Great Beginnings Book Club
Welcome!
The Great Beginnings Book Club is a collection of books for all ages hand-picked by some of our very own COPC Pediatricians. These books are a fun and exciting way to help kids develop a love for reading while introducing them to a variety of different authors and characters from different backgrounds, that will enhance their view of the wonderful world we live in.
Browse Our Featured Books Below
You’re My Little Baby
BY ERIC CABLE
Another masterpiece from The World of Eric Carle book series. This adorable rhyming book features different animals and their babies playing and spending time together. Toddlers will love the touch and feel features sprinkled throughout the book.
How Do You Say Good Night
BY CINDY JIN
This beautifully illustrated book is a perfect bedtime story for babies and toddlers. It reviews how to say “good night” in different places and in different languages. This can be their first introduction to a foreign language.
Every Little Thing
ADAPTED BY CEDELLA MARLEY
This cheerful and colorful book is sure to be a hit with preschoolers. Based on the popular Bob Marley song “Three little birds”, it follows a little boy as he goes off to school and encounters different things throughout his day. The three little birds follow along and remind him not to worry about anything “cause every little thing is gonna be all right”.
Skin Like Mine
BY LATASHIA M PERRY
Anyone hungry? This book celebrates different skin tones and likens them to delicious foods and desserts. It gives meaning to the phrase “skin like mine is quite divine” all while stressing that what’s on the inside is what truly matters.
Let’s Celebrate You and Me
BY SUGAR SNAP STUDIO
This clever book has lots of bright colors and wonderful illustrations. It uses the alphabet to highlight things that make us unique while at the same time revealing that we also have some things in common. Woven through the book are positive messages of kindness, respect, and acceptance for all.
Don’t Touch My Hair!
By Sharee Miller
This fun, vibrant, and imaginative book teaches children and adults alike about the importance of personal boundaries, respect, and consent.
In My Mosque
By M.O. Yuksel
A colorfully poetic book illustrating the diversity of Islam and the role of the mosque in joyful celebration and faith.
I Sang You Down from the Stars
By Tasha Spillet-Sumner
“I loved you before I met you. Before I held you in my arms, I sang you down from the stars.” This touching story celebrates the love between a mother and a newborn baby, emphasizing a connection of tradition, family, and community inspired by Native culture.
Ruby Finds a Worry
By Tom Percivel
One of the Big Bright Feelings picture book series promoting emotional intelligence, this story features Ruby, who is learning that everyone has worries.
A Boy Like You
By Frank Murphy
A positive book supporting boys to develop their inner strength, it focuses on kindness, respect for self and others, asking for help, and dreaming big.
Fish in a Tree
By Lynda Mullaly Hunt
“Everybody is smart in different ways. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its life believing it is stupid”. This uplifting book is about a young girl with dyslexia who second guesses her-self and her abilities. Her journey in understanding herself beyond this label and developing her confidence is a reflection of how we are all different and amazing in our own unique ways.
The Book Thief
By Markus Zusak
This YA novel is best for the 12 yo age group, mature reader. It is a book of historical fiction set in Germany during WWII narrated by Death who tells us the story of Liesel Meminger as he observes her actions when he comes to visit those who perish during the war. She is a young girl living with her foster father and shares her love of books and reading with her neighbors and the Jewish man who is hiding in her basement. This book is ultimately about hope and how we see Liesel hang on to this despite her circumstances and how we can learn about resiliency through her strength and hope.
Words on Fire
By Jennifer Nielson
This is a historical fiction novel that is resonates with our current events. This novel is set during the Soviet oppression of Lithuania and a girl’s journey in saving books, stories, language and ultimately the identity of the Lithuanians. It is a fast paced, action-packed book that will appeal to all types of readers.
Aru Shah
By Roshani Choksi
Action packed, full of magic and wonder, the Aru Shah series are a fun and exciting set of stories weaving in Hindu mythology and the present-day average life of the 12-year-old Are who just wants to fit in at school.
When you Reach Me
By Rebecca Stead
A Newbery Medal winning book of science fiction, this book combines mystery with the elements of wonder and will remind readers of A Wrinkle in Time. The story is such that it will make you want to re-read it again to unravel the beautiful writing and find clues that may have been missed the first time. Saying too much more may give it away. This book would be recommended for the 11 to 12-year-old age group and also possibly the advanced 10-year-old reader.
The Hate U Give
By Angie Thomas
This story is about sixteen-year-old Starr Carter, who watched her best friend, Khalil, get shot by a police officer without reason. As Starr lives between two worlds: a poor neighborhood and the privileged, fancy preparatory school she attends, she will need to speak out for her people’s rights, along with her family’s and Khalil’s.
The Giver
By Lois Lowry
A futuristic dystopia about a boy named Jonas who lives in a society without sadness or crime. In this society, children who reach the age of 12 are assigned to specific jobs. Every choice is decided for a person. It’s up to Jonas to put a stop to it and regain freedom.
The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes
By Langston Hughes
This collection comprises over 800 poems spanning five decades of Langston Hughes’ career, and it is the definitive sampling of a writer called the poet laureate of African America. This body of work reflects the variety of the American experience as well as the diversity of thoughts and dreams Hughes saw common to all human beings.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
By Rebecca Skloot
Henrietta Lacks, a poor black tobacco farmer, was known to scientists as HeLa. Her cancer cells were taken without her knowledge in 1951 and have since been used as one of the most important tools in medicine. The HeLa cell line was vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning and gene mapping. These cells have been bought and sold by the billions. Henrietta’s story is told at the intersection of ethics, race and medicine.
Kindred
By Octavia E Butler
Dana, a young writer, is transported in time and space between her California home in 1976 and a pre-Civil War plantation in Maryland. She meets her ancestors and becomes entangled with the plantation community. Dana makes hard choices to survive slavery and return safely to her own time.
Inclusive History of the USA
- Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West – By Dee Brown
- Crossing the Danger Water: Three Hundred Years of African-American Writing – Edited by Deirdre Mullane
- March: Books 1-3: A Book Series about the Civil Rights Movement – By John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, & Nate Powell
- My Soul Is Rested: The Story of the Civil Rights Movement in the Deep South – By Howell Raines
- Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63 – By Taylor Branch
- The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America – By Richard Rothstein
- The Fire Next Time – By James Baldwin
- The New Jim Crow – By Michelle Alexander
- The Warmth of Other Suns – By Isabel Wilkerson
- The 1619 Project from the New York Times (also a Podcast)
Books on Diversity and Inclusion
- 20 Picture Books: Readings to Embrace Race, Provide Solace, & Do Good
- Top 154 Recommended African-American Children’s Books
- Resources for Race, Equity, Anti-Racism, and Inclusion
- 62 great books by Black authors, recommended by TED speakers