Culturally Appropriate Books

Finding books in different languages can be a challenge. Finding culturally appropriate books in different languages can be an even greater task.

Children's books need to be accurate to be culturally appropriate. According to the National Center of Early Childhood Development, culturally accurate books are those that "respectfully represent the families’ cultures with characters, objects, and themes". This supports children to develop a strong, positive self-image. When a child sees a picture of people who look like them and familiar objects, it supports children’s cultural identity and builds self-esteem. This is one of the reasons NCECDTL believes that all early childhood programs "should have a large and varied selection of books in each of the children's languages".

At Polylino, we believe each child should be able to experience the magic of story time.  We have taken great care to ensure that different cultures are represented in our books. Polylino has books in 60 languages that represent cultures from around the world. We collected unique books to freshen up your story time and bring diversity to your classroom. You can find books in Spanish, French, Arabic, and even Bosnian. All languages are translated and read aloud by a native speaker of the language. Our goal is that every child that uses Polylino will relate to some of the books and experience the magic of story time!

We recommend exploring the Cultures bookshelf in the Polylino app, and don't stop there. You can even find classic stories, such as Cinderella, illustrated to show princesses and princes can look many different ways!

If you don't have access to Polylino, sign up for our free and easy 30 day trial  to explore our handpicked culturally appropriate bookshelves. If you would like to learn more about Polylino, click here to register for one of our weekly webinars!

To learn more about culturally appropriate books, explore this teacher guide from the NCECDTL.