Multicultural
Literature
Sara Meinhofer, Brooke Whiteheart, Dora Cottrol, Suvin Lee and Sam Auslender
Multicultural/Culturally Diverse Literature
•
•
Literary genre meant to
represent the culture, patterns
and traits of a variety of
populations. It can include
national or ethnic origin,
language, religion, and
geographic region.
Intended to broaden a reader’s
perceptions and overcome
stereotypes of any particular
culture.
•
General Characteristics of this
genre include:
o
Multidimensional characters rooted
in their culture
o
Authentic language in the context of
the social environment
o
Authentic culture that reflects its
values and beliefs
o
Factual details of culture that are
naturally injected in the story
through a modern perspective
o
Helps children value their own
cultural heritage and the heritage of
others
Subcategories and Characteristics
•
•
Culturally Neutral Books: have a
diversity of characters from different
cultures, but contain no culturally specific
information. Intended to expose the
readers to diversity. It also helps minority
children identify with characters in these
books.
Culturally Generic Books: have
characters specific to a cultural group, but
have little culturally specific information.
The lives of these characters are depicted
within the larger American culture and
plots are consistent with the dominant
American society.
Culturally Specific Books: contain details
that indicate the characters as members of a
specific cultural group. These books often
mix specific characteristics of a minority
cultural group with elements of the larger
American cultural group. Specifics in these
books often include religion, names, values,
attitudes and interactions inside and outside
the cultural group. Serious themes such as
past and present racial oppression in the
United States and abroad are addressed in
culturally specific books. Additionally,
themes involving the importance of cultural
heritage are addressed in these books.
In Bikole: Eight Modern Stories of Life in a West African
Village, by Tom Gilroy, illustrated by Mica Vachula
This is a compilation of short stories of real events of villagers of Bikole, a small West African
village. Some are sad, but all are extremely interesting and memorable. Published in 1978, it
is a bit dated, but the stories are timeless. All of the stories have some sort of African culture
woven into them. One story was about a determined husband taking an expecting wife
through a sandstorm ten miles away to the nearest hospital. Many women in the village did
not go to the hospital for births, but they were determined. One story was about a wrestling
match, which brings a lot of attention throughout the village and nearby villages. The most
memorable story was about a woman sold into marriage, but defied her father and ran away
and was never seen or heard from again. This book I would say is appropriate for about a
fifth or sixth grade classroom. They provide good examples of modern culture mixing with
old customs.
It was written by Tom Gilroy, who lived in Bikole for two years, working for the Peace Corps. This
book is a good example of a book that explores cultural aspects of everyday life.
Over Here It’s Different: Carolina’s Story, by Mildred
Leinweber Dawson, photographs by George Ancona
This book describes one person’s story through the process of immigrating to the Queens, New
York, from the Dominican Republic. This process took several years. I did not realize how long of
an ordeal this was. Some of the things described are the differences in food, the language barrier,
and other topical issues. An interesting quote from the book that I found
was “The Dominican Republic now sends more immigrants to the United
States than does any other Caribbean nation”. This book was not
my favorite, and would be best used in a classroom setting by taking
excerpts. It has good information, but is not the most exciting book
I’ve ever read. This is a good book used to describe a specific first
hand account of immigration. It shows the blending of Dominican culture
with the culture of Queens, New York.
How My Parents Learned to Eat
Author: Ina R. Frideman
Illustrator: Allen Say
Publication Date: April 28, 1987
An American sailor courts a young Japanese woman and
each tries, in secret, to learn the other's way of eating. The
story is told by their their daughter, who is explaining why
they eat two different ways in her household. This book
portrays the subtle similarities and differences among
Japanese and American culture. This book would best be
used for ages 7-9 years old.
Inside Out & Back Again
Author: Thanhha Lai
Publication date: February 22, 2011
This book is a Newbery Honor book and winner of the National
Book Award. Told through poetry, it is a story of a ten year old
girl named Ha and her family fleeing Vietnam and immigrating
to Alabama during the Vietnam War. She is thrust into this new
foreign culture and has to deal with the language barrier, unkind
strangers and “dullness” of its food. This book demonstrates the
vast differences between Vietnamese and American culture and
would be a great read for students ages ten through twelve.
This story is based off of the real life experiences of the author
Thanhha Lai.
Esperanza Rising
Author: Pam Munoz Ryan
Published in 2000
Summary:
Esperanza Ortega is a wealthy young girl along with a very loving family. One day, her
father and some of his men are killed by bandits while they are in their ranch during
the Mexican Revolution. Her father left everything for his wife and Esperanza until
the lawyer says most of the things in the ranch belongs to Senor Ortega’s brother,
Luis Ortega. As the story goes on, Luis proposes to Esperanza’s mother, Ramona, and
she later on accepts the proposal. However, Ramona tells Esperanza she is not truly
planning on marrying Luis, but to get everything the dad owned and escape to
America. They succeed in tricking Luis and escape to America. Although they are
successful in escaping to America, the Great Depression occurs, and Esperanza faces
another downfall...
The Colors of the Rainbow
Author: Jennifer Moore Mallinos, Marta Fabrega
Published in 2005
Summary:
This book is for children (focusing on preschoolers) to understand the concept of
different ethnicities. The authors create a very interesting theme. When different
races and ethnicities come together, they form a beautiful sight, like a rainbow. The
authors also point out people are all different, but they share similar feelings,
thoughts, hopes, dreams, and so on. The main purpose the authors tried to focus on
was for children to come together as a one, and it will create something beautiful like
the rainbow! The two authors also wanted to focus on preschoolers and encourage
them to express their feelings, and then to speak openly about it. The authors believe
children have to overcome problems and achieve emotional stability.
Tea With Milk
Author: Allen Say
Illustrator: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Published: 1999
Synopsis: Tea With Milk tells the story of May (Masaka) and her transition from moving
from San Francisco to her parent’s native Japan. The story begins in San Francisco with
May noticing the differences between her family and their traditions and the traditions
of that of American families. Besides language, one main difference she notes is in the
food and drink (ie. Americans families drinking Tea with Milk & Sugar and her
Japanese family drinking plain tea). After high school, May and her family move to
Japan. Masaki's parents want her to fully learn and embrace Japanese culture, so they
send her back to high school to learn more Japanese. There she is teased and taunted
for being a gaijin (foreigner). Masaka has ambitions of gaining her independence,
getting a job and going to University like other Americans her age. In doing so, she
finds a job in a nearby city where she finds her 1st language of english to be of benefit.
This story relates well to the genre because it reflects many of its required elements of
culturally specific books such as authentic cultural details and helping of the reader
value their own heritage and the heritages of others. Many students can relate to the
story, especially if they are 1st generation, recent immigrants or have friends who are
immigrants.
Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story of the Underground
Railroad
Author: Ellen Levine
Illustrator: Kadir Nelson
Published: 2007
-2008 Caldecott Winner
Depicts the true story of a slave named Henry Brown who works in his master’s factory
sorting tobacco and who longs for freedom. Henry get married to a slave of a different
master named Nancy and has three children. Nancy’s master comes into financial
hardship and sells Nancy and their 3 children, leaving Henry all alone. Still longing for
freedom, Henry makes arrangements with an abolitionist named Dr. Smith to mail
himself to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in a wooden box. Henry spends many days in
this wooden box being shipped to the North, fearing for his life and loss of freedom the
entire way. When he arrives to Philadelphia he meets his friends and is nicknamed
Henry ‘Box’ Brown.
This book fits in well with multicultural literature because it portrays historically
accurate, culturally specific information that addresses racial tensions and Slavery.
This story is great for children to connect and learn more about Slavery and Henry
Brown. This is an especially great book to read to Virginia students as it takes place in
Virginia.
The Snowy Day
AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR: Ezra Jack Keats
PUBLISHED: 1962
-1963 Caldecott Winner
The Snowy Day features a named Peter that explores his neighborhood
after the first snowfall of the season.
Keats was harshly criticized in the early 1960’s due to his lack of specifying
Peter’s race throughout the entire book. This was during the Civil Rights
era where it was considered “unacceptable” to have a main character that
was of a different race other than white.
The Snowy Day applies to multiculturalism literature because it was
written for all children, no matter what race they might be. Keats noted
that he wanted to “capture the wonderment of a child’s reaction to the
first snowfall”, regardless of race or religion.
Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims
AUTHOR: Clyde Robert Bulla
ILLUSTRATOR: Peter Burchard
PUBLISHED: January 28th, 1954
Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims is a historical non-fiction story about
the adventures of Squanto, the Native American who helped the
English settlers travel across the Atlantic Ocean. Although his
family advises him not to go, Squanto does anyway and assures
them that he will return. In time, he does return, however, his
village is empty and his family is not in sight.
This book is appropriate not only for historical non-fiction, but also
multicultural literature. Students will learn about the culture of
native americans as well as the history of the events leading up to
the Mayflower voyage.
Tell Us About Your Culture!
•
•
•
Create a flag or symbol of significance of a culture which you
identify with
On the back, write about why you identify with that culture
 What ways do you identify with it?
 What makes it special to you?
 What are some of your traditions?
When finished, share with your group :)