In the wake of all the horrible news in our country, it’s important we continue to spread love, tolerance, and acceptance to one another and perhaps more importantly – the next generation. I hope so so much that they grow up more tolerant than the one before them and the one before them.
I put a lot of thought as to the books I was buying Henry even before he was born – I made sure they were about educational things like insects and planets and animals and colors and the universe – things like This Is How We Do It, Here We Are, and the Hello, World! educational board book series. And I ensured he had a number of books that spotlighted female leading characters– things like She Persisted, Maya Angelou, and Julia, Child.
That being said, I really wanted to get him more books that focused on inclusivity and celebrating peoples’ differences. I found a lot of great ones – mostly board books since that is still the phase we are in. See the list below!
The next order I will place will be books that celebrate all things typically deemed girly – he right now doesn’t have anything with unicorns or ballerinas and heck – we don’t even have Madeline, and quite frankly, we should! Shame on me for sticking to gender norms in that sense. Speaking of which my boy loves butterflies (and balls and helicopters – those are his three favorite things), and I’ve been on the hunt to get some sort of butterfly art for his room – unfortunately there’s not a ton of wall space in there. I like this, this, and this.
But back to books! Here are 18 great baby books that focus on inclusivity and diversity!
3. Hello World!
6. And That’s Why She’s My Mama
7. Be Kind
12. We’re Different, We’re the Same
13. Ten Tiny Babies
15. The Families of Our Neighborhood
16. The Snowy Day
18. Corduroy
Do you own any? Recommend any not listed here? Please share in the comments!
Love this post! Thank you! My son is 4 months old and I love checking your and Danielle’s blogs for all the Mom (and style and home decor) content!
Our son will turn 3 next month, and I also try to be conscious of what subtle messages he’s getting (good and bad) through the books we choose. Pink is for Boys is a favorite; we also LOVE Jabari Jumps, Julian is a Mermaid, and The Word Collector–all of which also have beautiful illustrations. My mom recently bought him a book with a nice message called Someone: A Story of Acceptance that he’s really into right now, and at a free little library, we picked up Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain which is very fun to read. In general, I want to do a better job of exposing him to Native American and immigrant stories and to characters with disabilities.
Hello!!! Can you please share a link to where I can find those beautiful book shelves?