Diversity Matters to UKLA

Books recommended by UKLA Members

3-6+

Sufiya Ahmed, illustrated by Reza Dalvand – Under the Great Plum Tree 

Atinuke – Baby Goes to Market

Elizabeth Baguley – Just Like Brothers

Ashok Banker, illustrated by Sandhya Prabhat – I Am Brown 

Andrea Beaty, illustrated by David Roberts – Sofia Valdez, Future Prez 

Nathan Bryon, illustrated by Dapo Adeola – Look Up! 

Arree Chung – Mixed

Joseph Coelho – If all the world were…

Joseph Coehlo, illustrated by Robyn Wilson – No Longer Alone

Niki Daly – Jamilla’s Dress  

Saadia Faruqi illustrated by hatem Aly – Yasmin The Superhero

Mem Fox and Helen Oxenbury – Ten Little Fingers, Ten Little Toes

Sheila Hamanaka – All the Colors of the Earth

Sophie Henn – Super Duper You

Mary Hoffman – Amazing Grace

Pip Jones & Sara Ogilvie – Izzy Gizmo

Hannah Lee, illustrated by Allen Fatimarahan – My Hair 

Patricia Maclachlan, illustrated by Francesca Sanna – My Friend Earth

Anna McQuinn and Rosalind Beardshaw – Lulu’s First Day

Lupita Nyong’o, illustrated by Vashti Harrison – Sulwe 

Francesca Sanna – The Journey 

Peter Sis – Madlenka 

Chitra Soundar illustrated by Veronica Montoya – Manju’s Magic Wishes

7-10+

Kwame Alexander –The Crossover

Sophie Anderson, illustrated by Kathrin Honesta – The Girl Who Speaks Bear 

Atinuke, illustrated Onyinye Iwu – Too Small Tola 

Jasbinder Bilan – Tamarind and the Star of Ishta 

Eve Bunting – One Green Apple

Catherine Bruton – No Ballet Shoes in Syria

Aisha Bushby – A Pocketful of Stars 

Yangsook Choi – The Name Jar

Joseph Coehlo, illustrated by, Freya Hartas – Zombierella         

Nizrana Farook – The Girl Who Stole an Elephant 

Natasha  Farrant, illustrated by Lydia Corry – Eight Princesses and a Magic Mirror  

Jamila Gavin – Blackberry Blue

Kereen Getten – When Life Gives You mangoes  

Catherine Johnson – Race to the Frozen North

SP K-Mushambi – Mysterious melody  

Onjali Rauf – The Boy at the Back of the Class

Onjali Q Raúf – The Star Outside My Window 

Jason Reynolds – Patina  

Jason Reynolds – Sunny 

Nic Stone – Clean Getaway  

Information Books 3-14+

Kwame Alexander, illustrated by Kadir Nelson – The Undefeated  

Atinuke, illustrated by Mouni Feddag – Africa, Amazing Africa 

Helaine Becker, illustrated by Dow Phumiruk – Counting on Katherine

Jo Rippon – Rise Up! The Art of Protest 

Suzanne Slade, illustrated by Cozbi Cabrera – Exquisite: The Life and Poetry of Gwendoline Brooks  

Fernando Vilela, translated by Daniel Hahn – Along the Tapajós 

David Olusoga – Black and British: A Short Essential History

Jamia Wilson, illustrated by Andrea Pippin – Big Ideas for Young Thinkers  

Mireille Harper, illustrated by Lauren Quinn – Timelines from Black History 

Yuval Zommer – Big Book of Blooms  

Jamia Wilson – Young, Gifted and Black 

YA

Elizabeth Acevedo’s – The Poet X

Elizabeth Acevedo – Clap When You Land

Arvin Ahmadi – How It All Blew Up             

Samira Ahmed – Internment

Samira Ahmed – Love Hate and Other filters

Dean Atta illustrated by Anshika Khullar –The Black Flamingo

Bessora and Barroux – Alpha

Malorie Blackman – Crossfire

Malorie Blackman – Noughts and Crosses

SitaBrahmachari – When Secrets Set sail

Kathryn Erskine – Seeing Red

Ele Fountain – Boy 87 

Candy Gourlay – Bone Talk

Liz Hyder – Bearmouth 

Muhammed Khan – I Am Thunder

Muhammed Khan – Kick The Moon

Danielle Jawando – And the Stars Were Burning Brightly 

Mitch Johnson – Kick

Anna Mainwaring – Tulip Taylor

Manjeet Mann – Run Rebel 

Beverley Naidoo – Burn My heart

Beverley Naidoo – The Other side of Truth

Beverley Naidoo – Web of Lies

Louisa Reid – Gloves Off 

Jason Reynolds – For Everyone

Jason Reynolds – Look Both Ways 

Robin Talley – Lies We Tell Ourselves

Marcus Sedgwick – Saint Death 

Nikesh Shukla – The Boxer 

Nic Stone – Dear Justyce

Nic Stone – Dear Martin  

Angie Thomas – The Hate You Give 

Angie Thomas – On the Come Up

Jason Wallace – Out of the Shadows 

Renee Watson – What Momma Left Me

Michael Williams – Now is the Time for Running

Lauren Wolk – Wolf Hollow

Benjamin Zephaniah – Refugee Boy

Ibi Zoboi & Yusef Salaam – Punching the Air       

Adult

Chinua Achebe – Things Fall Apart

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Dear Ijeawele

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Purple Hibiscus

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Half of a Yellow Sun

 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – The Thing Around Your Neck

Monica Ali – Brick Lane  

Maya Angelou – I know why the Caged Bird Sings  and her poem, Still I rise.

Dean Atta – The Black Flamingo

Candice Carty-Williams – Queenie 

Angie Cruz – Dominicana

Tsi Tsi Dangarembga – Nervous Condition

Abi Daré – The Girl with the Louding Voice

Bernadine Evaristo – Mr Loverman

Bernadine Evaristo – The Emperor’s Babe

Bernadine Evaristo – Blonde Roots

Bernadine Evaristo – Girl, Woman, Other

Christy Lefteri – The Beekeeper of Aleppo 

Andrea Levy – Small Island

Andrea Levy – Long Song

Toni Morrison – Beloved 

Toni Morrison – The Bluest Eye

Olive Senior – The Pain Tree   

Lemn Sissay – My Name is Why

Zadie Smith – White Teeth

Alice Walker – The Colour Purple

Alice Walker – Possessing the Secret of Joy

Benjamin Zephaniah – The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah

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Information Books 

Akala – Natives

Kehinde Andrews – Back to Black: Black Radicalism for the 21st Century

Ta-Nehisi Coates – Between the World and Me 

Robin DiAngelo – White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism 

Reni Eddo-Lodge – Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race

Fanon, Franz –Black Skin, White Masks

Marian Kahn – Its Not about the Burqa

Maldonado-Torres, Nelson – 10 Theses on Coloniality and Decoloniality

Mignolo, Walter – On Decoloniality

Nikesh Shukla – The Good Immigrant

Lemm Sissay – My Name is Why

Wa Thiongo, Ngugi – Decolonising the Mind

Gary Younge – Stranger in a Strange Land

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Read Three ways for UK schools to improve their race relations now, by Sonia Thompson.

Read our resource: Developing a Culturally Inclusive Curriculum

Download below: CLPE’s Reflecting Realities – Survey of Ethnic Representation within UK Children’s Literature published 2020

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