Inclusive Baby Books for Infants and Toddlers!
Today, there are many different options for children’s books that are inclusive of race, sexuality, gender, and ability. While classics like Strega Nona and The Hungry, Hungry Caterpillar are timeless stories for anyone’s shelf, we’ve got some suggestions if you want to bring your baby’s story time to a more contemporary place.
Everywhere Babies - This delightfully simple illustrated book takes you and your child through babies in many places throughout the world. Babies of every culture and race cared for many different ways by the people who love them all around the world!
Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story - This book, written in the perspective of a Native American family and Winner of the 2020 Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal, this story takes the reader through the sights, smells, and sounds of cooking Fry Bread with your family. Bonus - there’s a recipe at the end!
Antiracist Baby - This book, filled with rhymes, bright and beautiful illustrations, and 9 simple steps to dismantling racism every day, is sure to be a staple in every radical parent’s reading rotation!
Carry Me - Explore how different cultures cradle, carry, and transport their babies. Slings and baskets, backpacks and hips - these realistic and highly detailed photographs show babies around the world being held and loved by their caregivers in all sorts of ways.
Say Hello - Learn how to say “hello” in many different languages with your baby! From Spanish to Japanese and everything in between, the colorful photos and fun illustrations will accompany your new-found vocabulary!
RED: A Crayon’s Story - What do you do if your whole life you’ve felt blue, but you’ve been told you’re red? And no matter how hard you try to be red, you’re still blue inside. This book explores through the journey of a “red” crayon just trying to fit in, until it suddenly becomes clear that the inside doesn’t always match what’s on the label!
And Tango Makes Three - Based on the real story of Gay penguins at the NYC Zoo, this book explores how even in the animal kingdom, Love is Love and family is what you make it. Who doesn’t love penguins!?
Love Makes a Family - This book proves that no matter what your family looks like, all you need is one thing: Love. Bright illustrations depicting multiple compositions of families of all shapes, colors, sizes, genders, and abilities ensure your family fits somewhere in the pages for your baby to read about!
Prince & Knight - A script flip on a proper fairy tale. The handsome prince is rescued by his knight in shining armor, and they fall in love and live happily ever after. The best part? Their families totally support them!
These are just a few examples of excellent books promoting diversity and inclusion from an early age ! Let us know if you’ve read any of these books, or if you have suggestions please comment them below! We’d love to know what your family reads!
