Building Belonging Week: Recommended Picture Books by Theme
updated by the HCSD Librarians 9/2026
Embedded Files
Summer Reading List Now Available! Click on Icon Below or Stop by the Library!
We All Belong
This is a School by John Schu
Dictionary for a Better World: Poems, Quotes, and Anecdotes from A to Z by Irene Lathan & Charles Waters
All are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold
The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson
Frybread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Maillard
I Play Too? by Mo Willems
It Began With a Page: How Gyo Fujikawa Drew the Way by Kyo Maclear
Celebrating Differences
Julian Is a Mermaid (LGBTQ+) by Jessica Love
I Color Myself Different (Black experience) by Colin Kaepernick
All My Stripes: A Story for Children with Autism by Shaina Rudolph and Danielle Royer, illustrated by Jennifer Zivoin.
How to Build a Hug: Temple Grandin and Her Amazing Squeeze Machine (autism) by Amy Guglielmo
Wanda Hears the Stars (blindness) by Amy S. Hansen and Wanda Díaz Merced *new*
I Talk Like a River (stuttering) by Jordan Scott
Many Things at Once (multicultural families) by Veera Hiranandani *new*
A Fish Like Me (wheelchair use) by Jamie Summer *new*
Listen: How Evelyn Glennie, a Deaf Girl, Changed Percussion by Shannon Stocker
You’re So Amazing (limb differences) by James Catchpole
Monster Hands (American Sign Language) by Karen Kane and Jonaz McMillan
A Boy and a Jaguar (stuttering) by Alan Rabinowitz
A Walk in the Words (dyslexia) by Hudson Talbott
Am I Even a Bee? (finding identity) by Felicity Muth
They All Saw a Cat (visual perception differences) by Brendan Wenzel
Henry, Like Always (autism) by Jenn Bailey
Out Into the Big Wide Lake (Down Syndrome) by Paul Harbridge
What Happened to You? (limb differences) by James Catchpole
Ursula Upside Down (seeing the world differently) by Corey Tabor
Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress (LGBTQ+) by Christine Baldacchino
Finding Common Ground
Eyes That Kiss in the Corners by Joanna Ho
Just Ask!: Be Different, Be Brave, Be You by Sonia Sotomayor
Playing at the Borders: A Story of Yo-Yo Ma by Joanna Ho
Luli and the Language of Tea by Andrea Wang
Whoever You Are by Mem Fox
We Are One by Param Patel and Pinky Mukhi
Say My Name by Joanna Ho
Being an Upstander
What Can a Citizen Do? by Dave Eggers
The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family by Ibtihaj Muhammad
The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig
Speak Up, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell
Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson
Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation by Duncan Tonatiuh
Just Help! How to Build a Better World by Sonia Sotomayor
The Power of One by Trudy Ludwig
We are always updating and growing our list! If you have a favorite book that celebrates belonging, inclusion, or community, we would love to hear your recommendations. Please share them with your teacher-librarian.
North: Nzapparelli@hcsdk8.org
South: Nglasgo@hcsdk8.org
West: Jcarroll@hcsdk8.org
Page updated
Report abuse