Publisher: Lantana Publishing

Lantana Publishing is an award-winning children’s book publisher and social enterprise with a mission to publish inclusive books by authors from under-represented groups and from around the world.

Alice Curry founded Lantana when only one per cent of the children’s books published in the UK featured a character of colour as a protagonist. She wanted her biracial niece and nephews, and others like them, to be able to grow up seeing themselves in the books they read.

Each year, Lantana publishes a select list of exceptional titles promoting diversity and inclusion, social and racial justice, gender equality, pride, empathy, mindfulness and wellbeing, with beautifully illustrated stories that help happy little minds to flourish. Visit the Lantana Publishing website to find out more.

See all of the Lantana Publishing books featured on BooksForTopics below.

The Pirate Tree

Brigita Orel & Jennie Poh

Picturebook

In the story, we meet Sam and Agu who bond over their adventures on a pirate ship – which is in actual fact a gnarled old tree at the top of a hill. As they battle sharks and other imaginary pirates together, Sam and Agu form a friendship that at first appears to be a little unlikely. They begin to understand that differences are something to be celebrated as there is so much more we can learn through diversity.

The Pirate Tree does a good job of challenging how we see people who appear different, encouraging the reader to think about how we can be more inclusive. When Agu first asks to play with Sam, she tells him that he can’t play because he’s new and not from her street. But in actual fact, Sam has a lot to learn about sailing from Agu who teaches her about his own background and experiences in Nigeria. There is so much that could be explored in the book; it would encourage some great discussions about how we see others and value diversity.

The book’s illustrations accompany the text superbly. The natural textures and patterns on each page make it a lovely book to read slowly so as to allow enough time to take in the details – such as the bow tie or top-hat-wearing fish!

The Pirate Tree is a book that, like all great pirate stories, has a vast amount of hidden treasure under the surface.

Listening to the Quiet

Cassie Silva & Frances Ives

Picturebook

The loss of hearing strikes such a sad note, but although sadness is eloquently conveyed in both words and pictures, this beautifully inclusive story – of a child, Jacki, and her Mama – resounds with hope. It is a celebration of a relationship not defined by disability, but by love. So Jacki learns to listen to the quiet which is slowly enveloping her Mama. She begins to be more alert to rhythm and mood and smell. Indeed, mother and daughter become attuned to each other in ways they wouldn’t otherwise.

The story shows that deafness does not have to isolate. It can deepen wonder, inspire mutual respect and be life-enhancing. (The Author’s Note gives context and encourages readers to learn sign language.)

The clear font and large, expressive illustrations mean that teachers can easily share this with a whole class, either to celebrate diversity or when teaching about acceptance. Not all children will have encountered hearing impairment, but all will benefit from this new perspective, as well as provide much-needed representation for those who live with hearing impairment in the day-to-day realities.

Highly recommended for the school library and classroom book corners.

Rainbow Hands

Jo Loring-Fisher & Mamta Nainy

Picturebook

When a little boy paints his nails with his mum’s nail polish, he discovers the most important thing of all: the magic of being his true self.

As the long Indian summer days stretch ahead of him, a young boy looks forward to his favourite time – painting-your-nails-time. He knows that when he dips his brush into those magical bottles of nail polish, he will find a colour to express his every mood and feeling.

Purple is the colour of magic and mystery. White is the colour of endless possibilities.

At times, his Papa frowns and says, “”What have you done to your nails?”” At other times, he says, “”Why don’t you paint on paper instead?”” But the little boy knows that painting his nails makes his hands look beautiful.

This colour-filled story celebrates the joy of finding out who you are and embracing the courage to be yourself.

If I Were Prime Minister

Ella Okstad & Trygve Skaug

Picturebook

‘If I were Prime Minister…’ is a feel-good story which looks at how our country is run through the eyes of a kind, thoughtful and playful child.

The story follows a young child’s imagination and their desires for the community and country that they live in. They go through numerous wishes, including changing the sea to water that swallows plastic, making sure everyone has at least two friends, that every garden has a swimming pool and that woolly jumpers would not feel itchy. The real question is, ‘What would you do if you were Prime Minister or Team Captain?’

This feel-good picture book is a beautifully illustrated story which gets the reader thinking about what they would change if they were in charge. It covers major socio-political themes including the environment, education and immigration in a child-friendly way. The designs of the pages are playful and eye-catching with an easy-to-read font with the words strewn around pictures, making it fun to read and keeping big themes light-hearted to encourage creative and imaginative thinking.

The Queen on Our Corner

Lucy Christopher & Nia Tudor

Picturebook

Nobody notices the Queen on the corner. Nobody, that is… except one young girl. Through her eyes, the woman who dwells in the abandoned plot is a warrior queen, with many battles fought and won. When, one day, danger comes to the street and the Queen on the corner sounds the alarm, the little girl must find a way to thank her. Can she bring the community together to turn the Queen’s corner into a home?

Maybe You Might

Anna Cunha & Imogen Foxell

Picturebook

What first strikes you about this picture book are the beautiful and unusual illustrations – simple shapes and evocative colours that move from browns to greens, always muted and rich. They conjure a bare and barren landscape that is slowly transformed into a vibrant and plentiful rainforest.

The beginning of the story tells us that “They said I couldn’t change the world” and this hopeful story says to both the girl in the story and to the reader that maybe you might. The little girl explains that in the place she was born there is now just desert, where once there were rivers and trees.

One day she finds a seed and plants the seed in the dried up river bed. Despite the protestations of those around her telling her that the seed will never grow, she continues to protect and nurture the seed until it grows into an amazing fruit tree – and so producing more seeds that can be planted. As the child grows up, she shows that we can never be complacent, as one of the trees is blown down in a storm. Another young child produces a seed and so continues the cycle of care for the forest so that the forest in turn, might care for those that live there.

An beautiful and encouraging book to give depth and something a bit different to your preschool book collection.

Violet’s Tempest

Clara Anganuzzi & Ian Eagleton

Picturebook

This is a story that depicts one aspect of childhood anxiety in such a gentle way – weaving a variety of themes, including shyness, family and even an introduction to Shakespeare into one tale. The story is engaging and describes a range of emotions in an accessible and intelligent way.

The story centres on Violet, a shy child riddled with self-doubt and confidence issues when she is cast as the main lead in a Shakespeare production. Her family, including her nan and uncles, try to help Violet’s self-esteem. The story has an excellent approach to explaining the physical and emotional feelings related to anxiety, but more importantly, how to overcome them. Eagleton also embraces diversity in Violet’s support network of her family.

Clara Anganuzzi enhances the story with wonderful illustrations that perfectly portray the emotions at play. The illustrations feature intricate details in places, including photographs on the wall in the background of scenes. All these details add to the rich family diversity explored in the story.

SuperJoe Does NOT Do Cuddles

Emma Proctor & Michael Catchpool

Picturebook

SuperJoe is convinced he doesn’t need cuddles from his mum. He flies around the neighbourhood rescuing people from escaped tigers, runaway trains and raging rivers, all while battling his nemesis the Grey Shadow. Naturally, he refuses all cuddles. Until one night, when he can’t sleep…

The Wooden Camel

Wanuri Kahiu & Manuela Adreani

Picturebook

This uplifting tale about holding on to your dreams is set among the Turkana people from north-west Kenya. Etabo’s deepest wish is to become a camel racer. When his father is forced to sell the family camels to have enough money to buy water, Etabo begins to wonder if his hopes are dashed forever. Then he receives a precious gift of a toy camel that brings his dreams alive once again. Through its beautiful illustrations and charming story, this toy-themed story book opens a window into another culture while encapsulating a theme that will resonate with anyone who knows how it feels to hold onto their dreams against all odds.

I Am Brown

Ashok Banker & Sandhya Prabhat

Picturebook

All right, so I snuck my own debut picture book into this list! As a child of very mixed parentage – Irish-Portuguese-Sri Lankan-Indian – I grew up in a country (India) where there weren’t very many children like myself. And not a single book about children like me. It was okay. I grew up loving books and reading and still do. I even grew up to make a living from books! I moved to the USA a few years ago, and had the great pleasure of seeing my own grandchild, whom I spend most of my daytime hours with now. She’s even more mixed than I am: apart from all my ancestry, she’s also Belgian on her mother’s side. She’s white like her mum and I’m brown, like her dad, and we’re a family of many colours, races, faiths, cultures, nationalities. But the one thing we all have in common is that children are children. And childhood is the most wonderful, magical time of our lives. It’s the greatest adventure we have and the happiest celebration of life itself. I AM BROWN captures the variety and diversity of children everywhere, whatever their nationality, creed, culture, race, religion (or lack of it), or identity. They just happen to be brown just as all the children in the books I grew up reading (and still love reading) just happen to be white. Because children are children and deserve to be celebrated!

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