Early Childhood: Learning About Family Structures

Titles that we recommend are featured below. The ones with reviews are noted with an asterisk (*). Some titles are recommended with a caveat.

This booklist is guided by the anti-bias goals related to Diversity in Family Structure in Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves, Second Edition (p. 165):

Children will talk comfortably about their own families from their personal experience.
Children will show awareness and acceptance of different kinds of families beyond their own and appreciate that different kinds of families love and care for their children.
Children will develop skills to recognize and question unfair depictions or invisibility of different kinds of families.
Children will learn and practice language and actions to resist teasing or rejection of themselves or classmates based on their own and others’ family structures.

We offer a selection of books on adoptive families, multiracial/multiethnic families, blended/extended families, co-custody families, conditionally separated families (due to deployment, illness, transnational, etc.), foster families, families with members of the LGBTQ+ community, family members with disabilities, migrant families, single-parent families, and incarcerated family members.

See more recommended titles: Grandparents and Elders and Incarceration.

By Leonarda Carranza and Rafael Mayani (Illustrator)

By Jorge Argueta, Luis Garay (Illustrator)

By Justin Richardson, Peter Parnell, Henry Cole (Illustrator)

By Rigoberto Gonzalez, Cecilia Alvarez (Illustrator)

By Nonieqa Ramos and Paola Escobar (Illustrator)

By Nancy Redd and Nneka Myers (Illustrator)

By Sally J. Pla

Between Us and Abuela: A Family Story from the Border *

By Mitali Perkins and Sara Palacios (Illustrator)

The Big Bed*

By Bunmi Laditan, Tom Knight (Illustrator)

By Zetta Eliot

By Supriya Kelkar and Noor Sofi (Illustrator)

By John Farrell, Maurie Jo Manning (Illustrator)

By Joanna Ho, Liz Kleinrock, Dung Ho (Illustrator)

By Charlotte Zolotow, LeUyen Pham (Illustrator)

By Kelly Starling Lyons

By Truong Tran, Ann Phong (Illustrator)

By Debbie Bailey, Susan Huszar (Photographer)

By Maribeth Boelts, Lauren Castillo (Illustrator)

By Leslea Newman, Laura Cornell (Illustrator)

By Catherine Hernandez and Syrus Marcus Ware (Illustrator)

By Radhiah Chowdhury and Lavanya Naidu (Illustrator)

By Julie Nelson, PH.D., Mary Gallagher (Illustrator)

Knock Knock: My Dad's Dream for Me *

By Daniel Beaty

By Dan Yaccarino

By Eric Hoffman, Eida de La Vega (Translator), Celeste Henriquez (Illustrator)

By Uma Mishra-Newbery, Lina Al-Hathloul, and Rebecca Green (Illustrator)

Love*

By Matt de la Pena, Loren Long (Illustrator)

By Debby Slier

Luis Paints the World*

By Terri Farish

By Nadia L. Hohn and Irene Luxbacher (Illustrator)

By Nina Lacour and Kaylani Juanita (Illustrator)

Mamas Just Like You! *

By Sinnah Bangura, Marilyn Ramirez, and Alex Perkins (Illustrator)

Mama’s Nightingale: A Story of Immigration and Separation*

By Edwidge Danticat, Leslie Staub (Illustrator)

By Mónica Mancillas and Erika Meza (Illustrator)

Me and Ms. Too *

By Laura Ruby and Dung Ho (Illustrator)

By Ken Setterington, Alice Priestley (Illustrator)

By Kimberlee Graves, Lucyna A. M. Green (Illustrator)

By Karen Hesse

By Ann Herbert Scott

By Julie Vivas (Illustrator), Margaret Wild

By Niki Daly

By Pat Mora, Cecily Lang (Illustrator)

The Rainbow Parade *

By Emily Neilson

Sebastian's Apartment Family *

By Sholachauntel Shoda, Tayla Brawner, and Jordyn Flood (Illustrator)

By Danya Carter, Samaria Short, and Camryn Simms (Illustrator)

Sometimes We Do *

Omowale Moses

Sona Sharma, Very Best Big Sister? *

By Chitra Soundar and Jen Khatun (Illustrator)

By Miriam B. Schiffer and Holly Clifton-Brown (Illustrator)

By Brenda Reeves Sturgis

By Sally Derby

Ten Beautiful Things *

By Molly Griffin and Maribel Lechuga (Illustrator)

By Joanna McClintick and Juana Medina (Illustrator)

By Rene Colato Lainez, Anthony Accardo (Illustrator)

By Archaa Shrivastav

Where Three Oceans Meet *

By Rajani Larocca and Archana Sreenivasan (Illustrator)

By Sherley Anne Williams, Carole Byard (Illustrator)

By Nonieqa Ramos and Jacqueline Alcántara (Illustrator)

By Shirin Shamsi and Manal Mirza (Illustrator) Spanish edition available: La bendición de Zahra: un relato de Ramadán

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By Shirin Shamsi and Manal Mirza (Illustrator)
Spanish edition available: La bendición de Zahra: un relato de Ramadán