Books with diverse lead characters

[BookRecsPleaseAndThankYou]

Looking for recommendations for favourites books please with diverse characters, particularly boy lead characters.

I've found lots with diverse girl characters but much less with boys.

Any suggestions please?

Wonder by RJ Palacio, about a young boy with a facial difference. Lovely book.

When you say ‘diverse’ what are you actually looking for? Different for the sake of different? A black MC? A disabled MC? A story set in Asia or Africa??

All of the above, (except different for the sake of being different).

Teacher, looking to diversify my classroom bookshelf to better represent the children I teach so they see themselves in the books in our classroom. We currently have more animal books than those with children main characters representing different cultures, nationalities, skin colours, physical impairments and so on.

I have spoken to my leadership team, they're supportive, but I need to tell them a list of books.

The Boy In The Bubble by Stewart Forster. This is about a boy who has to live in a germ free bubble in hospital.
The Boy At The Back of the Class by Onjali Rauf. Main character is about a boy whose family are asylum seekers. I believe she has written other books covering similar issues, but I don’t know them.
No Ballet Shoes in Syria by Catherine Bruton. MC is a girl though.
Hacker by Malorie Blackman.
Joey Pigza Swallowed The Key by Jack Gantos. I think there are about 5 books in the series. The MC has severe ADD.
The above are all probably more suitable for ages 10-12.

How about 'Lord of the Rings?'

What age range?

There’s a school in east London, Maryland Primary, which has done amazing things with their library in terms of diversity. The headteacher, Lorna Jackson, has been awarded an MBE for all of the things she has done. I visited there once to get ideas for my school and she was very accommodating. You might be too far away to visit, but I think it might be worth getting in touch with them!

Also the No 1 Car Spotters series by Atinuke. Set in an unnamed (I think!) African country about a boy from a poor background who loves cars. Probably a good idea to search Atinuke as they are a prolific author eg the Anna Hibiscus books and many more.

Primary ideally, I'm Y2, but will create a bank of books for other year groups with other suggestions!

I don't know why, but I thought you wanted suggestions for older primary aged children. My bad.
For Year 2, try books by Virginia Kroll. For example, Hats Off To Hair!, Butterfly Boy and Jaha and Jamil Went Down The Hill - An African Mother Goose. There is also Suki's Kimono - I've forgotten the author, and Suki is a girl, but it's not easy to find any picture books with Japanese characters!

This is a great website: https://newsfromnowhere.org.uk/

I bought a lot of books for ds when he was in the 8 - 12 age range, they have a "NfN recommends" section, which I found very good.

The Boy to Beat the Gods by Ashley Thorpe 💯

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Boy-Beat-Gods-Ashley-Thorpe/dp/1805075632

Marsh Road Mysteries series. A group of kids in Britain solves mysteries. This link gives you a flavour of how all of the children are dealing with life's circumstances (e.g. young carer, long term health issue):
https://www.thebookbundle.com/products/marsh-road-mysteries-5-book-series-set-diamonds-and-daggers-crowns-and-codebreakers-spooks-and-scooters-cats-and-curses-dogs-and-doctors?srsltid=AfmBOooTzL91BmsgVHjzcvrY4ejTmrR-0HSUzLbLabI6D9m4ShGEjRQ_

My nephews school recently had a local Black bookshop come into the school. My sister bought lots of great books

https://afroribooks.co.uk/pages/schools

Book Love are also amazing for diverse books.

www.thisisbooklove.com/

Tyger by SFSaid

Also, have a look at Claire Linney on Instagram. She is a librarian I think and has great knowledge.

The Marv series: global.oup.com/education/content/children/series/marv/?region=uk&srsltid=AfmBOooM5NLyQXHjFcrZjH_WA6vPcvRa12I9s6cngS_7JeTupyaHPjjF

I second Afrori Books too. They're based down in Brighton if you fancied a visit but definitely have a look at their website. I have bought books off them for my local school library and they will provide you with book lists if you tell them your criteria.

Toby and the silver blood witches (there’s a trilogy) Sally Doherty
A dinosaur ate my sister - Pooja Puri
wildsmith books Liz Flanagan
Alex Neptune books - David Owen

Kick by Mitch Johnson (football - set in Asia).

The Books for Topics website is worth looking at too.

This insta page is worth a look.

https://www.instagram.com/booksthattinspireyounggminds?igsh=c21sczZieGwwNWZ4

CLPE have some really good booklists, and run excellent training sessions which are really inspiring. Jabari Jumps and Jabari Tries are great - I’ve used them in EYFS but you could definitely adapt for Y2, or just have as a nice story. Also anything Trish Cooke - not necessarily what you’re after in terms of a lead character, but beautifully written.

Percy Jackson has ADHD

A few suggestions that DD and i have enjoyed are:
Too small Tola by Atinuke which is set in Nigeria (or others by the same author) - female main character though.
Ariki and the Giant shark/ ariki and the island of wonder by Nicola Davies, set in a remote Pacific island- also female main character.
The boy who stole an elephant and others in that series by Nizran Farook, set in Sri Lanka. 2 books have male main characters and 2 have female.
We also have a couple of books of African folk tales which are good.

Try www.inclusivebooksforchildren.org also on @ibc_reads – they literally have a searchable database of every good diverse children's book up to age 9 published in the UK. You can filter by type of representation and whether it's a main character 🖤