GOOD MULTICULTURAL BOOKS FOR CHILDREN

The Question:Identify 4 books that you would use

to incorporate the idea of multicultural literature in your Year 4-

6 classes. Explain the benefits of using these books.

Introduction

• Multicultural literature for children seeks to make children understand about the various culture around them. This is essential so as to create a harmonious environment between people of different cultures living in the same environment. Therefore, good selection of books is crucial in order to achieve the primary purpose of having multicultural literature.

‘How My Parents Learned To Eat’

‘How My Parents Learned To Eat’

• One of the multicultural books that suits children best is ‘How My Parents Learned To Eat’ by Ina R.Friedman. This book tells a story of Bi-racial child tells story of how Japanese mother and American father met and overcame cultural differences over choices and eating patterns.

‘How My Parents Learned To Eat’

• From the story, her parents met, fell in love, struggled to understand each other's ways, and finally married. It's a wonderful portrait of diversity, showing children that superficial differences in cultures don't really mean much and shouldn't get in the way of people appreciating each other.

‘Elephant Dance’

‘Elephant Dance’

• ‘Elephant Dance’, by Theresa Heine, is a brilliant book exploring the culture and customs of India through the eyes of Ravi, a young boy who lives in the United States. When Ravi’s grandfather comes to the United States, he is happily bombarded with questions from Ravi and his sister Anjali about what life is like in India. Ravi’s grandfather brings everyone in the family a gift from India. Ravi receives a red and gold kite, his mother is given a traditional blue sari, his is given a sandalwood box, and his sister gets silver bangles.

‘Elephant Dance’

• Ravi spends hours listening to his grandfather explain how much children love to fly kites, what monsoons do to the country and about the kinds of food that families eat in India. Ravi and his sister learn about the Himalayan Mountains and about the feast of Divaali.

• One of my favourite things about this book is the word choice and use of literary elements that the author utilizes in order help readers visualize what she is describing.

‘Elephant Dance• Also, the images that are in the story are

remarkable. My favourite picture is of a tiger, which represents the hot sun that beats down on the people during the day. Theresa Heine does a fabulous job of including many important customs in her story. Children will get a very good picture about what life is like for the children and families living in India. They will see the differences and similarities of people from around the world

‘Everybody Cooks Rice’

‘Everybody Cooks Rice’

• ‘Everybody Cooks Rice’ is a storybook written by Norah Dooley. This book tells about Carrie who are asked by her mother to go and find her brother, Anthony as the dinner has been prepared. Carrie goes one house to another. She ate a lot of different rice in different houses while searching for Anthony.

‘Everybody Cooks Rice’

• This story portrays about multicultural elements that best for children. While reading, children will get to know about places food and places. As for an example, while searching for her brother, Carrie came to Mrs. Darlington’s house. She ate black eyed peas and rice there. Mr. D told Carrie stories about his hometown, Barbados. While reading, children will get to know about Barbados too.

‘Everybody Cooks Rice’

• When Carrie goes from house to house looking for her brother Anthony, each family is cooking rice in the style of their ethnic background. This book includes recipes for all of the traditional dishes mentioned. This will benefits the reader as they get to know about different cultures and different way of cooking rice.

‘A New Year’s Reunion.’

‘A New Year’s Reunion.’

• Last but not least is the story of ‘A New Year’s Reunion’ written by Yu Li-Qiong. This story is about a Chinese family of three whose father is working faraway and just comes home once a year for Chinese New Year. During the time when the father is home, the family will do many things such as making sticky rice balls, listening to firecrackers, and watching the dragon dance in the streets.

‘A New Year’s Reunion.’

• By reading this book, children will learn about the culture of the Chinese people and what do they do especially during Chinese New Year. This knowledge is very valuable especially for those children who do not have chance to be in Chinese community in person. Should the children have the chance to socialize with the Chinese people in the future, they already have basic knowledge about the Chinese and, thus create a better relationship between each other.

‘A New Year’s Reunion.’

• One additional point for this book is that, the illustrations was presented vividly with suitable picture that represent Chinese culture such as lantern and talisman. Therefore, the reader will have better image on what Chinese community looks like and promotes better cultural awareness among children.

Conclusion

• As a conclusion, multicultural literature is very beneficial in guiding children to understand the world’s different cultures. It gives the children knowledge about other cultures and encourages better relationship and understanding between children of different culture and background.