Buffalo Public Schools created the Office of Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Initiatives (CLRI) to support schools in establishing a community that embraces, values, and infuses culturally and linguistically responsive teaching and learning for all students. This page is a homebase for some of those initiatives as they pertain to BPMC, including reading lists, events, book clubs, and more!


Let’s Have Courageous Conversations

Courageous Conversations are conversations that we have about what is going on in our society that deal with the hard topics centered around inequality and social justice.  Books are a window of opportunity to have conversations centered around themes of right and wrong and are especially helpful as a springboard for those difficult conversations.

Below you’ll find book recommendations, curriculum and more that will help you start and foster these courageous conversations.

Some general questions to help start your Courageous Conversations:

The questions below are just a starting point for parents and children to talk.  Of course, you know your child best and you know what they are and are not ready to observe, acknowledge, and talk about.  Please know that these are general questions and may not be appropriate for every story or situation but might be just the ones you are having trouble finding the words for.

  1. What did you notice here?

  2. Why do you think that happened?

  3. How did it make you feel?

  4. What do wish had happened?

  5. What is the message the author is trying to get across?

  6. If you had been a character in the story, what would you have done the same? Or differently?

  7. What is a solution for the problem the characters are experiencing?

  8. Have you ever noticed something similar? Where? What do you think you could do to help someone who was having a similar problem?


Coming Soon: Our Next Book Club Read!

We believe that books are a wonderful way of exploring and digging into difficult conversations, histories, and topics. Parents are invited to join BPMC’s CLRI Book Club made up of parents, teachers, students, and staff. Ikhia Moore (9-12 BPMC teacher) will be facilitating the conversation around this book for families.

As we set dates around when to meet, we’d love your feedback! Take the survey using the link below to let us know what days/times work for you. All meetings will be via Zoom.


Explore The Rising Voices Curriculum by Grade Level

Looking for great books to read with your child? The Rising Voices Curriculum allows you to explore a curated selection of books by grade level. Each book selection comes with additional educational resources including questions, lesson plans, associated multimedia like videos, and more.

You can find all of the books at your local library.


CLRI Reading List PK-3rd Grade

Special People Special Ways by Arlene Maguire

The Colors of Us by Karen Katz

Sparkle Boy by Leslea Newman

All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold

Night Shift Daddy by Eileen Spinelli

Your Name is a Song by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow

I Am One: A Book of Action by Mandie Caroll

Happy in Our Skin by Fran Manushkin

My Mama is a Mechanic by Doug Cenko

The Skin You Live In by Michael Tyler

The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi

Librarian on the Roof by M.G. King

(List continued below…)

Let’s Celebrate! Special Days Around the World by Kate De Palma

Just Ask: Be Different, Be Brave, Be You by Sonia Sotomayor

All the Colors We Are: The Story of How We Get Our Skin Color / Todos Los Colores de Nuestra Piel by Katie Kissinger

And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell

My Family is Forever by Nancy Carlson

Red Shoes by Karen English

My Name is Sangoel by Karen Lynn Williams and Khadra Mohammed

I Love My Hair by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley

The Day You Begin by Jaqueline Woodson

The Rooster Who Would Not Be Quiet! by Carmen Agra Deedy

Binny’s Diwali by Thirty Umrigar

Under the Ramadan Moon by Sylvia Whitman

Drawn Together by Minh Lee

The Deaf Musicians by Pete Seeger and Paul Dubois Jacobs

Sometimes I Feel Like a Fox by Danielle Daniel

He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands by Kadir Nelson

The Colors of Us by Karen Katz

Charlotte and the Quiet Place by Deborah Sosin

Maybe Something Beautiful: How Art Transformed a Neighborhood by F. Isabel Campoy and Theresa Howell

Bee-bim Bop! by Linda Sue Park

French Toast by Kari-Lynn Winters

The Wheels on the Tuk Tuk by Kabir Sehgal and Surishtha Sehgal

Yo Soy Muslim by Mark Gonzales

Let’s Talk About Race by Julius Lester

Under my Hijab by Hena Khan

Where Are You From? by Jamie Kim

The Proudest Blue by Ibtihaj Muhammad

I Love the Skin I’m In by Mayma Raphael


Resources & Tips for Family and Community Healing

Confronting and processing racial trauma is difficult work. It is important to take care of yourself. This guide and resources are here to help you process and identify your emotions as you do this work with the aim of fostering hope, healing, and resilience.


Did You Know?

  • That there are several resources teachers can use on the BPS website to use when planning lessons that are Culturally and Linguistically Responsive? You can peruse them too!

  • That the book your child was given (grades K-6) called Born on the Water came from the CLRI office?

  • That teachers from Montessori participated in writing the original curriculum the district is using and even more are working on those efforts now?

  • That your child’s teacher (grades K-6) will be given 50 titles to have in their classrooms to use with students to make sure that children are seeing stories with characters that look like them?

…and that Bennett Park Montessori participated in a district-wide event called Hope and Healing for Humanity?