MULTICULTURAL LITERATURE... WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

Multicultural Literacy...

Why is it important?

Why do we need MIRRORS?

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We need mirrors to see our reflection.  

We need multicultural literature to be absolutely sure that children's literature will reflect back people who look like the children looking within the pages of books.

Why do we need WINDOWS?

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We need windows so we can look outside to see and understand our environment.

We need multicultural literature so children can look outside their own culture and into other's, developing more knowledge, acceptance and tolerance of all people and nations.

Why do we need DOORS?

Photo credit:  Leslie Staven
   We need doors to open so we can go outside and enter our world.

We need multicultural literature to open our children to understanding, acceptance and tolerance.  Multicultural literature opens doors allowing children to enter other cultures such that they realize that we are all connected and important.

Multicultural literature is the mirror, windows and doors of our children's minds.

Let them shine and reflect,

Let them open and allow the breeze of understanding to enter their world

Let them open and allow our children to pass through them to discover the beauty of one another.

Within this blog, I hope you will discover that multicultural literature does 

NOT

require extra work from educators and adults -

 it simply requires that we 

remember 

that we are not one: 

we are not the majority 

and we are not the the minority.  

We are made up of an endless variety - 

ethnicities, races, cultures, religions, nations, 

shades, sexual orientations, beliefs, neighborhoods, 

and so much more help define us.  

Do not leave us out because you only see your reflection.  Remember, look for books 

REFLECTING

the variety and shades of all people, 

OPEN

to endless cultures and beliefs, 

and a 

PASSAGE

to new worlds and neighborhoods for 

the young reader to discover.  


In lecture, my instructor, Joyce Herbeck, explained multicultural literacy by using the metaphors of mirrors, windows, and doors.  I believe these can first be attributed to the works of Botelho and Rudman (2009)  Critical Multicultural Analysis of Children's Literature:  Mirrors, Windows, and Doors
Although I have not read the article, I wanted to be sure to give credit where credit is due and state that the ideas above were developed due to the lecture material presented within the classroom.  The page above is not meant to be construed to be, although it may inadvertently be, a summary or the works of Bothelho and Rudman (2009).