30 Spring Multicultural Read Alouds

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2022 is the year of Equity for me.  Part of finding and incorporating more equitable practices in my classroom is ensuring that I allow my students access to multicultural texts.  It is my goal that they not only see themselves in the stories that they read but also be exposed to other cultures.  Spring is all about growth.  Let your students’ minds grow with these multicultural books!

Let’s check out 30 Spring Multicultural Read Alouds that is a must for any classroom or home library.  Not only do these texts have diverse characters, but their stories will “grow” in your hearts and minds as well.  I love #11 and #21 on this list.  However, I am super excited because I just ordered #19 and I think it might be my new obsession just from the description! All of the provided books are offered through our Amazon Affiliate account.

Let Our Minds Grow in Springtime

Spring Book 1 – How A Seed Grows by Helene J. Jordan

Follow the journey of how a little acorn grows into an enormous oak tree.  This is the perfect springtime environmental book to be added to any primary classroom library! 

2 – Lola Plants A Garden by Anna McQuinn

Ready for a great sequence of how to plant a garden?

Lola is inspired by a collection of garden poems that she reads with her mommy. She wants to plant her own garden of beautiful flowers, so she and her Mommy go to the library to check out books about gardening. They choose their flowers and buy their seeds. They dig and plant. And then they wait. Lola finds it hard to wait for her flowers to grow, but she spends the time creating her own flower book. Soon she has a garden full of sunflowers and invites all of her friends for cakes and punch and a story amongst the flowers.

3 – Flower Garden by Eve Bunting

In this warm and sunny picture book, follow the progress of a little girl and her father as they put together a wonderful birthday surprise for mom: a window box flower garden.

After the pansies, tulips, daffodils, geraniums, and daisies are purchased and dad and daughter take them home on the bus, they’re lovingly planted in the window box. Candles on the cake are lighted—just as Mom walks in the door to find her daughter, her husband, and her birthday surprise.

 4 – We Planted A Tree by Diane Muldrow

Here is the perfect read-aloud for springtime! I am so excited as I am patiently waiting for this book to arrive in the mail for me!  Springtime, families, culture… what more could a teacher want!?!

 In this poetic picture book with environmental themes; two young families in two very different parts of the world each plant a tree. 

As the trees flourish, so do the families . . . while trees all over the world help clean the air, enrich the soil, and give fruit and shade.

Multicultural Book 5 – Green Green: A Community Gardening Story by Marie Lamba and Baldev Lamba

Green grass is wide and fresh and clean for a family to play in, and brown dirt is perfect for digging a garden. But when gray buildings start to rise up and a whole city builds, can there be any room for green space? The neighborhood children think so, and they inspire the community to join together and build a garden for everyone to share in the middle of the city.

6 – The Adventure of Sheldon, the Mushroom by Pamela Tuck

Here is the PERFECT text to pair with your next Social-Emotional Lesson!  Focusing on acceptance and how to have empathy.  Follow a lonely little mushroom on its journey that will captivate all audiences.  As Pamela Tuck states, this text is the perfect lesson on character development and motivation as well as how to embrace diversity at a young age!  Don’t forget to use this text as a great mentor text to begin the conversation of SEL and empathy within your K-2 or 3-5 classroom!

7 – City Green by DyAnne DiSalvo-Ryan

Are you ready to bring in a compare and contrast activity?  Let’s chat about communities by comparing urban and rural.  This story is the perfect urban story with a community twist! How do people plant gardens in a city?  Why a community garden of course! Pair a Venn diagram activity with a mini-book of My Plant Grows

Nature in Springtime

8 – The Star People by S. D. Nelson

A grandmother’s love is forever in this story of remembrance and tradition from award-winning author and member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe S. D. Nelson

Sister Girl and her brother Young Wolf wander away from their village and soon find themselves far out in the surrounding prairie. They sit down in the grass and watch the clouds passing above billow to form an eagle, horses, and other creatures. Suddenly, animals begin to race past the children on the ground—followed by a wall of fire! Fleeing along with the frightened beasts, Sister Girl and Young Wolf save themselves by tumbling into a shallow stream.

The fire leaves behind ash and a barren, forbidding landscape. The children realize that they are hopelessly lost. The night is coming—how will they get home to their parents? And why are the evening stars dancing so?

Spring Book 9 – The Boy Who Didn’t Believe in Spring by Lucille Clifton

In the middle of the city, two young friends set out to find Spring.  Their search ends in a most unlikely, but utterly convincing discovery 

10 – Hello Spring! by Shelley Rotner

The bright nature photographs including diverse children will have young readers bursting with enthusiasm for the season as they learn about the changes in the landscape, as snow melts and living things begin to grow.

The simple, lyrical text speckled with action-packed verbs—Crocuses tease . . . Dandelions dot . . . Cherry blossoms pop and parade . . . —is accessible for new readers as it introduces the glories and biological rhythms of springtime.

11 – Ruby’s Birds by Mia Thompson

Meet Ruby, a plucky young girl who uncovers the wild side of her city neighborhood with the help of a grown-up friend. When Ruby realizes there are amazing birds right in her neighborhood, her imagination takes flight. Birders have a name for the moment they get hooked―they call it their spark moment. This is the story of Ruby’s spark moment, in her very own words.

This delightful story includes a seek and find element with birds hiding on nearly every page. Information about where to find all of the birds in real life follows, plus Ruby’s tips for taking a nature walk, and how to connect with Celebrate Urban Birds, a citizen-science project at the Cornell Lab.

12 – A New Beginning: Celebrating the Spring Equinox by Wendy Pfeffer

The spring equinox signals the time of year when the days are getting longer, the growing season has begun, and animals give birth to their young. With accessible, lyrical prose and vibrant illustrations, this book explains the science behind spring and shows how the annual rebirth of Earth has been celebrated by various cultures throughout the ages and the world. Teachers will appreciate the simple science, the multicultural history, and the hands-on activities in this book and Education to the Core’s Monthly Packets.

People In Spring

Multicultural Book 13 – Awasis and the World Famous Bannock by Dallas Hunt

During an unfortunate mishap, young Awâsis loses Kôhkum’s freshly baked world-famous bannock. Not knowing what to do, Awâsis seeks out a variety of other-than-human relatives willing to help. What adventures are in store for Awâsis?

This story highlights the importance of collaboration and seeking guidance from one’s community while introducing the Cree words for different animals and baking ingredients. Find a pronunciation guide and the recipe for Kôhkum’s world-famous bannock in the back of the book.

14 – How A Princess Survives Hair Day by Danielle Gordon

For those with coily hair, hair day is often met with dread as it means sitting around all day waiting for their hair to be finished. But, since it has to be done, why not make it more fun? This book is filled with fun rhymes, ideas, and suggestions to do just that. Hair day may take all day, but that is okay!

15 – Yasmin In Charge by Saadia Faruqi

In this collection of four stories, Yasmin takes charge of some sticky situations! At home, at school, or out and about, Yasmin faces challenges head-on with creativity and quick thinking. Whether she’s creating a new recipe, finding a way to rescue a stuck toy for a little friend, or calming down monkeys (and classmates!), a clever solution to any problem is just around the corner!

16 – Sarai and the Around the World Fair by Monica Brown

When Sarai outgrows her bike, she worries she’ll never get to travel anywhere. But, when Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary hosts their first Around the World Fair, Sarai learns that with a little imagination, you can go anywhere you want! Inspired by the life of viral video sensation and social activist Sarai Gonzalez.

Spring Book 17 – Honey, I Love by Eloise Greenfield

Love can be found anywhere.  Especially with poetry, like Honey, I LoveTo one young narrator, it’s the simple things that mean the most, like sharing laughter with a friend, taking family rides in the country, and kissing her mama’s arm.

18 – Pet Show! by Ezra Jack Keats

You may remember that I included another popular seasonal text from Ezra Jack Keats in Making 2022 an Equitable Year, The Snowy Day.  Here is another one that fits just perfectly in this springtime list.

How can you enter a pet show when your pet runs away? That’s the question Archie faces when he can’t find his cat to enter the neighborhood pet show. Fortunately, he does some fast thinking to win a prize!

19 – Ho’onani: Hula Warrior by Heather Gale

An empowering celebration of identity, acceptance, and Hawaiian culture based on the true story of a young girl in Hawaiʻi who dreams of leading the boys-only hula troupe at her school.

Ho’onani feels in-between. She doesn’t see herself as wahine (girl) OR kane (boy). She’s happy to be in the middle. But not everyone sees it that way.

When Ho’onani finds out that there will be a school performance of a traditional kane hula chant, she wants to be part of it. But can a girl really lead the all-male troupe? Ho’onani has to try . . .

Spring Weather

20 – Who Likes Rain? by Wong Herbert Yee

One of the first things that come to my mind regarding spring… is rain.  When spring rolls around, here come April showers.  I mean come on, they bring May-flowers.  What do May-flowers bring?  PILGRIMS!!   Sorry, that was a little joke to make you smile!  

Here is the second text in Wong Herbert Yee’s seasonal series.  This story involves all the fun things that rain brings like worms, frogs, umbrellas, and more.

Multicultural Book 21 – The Big Umbrella by Amy June Bates and Juniper Bates

One of my personal favorites on this list, if not THE favorite!

By the door, there is an umbrella. It is big. The umbrella is so big that when it starts to rain there is room for everyone underneath. It doesn’t matter if you are tall. Or plaid. Or hairy. It doesn’t matter how many legs you have.

Don’t worry that there won’t be enough room under the umbrella. Because there will always be room.

Just like that big umbrella, Education to the Core will always have room for you, our Teaching Trailblazers.

22 – Rainbow Stew by Cathryn Falwell

It’s a rainy summer day, but the vegetables in Grandpa’s garden are just waiting to be picked. Yellow peppers, purple cabbage, red tomatoes, green zucchini, orange carrots, and more. So many colors! So many delicious ingredients to slice, chop, peel, and dice for a great big pot of mouthwatering Rainbow Stew.  Pair this text with learning to draw a rainbow

23 – Rain! by Linda Ashman

One rainy day in the city, an eager little boy exclaims, “Rain!” Across town, a grumpy man grumbles, “Rain.” In this endearing book, a rainy-day cityscape comes to life. The boy in his green frog hat splashes in puddles—“Hoppy, hoppy, hoppy!”—while the old man curses the “dang puddles.” Can the boy’s natural exuberance (and perhaps a cookie) cheer up the grouchy gentleman and turn the day around?

24 – Tap Tap Boom Boom by Elizabeth Bluemle

The clouds are gathering above a city street and soon — tap, tap, boom, boom! As a thunderstorm rolls in, people of all stripes race to get away from the crackling rain and wind. With quirky wordplay and infectious rhymes, Elizabeth Bluemle crystallizes an unexpected moment of community, while G. Brian Karas’s warm illustrations show the smiles to be had when a storm brings strangers together as friends.

Spring Book 25 – Float by Daniel Miyares

A boy’s small paper boat—and his large imagination—fill the pages of this wordless picture book.

A little boy takes a boat made of newspaper out for a rainy-day adventure. The boy and his boat dance in the downpour and play in the puddles, but when the boy sends his boat floating down a gutter stream, it quickly gets away from him.

So of course the little boy goes on the hunt for his beloved boat—and when the rain lets up, he finds himself on a new adventure altogether.

Springtime is around the corner and before heading outside to view clouds try making one in your classroom! Cloud in a Jar is just one of over 50 activities in this Weather and Seasons Unit.
26 – Rain Feet by Angela Johnson

Here’s another book to add to this rain list.  This story follows a young boy in a yellow raincoat as he splashes and jumps through puddles.

27 – Umbrella by Taro Yashima

Happy Birthday, Momo!  After her birthday gifts are open she cannot wait to use her new red boots and umbrella.  All she needs now is a rainy day!  What a great story to practice patience and growing independence!

28 – Come On, Rain! by Karen Hesse

Tess knows that the only thing that can fix the endless summer heat is a good, soaking rainstorm. When it finally comes, there is shouting and dancing as everyone and everything springs back to life.

Multicultural Book 29 – Monsoon by Uma Krishnaswami

Children play, birds call, and grownups go about their business during the hot days of summer in northern India. But in the bustle of streets and the marketplace, everyone is watching, waiting for those magical clouds to bring their gift of rain to the land. Through the observations of one young girl, the scents and sounds, the dazzling colors, and the breathless anticipation of a parched cityscape are vividly evoked during the final days before the welcome arrival of the monsoon.

30 – Thunder Boy Jr. by Sharman Alexie

Thunder Boy Jr. wants a normal name…one that’s all his own. Dad is known as big Thunder, but little thunder doesn’t want to share a name. He wants a name that celebrates something cool he’s done like Touch the Clouds, Not Afraid of Ten Thousand Teeth, or Full of Wonder.

But just when Little Thunder thinks all hope is lost, dad picks the best name…Lightning! Their love will be loud and bright, and together they will light up the sky.

I hope that you found a handful or maybe even two handfuls of new books to add to your already growing library.  My goal is to expand my students’ views and exposure to multicultural texts.  Not only for my students to see themselves in the stories they are reading, but also to learn and see other cultures.  Perhaps they are new cultures to them now, but some that they will experience first hand in life one day.  What are your go-to read-alouds to share during the spring?  Would they fit this list?  Don’t be shy and share your favorite titles with us!

Written By – Christopher Olson

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Welcome! I’m Emily, Founder of Education to the Core. We are all about helping K-2 teachers by providing unlimited access to affordable printables for every subject area.