Using Multicultural Literature to Understand Self and World
by Judith Y. Singer and Sally Smith
Judi Singer, whom you met in Chapter 4, and Sally Smith, another Hofstra colleague, conducted
a series of research projects that illustrate an additional problem with texts that teachers should
be aware of as they prepare instruction. When students read a text, they construct meaning
differently because they come from a variety of cultural contexts with differing sets of
assumptions. Judi and Sally conclude that teachers cannot simply rely on texts, even interesting
texts, to promote student understanding of complex issues, but must direct student attention and
challenge preconceptions. In this essay, they suggest some ways that this can be done. Although
they write about teacher education students, their ideas are applicable in any classroom. —Alan
Singer
We are teacher educators who use multicultural children’s literature to help teachers better
understand themselves and the world. For us, multiculturalism is a form of both critical and
cultural literacy. Multicultural literature has the potential to challenge biases about diversities
like race and sexual orientation. It can also affirm the lives of marginalized readers. However,
these experiences are never guaranteed. Creating them requires that teachers sensitively and with
determination prod students to reconsider some of their fundamental beliefs.
Reader response to multicultural literature frequently depends on the context provided by a
reader’s life and whether dissonance precipitates new understandings. Dissonance, or discomfort
with new ideas and experiences, can engage students in rethinking their ideas or it can be a cause
of distancing that interferes with learning.
A book we frequently discuss with teachers is a young adult novel by Jacqueline Woodson
(1995), From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun. A work of realistic fiction, it is narrated by a
fourteen-year-old African American boy named Melanin Sun. Through its main character, the
book confronts readers with incidents of racial tension and homophobia.
Melanin Sun describes an incident at the beach where he is taunted by a group of White boys.
He also shares his hostile reactions when he learns that his mother’s new love interest is a White
woman.
Reader reactions to the book illustrate the importance of context for establishing meaning.
Although race is an active and potent issue for Black readers, most Whites see it as incidental to
what is taking place in the book. Black teachers in our classes generally speak of how the book
reminds them of their own experiences with discrimination and of a pervasive societal unfairness
directed at people like themselves. Whites express sympathy for Melanin, but usually do not
identify racism in his experiences. Class discussion of the name Melanin Sun also shows the
importance of context. Black readers are generally pleased that Melanin’s mother gave him a
name that celebrates his dark pigmentation. Whites tend to be confused by the name and unaware
of color prejudice within the Black community. Black and White students read the same book,
but because of social context they read it very differently.
The dissonance generated by the book, caused by the disparity between the world as viewed
by most White readers and the story told by its Black author and narrator, can either become a
productive force in the classroom or obstruct multicultural understanding. White readers who are
engaged by the novel and class discussion discover that other people experience the world in
ways that they do not. They also learn that they are capable of empathizing with a character who
is always conscious of color and speaks of alienation from White people. We believe this
discovery, by introducing them to new perspectives on reality, expands their sense of who they
are, their ability to work with others, and helps them become more responsive teachers.
Dissonance can also obstruct multicultural understanding. The revelation that Melanin’s
mother was a lesbian confronted Black and White readers with difference in new ways. In our
classes, readers often distance themselves from her sexuality and focus their concern on
Melanin’s turmoil. In this case, the contrast between the response of Black and White readers
tends to be the intensity of their feelings. Readers from both groups express sympathy with
Melanin, but some Blacks communicate deep anger and disappointment with his mother, feeling
betrayed by a strong, caring Black woman whom they had admired because of her eloquence on
the subject of skin color. Neither group of readers is comfortable with this development in the
novel or anxious to introduce the topic into discussions with adolescents.
In some of our classes, with our encouragement, gay students and readers with gay relatives
have spoken out in response to the book and comments by their classmates. This has led to the
creation of a counterdiscourse in class that establishes the legitimacy of Melanin’s mother’s life
and the importance of opening this topic up for discussion with students in their classrooms.
Responses to From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun by both Black and White readers
demonstrate the importance of multicultural literature and literacy, and their potential for selfaffirmation and for promoting an appreciation of diversity. However, the novel does not always
generate the productive dissonance that enables readers to reevaluate their views about racial
tension and homophobia. That kind of critical literacy requires that teachers actively engage
readers in examining the dissonance they experience and in the creation of new experiences for
students.
Join the Conversation—Multicultural Literature
Questions to Consider:
1. In your opinion, is From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun an appropriate book to read with
middle school students? Explain.
2. Judi Singer and Sally Smith argue that teachers should create dissonance in order to
motivate students to reconsider some of their fundamental beliefs. Do you agree with this
idea? Explain.
3. Respond to the following statement: “Multiculturalism is a form of both critical and
cultural literacy.”