When thinking about the books that we have available in our classrooms it is important that we include a variety of cultures to represent our multicultural world. This is true whether you live in a diverse community or a heterogeneous one. According to Beary and Pratt (2023) “All young children need to learn about other children who may be different from them”. I currently work in a school district that serves a diverse group of students. The classroom I work in has a large latino population and would like to see more books in the classroom that represent their culture. When thinking about a new book I would like to introduce to the classroom, I looked at Beaty and Pratts handout 2.1 to help me make an informed decision. I looked to make sure that the characters were realistic and that the children could relate to them. I looked for illustrations that were catchy and made sense. I looked for a book that was fast moving with lots of repetition.
The story that I decided on was Green is a Chile Pepper by Roseanne Greenfiled Thong. This picture book helps children learn about colors that are all around them. The objects of color are of Latino origin and they are presented with beautiful and bright illustrations. The story moves quickly and is written almost like a poem with lots of rhyming. The story shows pictures of children eating and dancing a playing with an emphasis on culture. I think that it would be a good book to introduce because the characters are realistics and do everyday things. Many children in my classroom might be able to relate to several parts of the story. And, the children that do not relate, can still talk about foods that they eat, or dances that they do with their friends and family. I also think that once we read this story together we could include it in many of the centers, including dramatic play and the literacy center.
Questions
1) Does your classroom have a large selection of multicultural books? Do your students read them?
2) How can you use multicultural books to provide a sense of belonging in the classroom?
3) When you were in school do you remember there being multicultural books available?
