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Reading Material Selection

• 1996 Notable Books for a Global Society (Books Published in 1995)
  Provides brief descriptions of 24 children's books identified as outstanding in that they are culturally authentic, rich in cultural details, and celebrate both diversity in the common bonds of humanity. Groups the books in five categories: Stories from around the World; Heritage and Childhood Memories; the Immigrant Experience; the Struggle for Equal Opportunity and Cultural Identity; and Contemporary Issues.
• 1996 Notable Books for a Global Society (Books Published in 1995)
  Provides brief descriptions of 24 children's books identified as outstanding in that they are culturally authentic, rich in cultural details, and celebrates diversity in the common bonds of humanity. Groups the books in five categories: Stories from around the World; Heritage and Childhood Memories; the Immigrant Experience; the Struggle for Equal Opportunity and Cultural Identity; and Contemporary Issues.
• A Demand for Excellence in Books for Children
  Children's books selected for schools and libraries are judged by criteria of literary and artistic excellence, and books featuring minority-group characters must be held to additional criteria. Such scrupulous selectivity is not censorship.
• African American Females' Voices in the Classroom: Young Sisters Making Connections through Literature
  Examines the reading experiences of six African-American middle school girls. Finds that their book selection processes were different than those proposed by the professional multicultural education literature; they found affirmations, support, solutions, and decision-making skills in their reading; and that what mattered were the connections the girls were making to those characters.
• Celebrating Linguistic Diversity (Talking about Books)
  Offers brief annotations of 45 illustrated children's books that offer a vision of a linguistically rich world where language difference is a resource, not an obstacle. Groups the books in the following categories: codeswitching as authentic language; dual language texts; language and cultural traditions; alternate forms of communication; and personal and community voices.
• Diverse Learners, Diverse Texts: Exploring Identity and Difference through Literary Encounters
  Examines two urban 10th-grade English classes of ethnically diverse students in which the teachers diversified literature selections for newly designed ethnic literature curricula. Reports the texts students found most memorable and meaningful, and analyzes the values students found in their encounters with these literary works.
• Examining Multicultural Picture Books for the Early Childhood Classroom: Possibilities and Pitfalls
  Picture books that depict the variety of ethnic, racial, and cultural groups within U.S. society (known generally as multicultural picture books) allow young children opportunities to develop their understanding of others, while affirming children of diverse backgrounds.
• Exploring Ethnic-Specific Literature: A Unity of Parents, Families, and Educators
  Argues that making ethnic-specific literature integral to the literature program enhances a sense of community. Describes ways of exploring and reading ethnic-specific literature, and lists some titles for adults, young adults, and children.
• Finding the Literature We Need: A Look at Current Bibliographies
  Discusses six specialized bibliographies that can help teachers and librarians find literature that supports on-going inquiries or that feeds children's interest in the newest hot topic. Includes specialized bibliographies on Native American Literature; math books; children's literature in social studies (teaching to the standards); children's books from other countries; literature of diversity; and best books for children.
• In the Process of Becoming Multicultural: Reflections of a First Year Teacher
  Discusses how although the author knew she only had meager training in teaching multicultural literature, she was committed to teaching it because she believes in its importance and influence on impressionable minds. Describes an incident where she was confronted with an anonymous note criticizing her teaching of African American Literature.
• Incorporating Popular Literature into the Curriculum for Diverse Learners
  Discusses how teachers can use magazines written for culturally and linguistically diverse groups to increase their own knowledge base and to use as a resource for multicultural-education lesson planning in order to provide students with an opportunity to learn about high achieving individuals who come from backgrounds similar to their own. (Author/CR).
• Integrating Irish Children's Literature into a Multicultural Curriculum
  Examines ways in which children's literature reflecting the Irish can be effectively integrated into a multicultural curriculum. Uses J.
• Joining the Dialogue: Six Teachers Discuss Making Changes toward a Multicultural Curriculum (Rainbow Teachers/Rainbow Students)
  Presents six brief articles by six Arizona teachers offering their reflections about practices, strategies, and vision as they make changes toward a multicultural curriculum. (SR).
• Losing Our Language: How Multiculturalism Undermines Our Children's Ability To Read, Write & Reason
  This book argues that it is the incorporation of a multicultural agenda into basal readers, the primary tool for teaching reading in elementary schools, that has stunted American children's ability to read.
• Losing Our Language: How Multiculturalism Undermines Our Children's Ability To Read, Write & Reason
  This book argues that it is the incorporation of a multicultural agenda into basal readers, the primary tool for teaching reading in elementary schools, that has stunted American children's ability to read. The book shows how basal readers have been systematically "dumbed down" in an effort to raise minority students' "self esteem.".
• Many Peoples, One Land: A Guide to New Multicultural Literature for Children and Young Adults
  This book covers works of fiction, oral tradition, and poetry published from 1994 through 1999, and is deemed suitable for young people from preschool through high school. The book deals with four major ethnic groups within the United States: African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native-American Indians.
• Multicultural Children's Literature in the Elementary Classroom. ERIC Digest
  Arguing that schools need to prepare all children to become competent citizens and to create an environment that fosters mutual understanding, this Digest discusses multicultural children's literature in the elementary classroom. It discusses the importance of multicultural children's literature and presents guidelines for selecting multicultural children's literature.
• Multicultural Is Who We Are: Literature as a Reflection of Ourselves
  This article discusses multicultural children's literature, the need for teachers to include multicultural children's literature in their teaching, how teachers can encourage pluralism, and evaluating and selecting multicultural literature titles. A selection of 17 multicultural books for use in the classroom is provided.
• Multicultural Literature: Broadening Young Children's Experiences
  This chapter is part of a book that recounts the year's work at the Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC) at Texas A & M University-Corpus Christi. Rather than an "elitist" laboratory school for the children of university faculty, the dual-language ECDC is a collaboration between the Corpus Christi Independent School District and the university, with an enrollment representative of Corpus Christi's population.
• Multicultural Picture Books: Perspectives from Canada
  Conveys that multicultural children's literature can support and encourage tolerance and understanding among children. Presents information about multiculturalism in Canada and gives criteria to help teachers select multicultural literature.
• Native American Stories Enhancing Multicultural Education in Elementary Schools
  This paper describes the use of unbiased Native American stories as part of a multicultural perspective in elementary schools. The inclusion of a multicultural perspective will help teach social acceptance rather than separation.
• Tensions: Ten Great Books about Cultural Encounters
  Offers brief descriptions of 10 books for children and adolescents in which characters attempt to sort out the cultural conflicts that result when cultures meet. (SR).
• The Language and Literacy Spectrum, 1996. A Journal of the New York State Reading Association
  Sharing concerns and interests of New York State educators in the improvement of literacy, this annual journal raises educational issues such as current thoughts about literacy instruction, educators' roles, literacy in its many forms, college-community literacy partnerships, and recommended reading materials.
• Who's New in Multicultural Literature Part Two (Rainbow Teachers/Rainbow Students)
  Describes the Multicultural Project at a high school in Colorado that uses literature by people of color in the 11th-grade curriculum. Presents brief descriptions of four Latino/a and five Native American writers and their works.
• Who's New in Multicultural Literature, Part One (Rainbow Teachers/Rainbow Students)
  Describes how a multicultural unit was added to a high school American literature course, noting that this necessitated selecting a large number of new books for the school library. Discusses goals of the multicultural project and its main interpretive assignment.