By implementing carefully selected children's literature into the current reading curriculum, teachers can help students develop into civic-minded citizens who are willing and able to take meaningful action. Much has been written about the need to link learning and culture in our literacy classrooms (Banks, 1995; Gay, 2010; Ladson-Billings, 1995,…

The authors describe how Middle Eastern Muslims are represented in a text set of award-winning picture books. Most were written by authors with outsider perspectives who wrote about (a) antiquated times and practices and (b) war-stricken countries and dangerous journeys. Although most of the books are not problematic on their own, the large number…

This article addresses a growing call for the use of more culturally relevant texts and pedagogy in classrooms. We present how a teacher sharing power with emergent bilingual (EB) students during read-aloud discussions with culturally relevant texts supports EB students' literacy opportunities. These opportunities include (1) initiating new topics…

The field of reading instruction has long valued storytelling for literacy development, but what kinds of stories are bi/multilingual students exposed to at school? Through the cognitive phenomena of conceptual metonymy and metaphor, this article links language to identity and exposes practices that act to fracture the identities of…

Children's literature text sets can be powerful tools for teaching students about diversity and literacy, engaging students in authentic purposes for literacy practices while exploring complex issues such as Islamophobia. The authors discuss how an intermediate public school teacher integrated a children's literature text set project exploring…

Walk a Day in My Shoes is a curricular project designed to provide a starting point for teachers to cultivate cross-cultural understanding among elementary-age students. In this curricular project, students created their own digital stories about a day spent in their shoes. Through photography, writing, and digital storytelling, each student…

In the 21st century, our students increasingly communicate, connect, collaborate, and interact with diverse cultures and traditions around the world, so they need to develop global literacy. This department column highlights research and research-to-practice at the international level to bring global best teaching practices to the forefront.…

Multicultural literature can be a very powerful tool for helping children to better understand the world in which all of us live. Such literature has the potential to foster ethical respect for others and show children the commonality inherent in all people (Levin, Smith, & Strickland, 2003). More than just identifying with the characters in…

Abdallah, an Arabic-speaking, Palestinian 9-year-old student, was observed as he worked to understand his new English language and culture. Some issues and questions addressed in the article include effective methodologies for the assessment of literacy development in the Arabic and English languages, effective instructional strategies to scaffold…

Because it is often assumed that reading and responding to multicultural literature will help dominant-culture readers value diversity and gain a greater appreciation of their own heritage, it is important to examine what children in actual classrooms are learning from the books they read. Analysis of the writing of 123 dominant-culture eighth…

Describes the procedures for writing "Jack Tales," adaptations of the familiar folktale "Jack and the Beanstalk." Discusses how this writing activity integrates reading and writing across the curriculum and effectively heightens multicultural awareness as students try to apply the basic plot structure to diverse cultural settings. (MG)

When using multicultural literature in the classroom, teachers should: (1) Check the text's authenticity; (2) Help learners understand the characters' world; (3) Encourage children to see the world through the characters' perspectives; (4) Identify values underlying the characters' conflict resolution strategies; (5) Relate self to the text and…

Reviews four resources that will help teachers make instructional decisions in classrooms with bilingual multicultural students. (MG)

Describes a five-step sequence for the study of multicultural literature. Presents a detailed example of how the sequence can be used to study literature dealing with Native American cultural groups. Concludes with descriptions of how the sequence can be used and adapted with literature dealing with Black and Hispanic cultural groups. (MG)