Selecting Multi-Cultural Books

A synthesis of:

Examining Multicultural Picture Books for the

Early Childhood Classroom: Possibilities and Pitfalls (Mendoza, 2001)

Abstract

Being an educator, parent or anyone else that introduces books to children, we all must consider the context of the books that we select for children. Stories are the gateway for many children to another world. It is therefore important that they have the right idea of what to expect when learning about a culture. With the abundant amount of literature in the world it is surprisingly hard, but not impossible, to find culturally appropriate books for children. Some books might portray a culture positively but misinterpret the signs on how it is represented to the native culture. Other books might only show a fraction of a subculture. No single book will be able to perfectly depict the various and complicated societies that we live in. However, we can use theories of race to help pick a piece of literature and know the pitfalls to help weave out one of the first encounters to diversity, a child has.

What to look for

To use the ideas of race theory we can adopt “reading against the grain”. What that means is essentially reading critically. It’s asking questions like: (Mendoza, p. 23)

• Are characters "outside the mainstream culture" depicted as individuals or as caricatures?

• Does their representation include significant specific cultural information or does it follow stereotypes?

• Who has the power in this story? What is the nature of their power and how do they use it?

• Who has wisdom? What is the nature of their wisdom, and how do they use it?

• What are the consequences of certain behaviors? What behaviors or traits are rewarded, and how? What behaviors are punished, and how?

• How is language used to create images of people of a particular group? How are artistic elements used to create those images?

• Who has written this story? Who has illustrated it? Are they inside or outside the groups they are presenting? What are they in a position to know? What do they claim to know?

• Whose voices are heard? Whose are missing?

• What do this narrative and these pictures say about race? Class? Culture? Gender? Age? Resistance to the status quo?

In order to know some of the questions the educator must be aware about the culture beforehand to help facilitate the story. To be diverse it is important to recognize the contemporary situation that a culture is in and humanize it, so the child understands. The child should be able to look out to experience the current world and not an idealized painted picture.

What to be weary of

There are four pitfalls that we should be aware of when finding educational cultural literature.

1) All the pitfalls are problematic, but I think this is the most important. This pitfall is with popular “diverse” books. Even though a book is popular and has won awards it doesn’t mean it’s knowledgeable about a culture. Do the research and be sure the book represents a culture correctly.

2) The second pitfall is, no single book will embody an entire culture. Within the culture there are too many micro- cultures and subcultures, to be placed in a single book. We need a variety of books to be able to depict the culture accurately.

3) The third pitfall is the availability of the books. Even if we’ve heard of a great book it doesn’t mean that it’s available in our country or is accessible to us. Books are based on business and sadly so is the availably of them.

4) Last but not least, time. We are busy with work and our lives, it is hard to find the time to do the research in order to find quality books. We need even more time if we are not culturally aware of other people’s practices.

It’s not to say there aren’t amazing books on diversity, but it takes time, patience and research to find them. Overall, it not about finding the perfect book to introduce to the children but how it can be used as a value to them. In the end, it is how we interpret the books and how we can use them as a teaching tool. Even the worst books can be used to educate and facilitate greater awareness with a proper understanding of the culture.

Written by:

Kai Chang (Flowers Class Teacher)

Reference

Mendoza, J., & Reese, D. (2001). Examining multicultural picture books for the early childhood classroom: Possibilities and pitfalls. Early Childhood Research & Practice, 3(2), 1-38.