Books to help raise tolerant tots

new york (jta) | The Anti-Defamation League has made a list of multicultural children's books available on the Internet.

More than 400 books — from biography, to customs and traditions to folktales, legends and poems — were selected by the ADL's education staff from A World of Difference, an institute for diversity and anti-bias training.

"Reading multicultural literature has the potential to foster children's understanding and respect for their own and others' cultural groups and to develop empathy," said Ed Alster, ADL's director of education.

Each entry on ADL's booklist includes a short description of the book with a suggested reading level, K-3, 4-6 or K-6, although many of the books lend themselves to being read aloud to children of any age.

The list of books is available at www.adl.org/bibliography.