Childrens Book Listing 

DISCLAIMER: The reviews contained in these listings were compiled from various electronic and print sources and do not necessarily represent the opinions or views of 4C or it's members.  They are presented here as a resource guide for those interested in further exploring related subject  matter. 
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Black Is Brown Is Tan.
by Adoff, Arnold - Illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully.                     
Harper, 1973.

The first children's book ever published that featured an interracial family deals directly and eloquently with physical differences in a family with a white father and an African-American mother.
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Hard to Be Six.
by Adoff, Arnold. - Illustrated by Cheryl Hanna.                              
Lothrop, 1991.

An active boy living in an interracial (African-American/white) family looks forward to the day when he will be able to do everything his ten-year-old sister can do.
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Through My Window.
by Bradman, Tony - Illustrated by Eileen Browne.          
U.S. edition: Silver Burdett, 1987.

When she has to stay home from school due to illness, Jo watches neighborhood activity through her bedroom window.  The same interracial (black/white) British family is featured in Wait and See (Oxford, 1988).
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Hairs/Pelitos.
by Cisneros, Sandra. -  Illustrated by Terry Ybáñez.                     
Knopf, 1994.

A bilingual picture-book edition of a chapter from the author's novela The House On Mango Street celebrates the many colors and textures of hair found in one child's multi-racial Latino family.
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It’s An Aardvart-Eat-Turtle World
by Danzinger, Paula
Reading Level: Ages 10 - up

Rosie’s African American father has remarried an African American woman. Her white mother has moved in with her white boyfriend. From Rosie’s point of view, that means neither of them has to continue dealing with having been members of a mixed race family although she does.
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Black, White, Just Right!
by Davol, M. W. - Irene Trivas (Illust.) 
Concept Books,  10/93.
Reading Level: Ages 4-8

The narrator enumerates qualities inherited from her parents--a face that's ``a little dark, a little light,'' somewhere between Mama's ``chestnut brown'' and Papa's fair skin; hair that's ``halfway in-between'' blond and black A mixed-race child celebrates the rich inclusiveness of her life in a joyful picture book.  "Just right!"  Each double-page-spread shows how members of the family are individuals with likes and dislikes, hobbies and habits that move beyond stereotype.  Mom orders vegetarian; Dad orders ribs and bagels; the child likes it all.  Mom does ballet; Dad dances to rap.  Mom likes African masks; Dad goes for modern art; the child loves the Egyptian part of the museum.  Each page has a rhyming refrain that ends, "just right".  In keeping with the upbeat text, Trivas' energetic gouache illustrations are full of movement and affection.
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The Window
by Dorris, Michael - Ken Robbins (Illustrator).                      
Disney Pr (Juv Trd), 10/97
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
ISBN:0786803010

Rayona Taylor, the heroine from Dorris's adult novels, A Yellow Raft in Blue River (1987) and Cloud Chamber (1997), is featured in this prequel, about her life as an 11-year-old who is abandoned by her Native American mother, and shuffled from place to place by her African-American father. Rayona spends time in two foster homes before she ends up with her father's mother, sister, and grandmother, who are white. Wherever she goes, Rayona has an effect on the adults--they grow and change while she stays the same. The first-person narration is sophisticated and perceptive, and seems to promise more of a story than it delivers: As the three older women and Rayona climb in a car for a cross-country trip back to the girl's mother, readers are ready for the story to begin at last, until they realize that there are only 20 pages left in the book. Dorris's lyrical writing and ability to create evocative moments will sustain those who have read his historical novels, but won't give them an idea of the real Rayona of the earlier books.
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Don’t Erase Me Stories
by Ferell, Carolyn
Reading Level: Young Adults

Don’t Erase Me features eight stories focusing on young people, mostly girls, mostly black or biracial, on the verge of being erased from society, but determined to endure. Carolyn Ferrell gives voice to urban teenagers trying to make sense of their lives. Three stories are told from the perspective of a teenaged girl, the child of a white German mother and a black American father. Her stories are poignant, harsh, unvarnished, true and her compassion for these young people redeems them.
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How My Parents Learned to Eat.
by Friedman, Ina.        Illustrated by Allen Say.                                  
Houghton, 1984.

The daughter of a Japanese mother and a Euro-American father recounts the story she has heard throughout her childhood about how her parents met.
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Billy and Belle.
by Garland, Sarah.                     
U.S. edition: Viking, 1992.

Preschooler Belle must go to school with her big brother Billy on the day Mom and Dad go to the hospital for the birth of a new baby brother. In her portrait of a lively working class British household, Sarah Garland is especially sensitive to differences in hair and skin color that exist within one interracial (black/white) family.
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TEEN SMART Ready-to-Use Activities to Help Teen Build Positive Relationships with Peers and Adults
by Grevious, Saundrah Clark 
ISBN:0130226521

Teen Smart has 154 educationally sound activities encourage teens to value their family heritages, take control of their own behaviors, and recognize that they are inextricably bound to diverse groups of people. It presents parents, teachers, counselors, and other adult members of society with concepts that help them to foster teens' awareness of their impending roles as the future adults in society. The idea of bringing others alongside rather than invalidating and/or '"putting-down" their fellow human beings is a thread that runs throughout the book. A past speaker at a 4C meeting, Ms. Grevious has written an indispensable guide for everyone who cares about survival and the need to prepare teens for their roles in helping to preserve the human species.
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Sofie's Role.
by Heath, Amy.        Illustrated by Sheila Hamanaka.                  
Four Winds, 1992.

A biracial (African-American/white) girl helps out in her family's bakery on Christmas Eve.
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Nancy No-Size.
by Hoffman, Mary. -  Illustrated by Jennifer Northway.         
U.S. edition: Oxford, 1987.

The middle child in a interracial (black/white) English family compares herself to her siblings, speaking matter-of-factly about differences in skin color.
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Two Mrs. Gibsons.
by Igus, Toyomi. Sisnett, Ana. - Daryl Wells (Illustrator).  
Childrens Book Printing, 05/96
Reading Level: Ages 4-8

There are two Mrs. Gibsons in this young girl's life, and she remembers both of them lovingly.The older Mrs. Gibson has skin the color of chocolate, big hands, and a big voice, and she gives big, fat hugs. The younger Mrs. Gibson has skin the color of vanilla, writes Japanese, and cooks the family food from her homeland. It is not until the end of the book that readers discover that the first Mrs. Gibson is the girl's grandmother, while the second is her mother. This probably will be a surprise to those too young to figure out the relationship, but even without that pertinent bit of information, children should enjoy getting to know these women.  The story does get repetitious at times; however, sturdy, detail-filled paintings will help hold attention.  An author's note tells readers that this is Igus' personal story.
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The Aunt in Our House.
by Johnson Angela - David Soman (Illustrator)                       
Orchard Books, March 1996
Reading Level: Ages 4-8

A small boy and his sister like it when Daddy's adult sister comes to live with them. The aunt (who is white) finds a place in this happy biracial family: she plays the trumpet and gives the boy and girl lessons.  She splashes with them in the biggest puddles.  Daddy paints her picture.  She helps Mama with her weaving, and they laugh together and listen to the radio.  But sometimes the aunt is sad and stares out the window all day.  She misses her home, Mama says. Soman's pictures in watercolor and pastel are fresh with the summer greens and flowers of this comfortable house in the country.  Words and portraits of the casual, funny young woman are affectionate and poignant, true to the child's viewpoint.  Many kids will relate to the story of an adult they love but whose sadness they can't fully understand.
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The Quilt.
by Jonas, Ann.                                                                            
Greenwillow, 1984.

The pattern on a young girl's quilt comes to life at night and becomes the backdrop for her dream. Although the artist rarely depicts adults in her picture books, she most likely used her own biracial (African-American/white) daughters as models for the children in her books (all published by Greenwillow) which include: Holes and Peeks (1984), The Trek (1985), Now We Can Go (1986) and Where Can It Be? (1985).
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Liliana’s Grandmother
by Jones, Leyla
Reading Level: Ages 4 - up 

A look at Liliana’s loving relationship with her white American grandmother, Mima who lives in Liliana’s home town and her grandmother Mama Gabina who lives in a Spanish-speaking country.
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Yoshiko and the Foreigner.
by Little, Otey Mimi                           
Farrar Straus & Giroux (Juv), October 1996.
Reading Level: Ages 4-8

Mimi Otey Little fills this luminous picture book with vibrant details of Japanese custom and tradition as she lovingly details the story of her parents' courtship. Full color.

Against custom and her better judgment, Yoshiko, a young Japanese woman in the 1950s, meets an American officer named Flem and must hide their friendship from her family.  Yoshiko continues to see the pleasant African American soldier Flem but knows her family would never approve. Flem asks about them and sends them gifts through Yoshiko, who continues to hide his identity.  After Flem's return to the States, she receives two letters, one for her father and one asking her to marry him.  Will her father approve?  Despite the themes of generational conflict and cultural misunderstanding, this is essentially a love story, told with humor, restraint, and subtlety. Flem demonstrates his devotion to Yoshiko through his thoughtfulness to her family and respect for her culture. The spare, well-paced narrative conveys the nature of the conflict, but the gauzy watercolor illustrations reveal the whole gamut of family feelings.  The final sentence and photograph indicate the outcome and the author's connection to the couple.  Lots of discussion can begin around this.
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Jubilee Journey
by Meyer, Carolyn
Reading Level: Ages 10 - up

Emily 13 has always regarded herself as a double French American, African American. But until accompanying her mother back home to Texas, she has never thought hard about the African American side of her history or the fact of her being biracial not affecting how some people will always see her. The strengths of this story are it’s settings, family characters, and highlighting of the oral traditions among African Americans. While I’m not generally convinced the average biracial child would’ve been so sheltered from racism, I’m convinced that this particular child was so carefully guarded growing up.
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A Visit to Amy-Claire.
by Mills, Claudia. -  Illustrated by Sheila Hamanaka.                          
Macmillan, 1992.

Amy-Claire is an Asian-American girl whose extended family includes her biracial (Asian-American/white) cousins, Rachel and Jessie.
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Everything You Need to Know About Being a Biracial/Biethnic Child
(Need to Know Library).
by Nash, Renea D.                                          
Rosen Pub Group, November 1995
Reading Level: Gr 6-8

A popular subject this publishing season is presented in a vastly trimmed down fashion characteristic of the Need to Know Library series for reluctant readers.  Nash is encouraging without being chirpy as she identifies a few common problems experienced by biracial individuals (her discussion of biethnicity is almost nonexistent) and the stages that biracial children go through as they seek to cement their identity.  She also speaks to the parents' role in helping biracial    offspring and to the dearth of appropriate role models for biracial children.  It's all pretty slight, and the photos are amateurish at best, but Nash's attempt to get readers to communicate their concerns to their parents and her conclusion that identity is the sum of many parts will start at least some teens on the road to feeling better about themselves.
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Edgar Allan
by: Neufeld, John
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
ISBN:0451167759

When the Ficketts decide to adopt Edgar Allan, they are sure they are doing a good thing--or so Reverend and Mrs. Fickett think. They don't see the small boy as a ticking time bomb. But he is--because he is black, they are white -- and their neighbors are determined to stop them. They are faced with threats, angry phone calls, a burning cross on the lawn, and an ultimatum from their oldest daughter. 12-year old Michael Fickett is a witness to the town's racism…and his life is changed forever.
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Winter Wood.
by Spohn, David.                  
Lothrop, 1991.

On a day when the thermometer registers 10 degrees below zero, an African-American boy and his white father go out to the woodpile behind their farmhouse to split logs for their woodburning stove. The same family enjoys outdoor activities in other books by this author/artist: Nate's Treasure (Lothrop, 1991), Starry Night (Lothrop, 1992), and Home Field (Lothrop, 1993).
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Bear E. Bear.
by Straight, Susan.   - Illustrated by Marisabina Russo.                     
Hyperion, 1995.

Gaila waits patiently in the laundry room while her favorite stuffed bear goes through the wash-rinse-and-dry cycles. Gaila's mom is white and her dad is African-American.
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Sun Dance at Turtle Rock.
by Viglucci, Costa Pat.                     
Stone Pine Books-Patri Pubns, December 1996
Reading Level: Ages 9-12, Gr. 5-7
ISBN:0964591499

When 12-year-old Cody comes to visit his late father's dad for the summer, they both feel prickly and uncomfortable. Cody is certain that his white grandfather is ashamed of his grandson's brown skin, and the town is clearly unacquainted with African Americans.  But his cousin Jemma proves a fun companion, and eventually Cody and his grandfather learn to trust each other.  The negligible plotting culminates in a confrontation with a bear, but the small episodes are drawn with humor and warmth. The feelings Viglucci depicts are real and complicated, and she tackles racial issues with sensitivity and honesty.
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"More More More," Said the Baby: 3 Love Stories.
by Williams, Vera B                                                       
Greenwillow, 1990.

The second story in this reassuring tribute to unconditional love features an African-American baby who has a white grandmother.
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The House You Pass On The Way.
by Woodson, Jacqueline.                                                  
Delcorte, Ages 12-up.

Jacqueline is well known for the fresh perspectives she offers on color, class, and prejudice. This moving coming-of-age novel is both a love story and an insightful exploration of such delicate subjects as interracial marriage, isolation, and sexual identity.

The family life and history of young Staggerlee Canan provide the context for this recurring theme-Stagerlee's mother is white, her father black, and home is a rural black community called Sweet Gum.  As Stagerlee struggles for identity, she must also confront racial prejudice.
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The World of Daughter McGuire.
by Wyeth, Dennis Sharon.                                      
Yearling Books, November 1995.
Reading Level: Ages 9-12,Gr. 4-6.

Eleven-year-old Daughter McGuire is having a hard time--her parents are separated, she is going to a new school, and she is now responsible every day after school for her eight-year-old brother, Satch. To make matters worse, one of the Avengers (a would-be gang with a juvenile-delinquent leader) calls her a "zebra", someone who is neither black nor white, a word she knows means someone who doesn't belong to either race.  Confused about her mixed ancestry, Daughter is
dismayed when a key class project turns out to be about family heritage.  As it turns out, the gathering of stories about her African, Irish, Jewish, and Russian ancestors gives her a sense of identity.  It also gives her a strong sense of courage, which is put to the test in an encounter with the Avengers' leader.  Daughter is a likable character in a believable situation, and her "rite of passage" into her own sense of self is told in an easy, relaxed style that will attract a wide range of readers.
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Ginger Brown : Too Many Houses (First Stepping Stone Books).
by Wyeth, Dennis Sharon. Wright Cornelius Van (Illustrator). 
Random House (Merchandising), 6/96.
Reading Level: Ages 4-8

Six-year-old Ginger Brown's parents are divorcing at a time when Ginger, the product of an interracial marriage, is struggling with her identity.  Already puzzled by the differences in skin color she sees within her immediate family, she is further confused by the fact that her grandparents, named Brown, are really pinkish white like Daddy, while Nana and Granddaddy, named Gray, are brown like Mommy. It is these age-appropriate thoughts, revealed through Ginger's bittersweet first-person narration, that make the story work so well, though occasionally Ginger seems far too wise for her
six years.  This easy chapter book will appeal to transitional readers and provide reluctant readers with an alternative to lengthier novels.
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