Tips for Using Multicultural Books

Tips for using multicultural books with your children or the children in your classroom or library

The books in the Building Bridges collection lend themselves to being used to start discussions and further exploration. By spending the time to “get into” the books, you’ll help children think about the stories, actively engage in the books, and discover information beyond the pages.

Today’s children often take in information and entertainment passively. Computers, videos, and even books to some extent, may not foster creative thinkers who interact with these mediums unless they are encouraged to do so. All of these books are good “on their own,” but by discussing them, or doing extension activities around the books, you’ll help children develop a deeper understanding and make personal connections to the stories. By taking the time to think of pre-reading and book extension activities, we can help motivate children to develop their own thoughts and feelings about the books we introduce to them. As adults, we can learn a lot from these books by discussing them with others and participating in activities related to them as well.

Making sure kids have access to multicultural books

The National Education Association (NEA) conducted two surveys in 1999 and 2000. The top 100 favorite books used most by teachers in 1999 contain less than ten multicultural books, and only three authors of color. Despite the fact that there are over 6.3 million Latino children in this country, not one book that represents this group was listed. One year later, the NEA asked children to name their top 100 favorite books. Of the books listed in the top 100, there are only four books that could be considered multicultural, and none are by an author of color. About one in three students is a child of color and that percentage is expected to continue to rise. Not surprisingly, children’s choices often reflect the reading choices of their teachers, librarians and parents. These are the people who most often select what titles will be added to the libraries, classrooms and home collections and what they select (or don’t) is what children have access to.

The International Reading Association did a survey in 1981 to assess teachers’ knowledge of children’s literature and recreational reading. Then they did the same survey in 2001 to see if knowledge had increased in 20 years. In 1981, only nine percent of teachers surveyed could name three children’s books published in the last five years and 71 percent could not name even a single book. In the current study, 36 percent could correctly name three titles, but 17 percent couldn’t name a single title – that’s almost one in five elementary teachers who could not recommend recently published books to their students. In the other categories, teachers did better than in 1981, but still had huge gaps in knowledge, especially in how to promote recreational reading. In 1981, only 11 percent of teachers surveyed could name three activities that promote children’s recreational reading. In 2001 – with 65 different responses that were considered correct – 20 percent of teachers correctly identified three activities, but 17 percent could not name one and 33 percent were only able to cite one activity.

Using multicultural books throughout the year

Multicultural books need to be used as read-alouds in classroom and story hours throughout the year. While highlighting books during Black History Month, for example, may draw interest to your collection or the topic. Don’t put them away after the month goes by. The same way we feature books about women and girls throughout the year, not only during Women’s History Month, is the same philosophy we should use about all these titles. They are too good not to use throughout the curriculum and everyday. Because fewer books are published that represent “minority” cultures, even more effort needs to be taken to utilize these books.

Ideas for teachers, librarians, and parents to “get into” these books

Start your own “Reading Wish List.” Write down every book title you hear about that sounds good to you. Keep adding to your list. Or jot down topics, cultures or subjects you’d like to learn more about. Look at bibliographies and booklists for ideas. Explore genres that you may not have read lately. Take your list with you when you visit the library. Reserve a few titles each time and read them! Vacations, summer, weekends, during doctor visits – whenever you have a little time, read as many books from your list as you can. I know one person who has a goal to explore a new culture each month. She picks as many books as she can from that cultural group and also tries to go to a cultural event or place that sheds some light on that area. Another Idahoan has a goal to read every book on the Building Bridges booklist. “I’ve enjoyed every book I’ve read so far and it makes it easy to recommend them to the kids who visit the library. I’m moving through the list as quickly as I can!”

Keep a book journal. Encourage children to keep a journal about the books they read. Consider keeping a response journal yourself.

Write down passages from books that you like or may want to think about more. Write your responses to these passages.

Here are some other ideas for entries:

• What you like or dislike
• What the story reminds you of
• What you learned from the story
• The thoughts or feelings you had as you read
• A time when you may have been in a similar situation
• Additional information you want to explore, or other books that may have a similar theme that you think would be interesting.

Develop your expertise in multicultural literature and share it with others. Most of you reading this are interested in this area. Keep on learning as much as you can and don’t be afraid to share what you know with other teachers, librarians, and parents. Jane Gangi writes in her book, Encountering Children’s Literature: An Arts Approach, “most (teachers) have entered the helping profession because they want to help all children,” and want to learn more about this topic as well. Share titles you are excited about with others and help weed titles that are not appropriate for school settings.

Start book conversations with children. Book conversations can help readers make connections with the story and their own lives or the lives of others. Hearing other people’s perspectives on books they have all read is interesting and fun. These two-way conversations should not be judgmental and should not be used as an opportunity, necessairily to check comprehension of the story.

Here are a few questions to get the conversational ball rolling. Pick a few of these to ask so you don’t overwhelm the child, especially if you are just getting started with book discussions. If your child seems to always respond with “I don’t know,” try saying, “That’s okay. Just tell me what you think.”

• What was the most interesting thing you noticed?
• What did you like about this book?
• Have you ever heard of such a thing happening?
• How did it make you feel?
• Did you like what happened in the story? Why or why not?
• Would you recommend this book to other kids? Why or why not?
• Who was your favorite character in the story?
• What would you have done if you were ______ ?
• What do you think about ___________ ? Why do you say that?
• Do you agree with the way the story ended? Why?
• What advice would you give the character?
• What do you think might happen next in the story?
• Why do you think the author wrote this story?
• How does this story compare with any others we have read?
• Did you notice any interesting words or sentences in the story?

Looking for more ideas for questions or information about book discussion? Check out Universal Book Discussion Questions and other book discussion guides from the Multnomah County Library at http://www.multcolib.org/talk/guides.html .

Look for ways to use the arts to enhance book reading experiences. “The arts enhance cognitive, creative, and emotional development by offering enjoyment, providing glimpses into lives and experiences not our own, and giving shape and form to life’s often incomprehensible experiences,” Jane Gangi writes in Encountering Children’s Literature: An Arts Approach. Encouraging kids to tell family stories or folk tales, utilizing drama or visual arts, music, role playing, creative writing, readers theater, puppets and other creative mediums allows children to use their senses and explore books.

Sources and additional information on story extensions:

Block, Collins; Mangieri, John N. 2002. “Recreational Reading: 20 years later.” Reading Teacher, Mar2002, Vol. 55 Issue 6, p572, 9p.

Gangi, Jane M. 2004. Encountering Children’s Literature: An Arts Approach. Pearson Education. ISBN 0-205-39240-7

“NEA Poll Spotlights 100 Books to Grow On,” Reading Today: The Bimonthly Newspaper of the International Reading Association (April/May 1999): 10

“NEA Poll Spotlights Kids’ Favorite Books,” Reading Today: The Bimonthly Newspaper of the International Reading Association (April/May 2000): 14

Raines, Shirley C. and Canady, Robert J. 1991. More Story STRETCHERS: More Activities to Expand Children’s Favorite Books. Gryphon House Pub. ISBN: 0-87659-153-5