Customer Reviews

The New Press Guide to Multicultural Resources for Young Readers

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I'm currently enrolled in graduate school, and my field of interest is education. One of the classes I'm taking is about diversity in education, one which I'm enjoying immensely. I myself have a diverse background (Indian-Portuguese) and am married to an Irish Catholic,and our daughter is a living example of the mix of many cultures.So,this book also appealed to me on a personal level. There are so many perspectives on the issues of multiculturalism and diversity, and the number of materials out there is simply mind-boggling. I have found this book to be very useful in gaining insights into multicultural literature for grades K through 8. The book itself is well-organized, and contains over 1,000 critical book reviews on the subject as well as critical essays pertaining to multicultural education.

In brief, here are the chapters contained within the book:
Introduction
Essays included are:
Milestones in Children's Literature
10 Quick Ways to Analyze Children's Books for Racism and Sexism (very useful and insightful)
The All-White World of Children's Books

Chapter One: Who Am I? Who Are We?
Addresses issues of identity and diversity in multicultural children's literature. Book reviews are provided for grades K-8.

Chapter Two: The Family
Very important and timely chapter as it deals with issues pertaining to marriage, siblings, divorce, single parents, blended families, foster care, adoption, and aging. On a personal level, I found Peggy Gillespie's essay, "Other" to be especially pertinent, as it addresses the interracial family and the issues they face.

Chapter Three: Community/Friendship
Covers the issues/themes of community service, cooperation, gangs, conflict resolution, and homelessness. Great ideas such as starting a literary club at school are also addressed.

Chapter Four: Cultural Traditions
Besides covering the different cultural traditions such as found in the Muslim, Christian, Jewish tradition, etc, this chapter has lots of information such as a segment on "Teaching Respect for Native Peoples", and insightful essays, such as "Ethnic and Gender Stereotyping in Disney Animation".

Chapter Five: Folktales, Fairy Tales, and Legends: Fantasy and Imagination
Besides offering critical reviews of multicultural books in this genre, there are also interesting essays such as "Public Libraries: Cultural Repositories for Everyone's Stories" by Rose E. Warder.

Chapter Six: Newcomers Establishing Roots
Discusses how children come to grips with issues of isolation and language barriers, and how these themes can be integrated in the classroom context.

Chapter Seven: Justice, Human Rights, Equity
Discusses how literature can have a powerful impact in enabling children to recreate the world for themselves and future generations. Also stresses the importance of children learning to identify bias within books, research information, and analyze data, which is part of developing their cognitive skills in terms of abstract and critical thinking.

Chapter Eight: Building Cross-Cultural Relationships
Essays included provide useful strategies for developing community of learners in schools, and tips on using multicultural materials effectively (themes covered include biracial/interracial relationships, second language acquisition, unlearning stereotypes, and sharing cultural traditions).

There is a comprehensive index at the end.

Highly recommended resource for multicultural education Grades K-8.

This is a great reference point for teachers of young children. It combines short essays and comments with a huge reference of multicultural literature, broken down by themes and ages. It is a huge undertaking and does not (cannot) hold everything you'll wish it does. But this is much more than a starting point and saves a lot of personal leg work.

Well worth the investment for anyone serious about integrating a thorough multicultural curriculum for children.