Take the Diverse Summer Reading Challenge (FREE printable)!

Expand your horizons with this FREE diverse summer reading challenge (includes a printable tracker)

Are you looking for global and culturally diverse summer reading ideas for your kids? Do you want your kids to…

• …stretch their reading legs outside of their usual North American comfort zone,
• …tackle topics they haven’t before,
• …open their eyes to the marvelous diversity found everywhere around us,
• …turn their attention to countries and cultures with which they aren’t super familiar,
• …celebrate this great big global world God created,
• …learn about non-European food, music, art, inventions, and holidays,
• …enrich their perspectives with culturally diverse reads

…and ultimately, grow closer to Jesus and better learn to love their neighbor?

You need to download our FREE global reading challenge!

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These culturally-expansive book categories were chosen by a diverse panel of Christian homeschool moms.

Our multi-racial homeschool co-op, @restorationscholé, created this amazing FREE summer reading challenge, and I think you’re going to absolutely love it. Over the past several weeks, I worked together with my co-director @_bethanyhoover and Restoration Schole parent @marielhowsepian (she’s a public school educator and a homeschooler!) to compile an incredibly clever list of reading categories. I haven’t seen another challenge quite like this! This summer, kids are invited to..

• Read a book about math / science in a non-European nation
• Read a book containing ingredients not for sale at your local Walmart
• Read a book with a holiday your family doesn’t celebrate

and many, many more!

Stop right now to see the full list, and download the FREE diverse summer reading ideas printable, here.

If you’re stuck for ideas of books to fit various categories, I list a few ideas below– but I’d also like to invite you to ask friends who might have different reading habits than you. Ask friends to share favorite books from their heritage or culture!

Favorite Diverse Reads for Summer Reading (books translated from Chinese, books by Indian-American authors, and more!)

• This Same Sky: A Collection of Poems from Around the World compiled by Naomi Shihab Nye
  • A touching book of modern global poetry.

• My Havana: Memories of a Cuban Boyhood by Secundino Fernandez
  • Illustrated, poignant, and perfect for emerging readers who are ready for a challenge, third-culture kids who are dealing with loss of home, or anyone with an artistic or architectural eye.

• The Bridge Home by Padma Venkatraman
  • Set in India. A heart-wrenching and brilliantly told story of siblings.

• Save Me a Seat by Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan
  • The audio book is absolutely spectacular, and is available on Audible — you can get a free Audible trial. Two different narrators, Vikas Adam and Josh Hurley, bring the characters to vivid life. Don’t miss for middle grade students.

• Bronze & Sunflower by Cao Wenxuan
  • This is a 2021-2022 Restoration Scholé modern literature selection. Originally published in Chinese, and set in rural China during the Cultural Revolution. Lyrical and immersive.

• Finding Langston by Lesa Cline-Ransome
  • This is another 2021-2022 Restoration Scholé modern literature selection, and another example of the audiobook version adding SO much to the story! Ideal for a study on the Great Migration or Harlem Renaissance.

I absolutely love stepping outside my world into other cultures and realms through books, don’t you? For even more ideas for diverse reads, head over and browse my Amazon storefront, here. I’m constantly updating it with more and more books.

Download our FREE global reading challenge printable!

And be sure to follow @_bethanyhoover, @marielhowsepian, @restorationschole, and me (@oaxacaborn) to see what books are on our bedside tables this summer, too.

Happy summer reading!