The purpose of this book is to be a practical tool for those who work with children in grades 4-6 and who wish to make an equitable literature curriculum part of the school-centered reading experiences of the children with whom they work, as well as introduce literature of diversity into their own reading. It is especially meant to provide a user-friendly resource for teachers that will help them increase their knowledge and expand their use of culturally diverse literature in their classrooms. Chapters are: (1) Introduction; (2) A Brief History of Children's Book Publishing of Literature of Diversity in the United States Since 1960; (3) Physical Borders (discussing crossing borders with a city or country or crossing global borders); (4) Cultural Borders ( history, biography/autobiography, poetry, and short stories, folklore anthologies); (5) Inner Borders (friends and families, courage and survival, war and peace, perspectives on prejudices) ; (6) Using Literature of Diversity in the Classroom; and (7) Selecting Literature of Diversity. Contains 45 references; appendixes: contain a list of adolescent and children's literature arranged into sample thematic groupings (133); a list of adolescent and children's literature arranged into cultural/ethnic groupings (150); and a list of adolescent and children's literature arranged into literary genre groupings (150). An author index and subject index are also included. (RS)