn by M. Scott Momaday

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez

Imani All Mine by Connie Porter

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

Jazz Country by Nat Hentoff

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

Like Sisters on the Homefront by Rita Williams-Garcia

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

Maya Running by Anjali Banerjee

The Meaning of Consuelo by Judith Ortiz Cofer

Memories of Sun by Jane Kurtz

The Other Side of Truth by Beverly Naidoo

Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida by Victor Martinez

Roots by Alex Haley

Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood by Benjamin Alire Saenz

Seedfolk by Paul Fleischman

Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind by Suzanne Fisher Staples

Shizuko’s Daughter by Kyoko Mori

The Star Fisher by Laurence Yep

A Step from Heaven by An Na

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Under the Persimmon Tree by Suzanne Fisher Staples

The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera

When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago

A Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris