All Are Welcome (2018 original; edició 2018)

Sweet rhymes and images, great message -- I think this is a perfect first day of school book, to read aloud and together. ( )

“Follow a group of children through a day in their school, where everyone is welcome with open arms no matter their race, religion, or background.” – from the book’s jacket

In this bestselling picture book, Penfold and Kaufman celebrate kindness, inclusivity, and diversity throughout a day in school. The families in this classroom/neighborhood come from all ethnicities and religious backgrounds, including Sikh, noted with dastar (head scarf), and Islamic, noted with jelbab (body covering) and hijab (head covering). They even included LGBTQ households! The end of the book has a 4-page spread of a family and student potluck that is wonderful.

As a picture book, the text is on point – appropriately simple, direct, and kind. This is my favorite passage.
“In our classroom safe and sound.
Fears are lost and hope is found.
Raise your hand, we’ll go around.
All are welcome here.”

Kaufman, the illustrator of this book and a friend of mine, inspired me to read this book and several others. Though the book was released in 2018 before the 2020 Black Lives Matter riots and the exponentially growing attacks on Asians, this book is an essential tool in any household with young children to teach them about inclusivity, representation, and acceptance. Through the art, the reader will learn that people, their culture, their foods, just like rainbows, come in all different colors. And it’s a magnificent thing to celebrate and embrace. ( )

This is a realistic fiction book that is about parents and guardians taking students to school. All guardians were different cultures, same gender families, family members, caregivers, single parents, etcetera. It also includes students with different disabilities, wheelchair, blind, kids wearing glasses, show different religions, beliefs, and different countries.
This multicultural book is about diversity acceptance and inclusion.

Families of every makeup and background walk to school on this first day of school. Teachers greet them with joy and reverence. This is one of our new favorite kindergarten books to set the tone at the start of school and revisit all year long.

Great children's book about inclusion and acceptance. The illustrations include children of all backgrounds and ethnicities. As well as all different abilities. The story goes though a day in the life of a school where all are welcome, everyone gets a turn, everyone shares, and children make friends with people who are different than them. ( )