With the 2021 Premiers' Reading Challenge on the horizon and the recent marking of Cultural Diversity Week (21 March – 28 March), it's a great time for Victorian students to explore some of the wonderful stories that celebrate the richness of our multicultural society.
Victoria is known for its multiculturalism, with almost half of the state's population having at least one parent born overseas. Victorians come from more than 200 countries, speak 260 languages and follow 135 different religions.
To celebrate diversity, we have put together a list of suggested books to help your students learn about other cultures, including their own, in the lead-up to the 2021 Premiers' Reading Challenge. If you haven't already registered your students for the Challenge, you can register them now!
These books are part of the 28,000 resources available to schools through the Languages and Multicultural Education Resource Centre (LMERC).
Your school's library may have copies of these titles or you can click on the headings below to order them through the LMERC.
Prep to Grade 2
- Alma and How She Got Her Name – Juana Martinez-Neal (2018)
- Birds in the Bush – Aunty Fay Stewart-Muir – illustrated by Jeannette Rowe (2019)
- All the Ways to be Smart – Davina Bell – illustrated by Allison Colpoys (2018)
- The Patchwork Bike – Maxine Beneba Clarke – illustrated by Van T. Rudd (2016)
- Windows – Patrick Guest – illustrated by Jonathan Bentley (2020)
Middle to upper primary
- Malala's Magic Pencil – Malala Yousafzai –illustrated by Kerascoët (2019)
- A Different Pond – Bao Phi. Illustrated by Thi Bui (2017)
- Bindi – Kirli Saunders. Illustrated by Dub Leffler. (2020)
- Black Cockatoo – Carl Merrison and Hakea Hustler (2018)
- The crossover by Kwame Alexander. Illustrated by Dawud Anyabwile (2020)(age 12+)
- Fly on the Wall – Remy Lai (2020)
- The Hero Next Door – Edited by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich (2019) (ages 8-12)
- Merci Suárez Changes Gears – Meg Medina (2020) (ages 9-12)
Secondary school (Years 7 to 10)
- Catching teller crow – Ambelin Kwaymullina and Ezekiel Kwaymullina. (2018) (age 14)
- The F Team – Rawah Arja (2020)
- Metal Fish, Falling Snow - Cath Moore (2020) (age 14+)
The LMERC
LMERC offers contactless pick-up and online ordering with free postage to government school teachers outside the metropolitan Melbourne area.
Membership is free to teachers across all school sectors, pre-service teachers and lecturers (English as an Additional Language (EAL) and languages), homework clubs and community language schools.
Find out more on the LMERC web page.
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