Chapter 11- Diverse Perspectives in Children's Literature

        Chapter 11 discusses a major issue that takes place throughout schools all across the United States. Diversity is something that students need to understand because their classrooms are filled with diverse children. High quality multicultural children’s literature is available now than ever before. It is important to teachers to understand how important it is to include multicultural literature in the classroom. It is also critical that teachers are able to select high quality multicultural literature for children.

        I discovered that in the 1950s diverse literature for children and young adults was almost nonexistent. In the last few decade the number of multicultural books published far surpasses that of any previous decade. It is important to keep this going. Teachers and librarians need to have excellent multicultural books to choose from, and they must share these books with children. It is critical that children see other cultures and life experiences in order to develop perspective, insight, and possibilities as they grow to become citizens of the world. It is also important that children see their own cultures and values reflected in the books they read. Children need to feel a connection with a book in order for the book to be effective. Without feeling connected there will be no meaning to the book. It is important for students to feel as though they can relate to what they are reading. One of our country’s strengths is its diversity. It is important for children and adults to learn about other cultures so that they have a better understand of the people that surround them.

        However, we are failing to educate students from diverse backgrounds in our school systems. Children who live in poverty scored lower then students at or above the poverty level. Students from single parent homes were less likely to score in the top third than those from two parent families. Students whose primary home language is English outperformed those whose home language was not English. This is where multicultural literature comes into play. Research has shown that the use of multicultural literature that accurately depicts the experiences of diverse groups may improve the literacy achievement of students of diverse backgrounds by increasing their motivation to read, the appreciation and understanding of their own language and cultural heritage, their respect for their own life experience as a topic for writing, and cross cultural understanding. In conclusion, multicultural literature helps children see themselves in the stories they are reading. It depicts how people unlike them feel, think, and live. Multicultural literature connects children to the world by exposing them to diverse viewpoints other than the mainstream. It is important that the awareness, appreciation, and understanding of people who are different from and similar to ourselves is established (Johnson, 2012).