6 Must-Read Books to Celebrate Diversity for Middle and High School Students

Diverse literature is essential for students to embrace and understand diversity in the classroom.It is important to find books that resonate with all students, and for students to see themselves and their classmates reflected in books. My hope is to use diverse literature to help make the world a better place and to teach students to be more inclusive.

Middle School:

1. New Kid by Jerry Craft

New Kid is about a boy named Jordan Banks, a seventh-grade student who dreams of becoming a famous cartoonist. It is the story of how Jordan navigates being in a new prestigious private school that his parents forced him to attend instead of enrolling him into his dream art school. At his new school, diversity is low and the struggle to fit in is real. He is middle-class and a person of color, so he stands out on both accounts at school. This book explores microaggressions, the tiny things that kids do to other kids to keep them down, and Jordan tires of keeping his cool when he doesn’t always want to.

2. Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga

Other Words for Home is a modern-day story about immigration and bravery. It tells the story of a young girl named Jude who must leave Syria and move to the United States. It is about her desire to start her new life in America while she still honors the family and life she left behind in Syria. It is a story about losing and finding home and most importantly finding yourself.

3. When Stars are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed

When Stars are Scattered is a true story of Omar and his younger brother, Hassan, and how they overcome the struggles of living in a refugee camp in Kenya, Africa. They were separated from their mother after soldiers attacked their Somalian village. The book is about the struggles that he faces growing up in a refugee camp, and it truly highlights what it means to be a refugee.

High School:

4. Dear Martin by Nic Stone

Dear Martin is about an African American student named Justyce that strives academically and socially to adjust to his surroundings in a predominately white school setting. Direct and indirect acts of racial discrimination shake him to his core as he is faced with difficult decisions and choices centered around the issue of race.

5. Dear Justyce by Nic Stone

In a sequel to Dear Martin, Dear Justyce is about the life of Vernell “Quan” Banks. The novel serves as a powerful examination of the influence of one’s environment, the existence of privilege, and the choices that will define their life. This piece of diverse literature brings the ultimate question to the reader: How does the environment and family that an individual is raised in shape the outcome of their life?

6. The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

The Sun is Also a Star teaches students about empathy and the misconceptions that Americans foster against immigrants. Literature that exposes our students to the stories and words of immigrants provides an opportunity to open their eyes to the world around them.

Hope you enjoy adding these books to your classroom.