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Topic: BAME characters

Picturebook

A joyful book that shows children how their wonderful features, traits and heritage can be lovingly passed down from biological and chosen family members. As a young girl explores the idea of her family tree, she notices all the beautiful physical features she has inherited from her black and south Asian family lines. Not only that, she realises how their love and nurture bring our shared interests, passions and personality traits. From Nanny’s nose for a good recipe, to Grandpa’s melanin skin, a sense of belonging and pride rings through in the most pure and joyful way.

Chapter book

Sidesplitting middle grade comedy, with serious heart (and one very funny llama). Illustrated by Allen Fatimaharan, the official illustrator for World Book Day 2022.
Shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize.
Winner of a Made for Mums Gold Award.

Yasmin Shah is a ten-year-old girl who is part of a big, noisy family and doesn’t ever speak. Levi is a rude, sassy toy llama, who talks A LOT and has come to wreak havoc in Yasmin’s life.

Yasmin tries everything she can to escape Levi, but she can’t help being dragged along on his crazy antics – and every day brings a new surprise, whether that’s an erupting bin, a flying tuna fish, or a hat made from knickers. Life is never boring with Levi around – and could it be that he has a secret plan to help Yasmin find her voice?

Annabelle Sami is a writer, director and performer who currently works in the arts. While reading children’s books when babysitting she realised there was a lack of representation of funny girls and diverse characters in children’s books – and she decided to do something about it. Growing up mixed-race, she never found her own life reflected in a book and now it’s her mission to make sure that every spirited, witty and adventurous girl has her own special book that she can relate to.

Chapter book

Welcome back to Planet Omar! The fifth book in Zanib Mian’s laugh-out-loud series, with amazing cartoon-style illustrations. Perfect for fans of Tom Gates and Wimpy Kid.

Omar and his friends are taking part in a national rocket building competition. With a little help from Omar’s scientist mum and dad and some fart power too, they come up with a rocket that’s ready to blast off.

But when someone starts sabotaging the rockets, the boys find themselves on a new mission to reveal the culprit…

Chapter book

Join the naughtiest unicorn for friendship, magic and mayhem in this hilarious series. Mira CAN’T WAIT to start Unicorn School. (Her big sister goes and won’t stop going on about it). But when Mira arrives on her first day all the unicorns are gone … except Dave!

Dave isn’t quite the sparkly magical unicorn Mira was expecting to find at the end of the rainbow – he’s more grumpy than glittery, more interested in lunch than magical quests and he always runs off when Mira tries to ride him – but Mira’s not going to let that get her down. Along with her new friends and their (much more glittery) unicorns, she is determined to be the best at Quests and protect the special unicorn world.

Chapter book

Amari Peters knows three things.

Her big brother Quinton has gone missing.
No one will talk about it.
His mysterious job holds the secret…

So when Amari gets an invitation to the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs, she’s certain this is her chance to find Quinton. But first she has to get her head around the new world of the Bureau, where mermaids, aliens and magicians are real , and her roommate is a weredragon.

Amari must compete against kids who’ve known about the supernatural world their whole lives, and when each trainee is awarded a special supernatural talent, Amari is given an illegal talent – one that the Bureau views as dangerous.

With an evil magician threatening the whole supernatural world, and her own classmates thinking she is the enemy, Amari has never felt more alone. But if she doesn’t pass the three tryouts, she may never find out what happened to Quinton …

Here is a story that everyone should know. It’s the tale of a princess named Shiloh. She lived in a kingdom, not far from yours, in a grand house with a swimming pool and fourteen floors.

I know that sounds too big but here’s the thing: her mother and father were the Queen and King.

Being a princess is a tough job for someone so small. It’s even harder when you have a problem you can’t solve at all. You see, every princess in the kingdom could sing. Yet Shiloh’s voice could do no such thing…

Shiloh might not be able to sing like her sisters, but she has other talents, and sometimes it’s about embracing your differences and celebrating them!

Dance yourself happy with the second, samba spectacular picture book by dancing superstar, Oti Mabuse. It’s time for Oti’s dance class! Join Oti and her class for their first dance show, and learn “The Lion Samba” in ten easy steps.

The children are excited to return to dance class with Mrs Oti and waste no time preparing for their animal-themed dance show. Mrs Oti teaches them all about animal movements and how they can be used in their dance. From stomping like an elephant, stretching up high like a giraffe or even shaking your mane like a lion, there’s so much fun to be had. But when disaster strikes on the day of the show, it seems like all of their hard work has been for nothing. Luckily for the children, Mrs Oti is on hand, and soon they realize that a little bit of courage can go a long way.

Written by Strictly Come Dancing superstar, Oti Mabuse, this heartwarming picture book will dance into the hands of families who have loved watching Oti on-screen.

A beautiful celebration of Diwali for young children.

Binny is excited to talk to her class about her favourite holiday. But she struggles to find the words.

Taking a deep breath, she tells them about the fireworks, the delicious pedras and jalebis, and the clay lamps called diyas … there are so many wonders to see!

Her favourite holiday is the Hindu festival of lights called Diwali, and now that they know all about it, all her friends love it too!

This brilliant picture book is a wonderful introduction to Diwali for little ones, wrapped within a story of sharing and acceptance

With beautiful illustrations by Nidhi Chanani that bring the story of Diwali alive!

Includes a spread on the story of Diwali and how it is celebrated

Picturebook

A rip-roaring picture book adventure from superstar pairing Malorie Blackman and Dapo Adeola.

Over the shimmering ocean, up the huge, high mountain, through the deep, dark forest . . . WE’RE GOING TO FIND THE MONSTER!

Join two intrepid adventurers as their imaginations transform their house into a wild wonderland – and their big brother becomes a mighty monster. A joy to read-aloud with its cumulative refrain, and full of funny, relatable characters, this is a contemporary celebration of creativity, fantasy and family.

Written by bestselling author of Noughts & Crosses , Malorie Blackman, this story was originally published as Marty Monster . This new version has been stunningly brought to life by the award-winning illustrator of Look Up! , Dapo Adeola.

Amy Wu does her best to make her new classmate feel welcome in this warmhearted and playfully illustrated follow-up picture book to Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao and Amy Wu and the Patchwork Dragon .

Amy’s class has a new student from China! Amy tries hard to make Lin feel included, but she can’t draw him out of his shell. Then she sees Lin chattering happily in Chinese with his family. The gears in her head start to turn, and a plan blossoms. Step one: invite Lin to her dumpling party…

With a little help from her grandma and a shiny new banner, can Amy give Lin the warmest welcome?

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