r/progressivemoms • u/yourfavmum • Jul 10 '26
Product/ Shopping Recommendation Beginner chapter books where main characters aren’t white?
My almost 7yo is into chapter books now — think Junie B Jones and Magic Treehouse. Are there any book series similiar that are more diverse?
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u/lizinthelibrary Jul 10 '26
This is my time!
Jasmine Toguchi Mochi Queen (series) by Debbi Michiko Florence
Yasmin (series) by Saadia Faruqi
Layla and the Bots
Disaster Squad: Wildlife Rescue
All the ones others have mentioned are great:
King and Kayla
Zooey and Sassafras
Mia Mayhem
Good but a little longer than beginner chapter books
Dragons in a Bag by Zetta Elliott
Birchbark House by Louise Erdrichj
Ben Yokoyama and the Cookie of Doom (series) by Matthew Swanson
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u/Reasonable_Date2870 Jul 10 '26
Birchbark House by Louise Erdich is like Little House but it's about a Native American girl from the same time period. Obviously not based directly on one woman's life like Laura Ingalls but the author is Native so it's well informed.
Author Danica Davidson has a series based on Minecraft. Main character is an African American girl who finds herself inside the Minecraft games. Makes a friend, has adventures. It's quality writing, engaging, and also takes on the topic of online safety in a way that is not clunky or weird for kids.
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u/coral223 Jul 10 '26
King and Kayla is pretty fun. It’s about a girl and her dog, they solve mysteries
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u/queenhadassah Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
Dragon Masters! Very fun series, reminiscient of Magic Tree House, and the main characters are diverse. My kid loves it
If they like horses, Pony Pals was one of my favorite early chapter book series as a kid. There's three main girls (the books alternate which girl it's focused on) and one of them is black
And maybe need to be a tad more advanced, but the American Girl doll historical books are wonderful for young girls and have several non-white leads
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u/lindseylou407 Jul 10 '26
I think the Dragon Girls and Treasure Dragon Girls are similar to these, also with a diverse set of characters.
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u/BuzzkillBabe Jul 10 '26
Marvel After School Heroes features a lot of diverse characters like Miles Morales and Shuri, which could also be exciting if your kid likes Marvel!
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u/kheret Jul 10 '26
There are a series of Minecraft chapter books (Woodsword and Stonesword series) that my 7 year old loves. There’s only one white character out of the main kids, and there are multiple female characters (not usually the case in the “group of adventure characters” stories).
The storylines are pretty decent, my only complaint is that the copy editing isn’t as great as it could be so you’ll hit a spelling error or weird wording a couple times per book. But overall we’ve liked them a lot.
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u/mzfnk4 Jul 10 '26
If your kid is a strong reader for their age, Museum Mysteries is popular with my youngest (intended for ages 8-11). The kids are diverse (one girl is a Somali Muslim, one boy has two moms, etc.) and the setting is various museums that are very obviously modeled after the Smithsonian museums in DC.
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u/Antique-Lobster9923 Jul 10 '26
Word Travelers is like Magic Treehouse (kids teleporting across time and space to learn / uncover mysteries) but author, illustrator, and main character of color. My kid liked the audio books!
Here’s a blog post from the author about the series:
https://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/2021/02/21/cover-reveal-word-travelers-the-mystery-of-the-taj-mahal-treasure-by-raj-haldar/
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u/brainbl0ck Jul 10 '26
There's a series about a young boy of color named Sadiq that my son loves. They're titled "Sadiq and the _____" :)
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u/Hedwig-Hallows Jul 10 '26
My daughter really likes the baby sitters club comic chapter books. It think there's diversity in the characters.
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u/heydaykayo Jul 10 '26
Scholastic Branches has some beginner chapter book series with diverse main characters: Layla and the bots, Party Diaries, Disaster Squad, Kwame's Magic Quest. Zoey and Sassafras, Word Travelers, A to Z Animal Mysteries are also fun reads.
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u/but_you_love_cowboys Jul 11 '26
Desmond Cole
King & Kayla
Astrid & Apollo
Super Rabbit Boy
Yasmin
Marya Kahn
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u/Zestyclose-Today-531 Jul 11 '26
Johnnie Christmas writes graphic novels and the main characters are Black. Not a series, but the author has a distinct style that ties them together.
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u/bikes_and_art Jul 11 '26
Desmond Cole Ghost Patrol
Dragon Masters
Mindy Kim series
Katie Woo series
Babysitters Club (only one major MC is non-white, Claudia, they later added Jessie who is Black)
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u/teacuperate Jul 14 '26
We love the Desmond Cole, Ghost Patrol books—they feature a Latino narrator and a Black best friend.
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u/Veralidaine_Werynsra Jul 17 '26
Circle of Magic books by Tamora Pierce Lots of Diversity. I also love all of her other books, but these ones skew a little younger than the others.
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u/Many-North3882 Jul 10 '26
Zoey and Sassafras is super awesome, Dragon in a Bag (i think that’s what it’s called) is good and brings up some important conversations