Books on Building an Inclusive Community

Picture Books
Jump to: Upper Elementary
Clicking on the book titles will take you to the catalog record for each item.

Hey Wall: A Story of Art and Community by Susan Verde
Armed with pencils, paints, dreams, and Grandma Addy's memories of how beautiful the neighborhood once was, Angel and others paint the big wall that had been cold, empty and cheerless.

Finding Kindness by Deborah Underwood
Illustrations and rhyming text describes acts of kindness and community.

Intersection Allies: We Make Room for All by Chelsea Johnson
A handy book about intersectionality that depicts the nuances of identity and embraces difference as a source of community.

Rocket Says Look Up! by Nathan Bryon
Aspiring astronaut Rocket draws her community together to see a rare appearance of the Phoenix Meteor Showers, hoping especially that her big brother, Jamal, will look up from his phone.

Auntie Yang's Great Soybean Picnic by Ginnie Lo
A Chinese American girl's Auntie Yang discovers soybeans--a favorite Chinese food--growing in Illinois, leading her family to a soybean picnic tradition that grows into an annual community event.

Thank You, Garden by Elizabeth Garton Scanlon
Illustrations and rhyming text explore a community garden and what grows there, from flowers and fruit to friendships.

 Upper Elementary

What I Came to Tell You by Tommy Hays
A boy finds solace in his art and community after his mother dies and his father retreats into himself.

Genuine Sweet by Faith Harkey
Genuine Sweet, twelve, of tiny, impoverished Sass, Georgia, inherited the ability to grant any wish except her own but with help from new friends, her life and town are improving until unexpected trouble arrives and Genuine learns the difference between wishing for a better life and building one.

Night Sky Dragons by Mal Peet
Young Yazul's love for making kites with his grandfather meets with disapproval from his father, a lord along the Silk Road, until their community is attacked by bandits and Yazul and his grandfather use their skills to help.