The Whisperer by Nick Butterworth

I've been using "The Whisperer" for about ten years in Primary classrooms to teach about accepting diversity and difference and it is one of my favourite stories to use in Year 5 and 6. The story can also be used to discuss gang culture, family expectations and why and how two people fall in love. In short, it makes for a great basis to a PSHE lesson.

The story focuses on two gangs of cats and is narrated by a rat who discovers by spreading rumours about the offspring of the two rival gang leaders falling in love, he can deflect attention away from him. This also gives us a fantastic opportunity to discus why people spread rumours and the effect on a community.

The story has a fantastic ending where the two rival gang leaders change their behaviour and also the rumour-spreading rat has his comeuppance.

A super story for upper key stage 2. I cannot recommend this enough.

A lesson plan using this story is included in forthcoming resource, "No Outsiders in our school: Teaching the Equality Act in Primary Schools." Available soon from www.speechmark.net

Picnic in the park by Joe Griffiths, Tony Pilgrim, Lucy Pearce

"Picnic in the park" is a great way to demonstrate the No Outsiders ethos where no one is left out and everyone is made to feel welcome. Jason has a birthday picnic and each page shows a different family arriving; by the end there is a mix of gender, race, disability, sexual orientation, age.

The focus for me when I use this in Year 2,3 and 4 classes is that Jason does nor turn anyone away; everyone is different in some way and everyone is welcome; "A bit like in our school," I say, "Where there are no outsiders!"

When reading this in Year 2 classes we have our own picnic and I ask children to come to a picnic rug in a family of their choosing. We make sure everyone is welcome; in this way we also talk about British Values where society is diverse and furthermore we like living alongside people and families who are diverse. 

Red Rockets and Rainbow Jelly by Sue Heap and Nick Sharratt

"Red Rockets and Rainbow Jelly" is a perfect picture book to start equalities education in Reception class. Nick and Sue like different things on every page but at the end they still like each other. I use this in EYFS and Year 1 to demonstrate that we can like different things yet we can still be friends.

This ethos underpins all of the equalities work I do in schools and I always begin with this book when training teachers who may be feeling a little nervous about what equalities education is. The book is simple, but the simplicity makes it effective. The beautiful illustrations and blocks of colour make it engaging for young children. Every early years classroom needs this book in their book corner!

Nanny Fox by Georgie Adams and Selina Young

"Nanny Fox" provides teachers with a great vehicle to discuss diversity and difference and promote individuality. When Fox announces to his family that he wishes to look after chicks on a farm rather than eat them, his family is horrified because that's not what foxes do!

Fox wins through in the end, demonstrating that not all foxes are the same. I use this in Year 3 and 4 to discuss people being unique and not always conforming to expectations.

The odd egg by Emily Gravett

I use "The odd egg" to talk about families being different and parents being proud of their different children.

All the birds have an egg except Duck, who goes to find one. While the other eggs gradually hatch, Duck's egg stays whole till the last page where a completely different animal suddenly appears. I focus on the final image where the baby animal calls Duck "Mama" illustrating a different family but one filled with love.

The exciting and humorous illustrations make this book a favourite and I use it in classes from Year 1-5.

10,000 dresses by Marcus Ewert

10,000 dresses is a great book through which to explore gender expectations and roles. Bailey dreams of wearing dresses and despite Mum and Dad and brother saying Bailey is a boy and should not wear a dress, we never find out what gender Bailey identifies as. At the end Bailey makes a friend who does not label either way and doesn't care; together they create the most fabulous dress Bailey could ever want.

I've used this book to talk about including children who may be transgender in our school. Would Bailey be welcome at our school? Of course! We are all different at our school and we welcome everyone!