Multicultural Themes
Ada, Alma Flor, Zubizarreta, Rosa,
and Simon Silva, Gathering the Sun: An Alphabet in Spanish
and English, Lothrop, 1997. (Grades Pre-K-5)
An alphabet book with
exceptional illustrations and excellent poetry that gives voice
to the experience of Hispanic agricultural workers. Each
letter is matched with a Spanish word (for example, "arboles"
for "A") and accompanied by a poem in both Spanish
and English that describes how the plant, fruit, vegetable,
person, or feeling functions in the lives of these workers.
The colors are brilliant, and the scope has a larger-than-life
sense to it. This is a book that begs to be read aloud to all
students, whether they are Spanish speaking or not. The sound
of the poems will draw them in. The touching elegy for Cesar
Chavez successfully imparts the impact of a heroic man on his
people.
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Albyn, Carole Lisa, The Multicultural
Cookbook for Students, Oryx, 1993 (Grades 6-9).
Stressing safety and adult
assistance, the authors give young cooks a taste of the culture
and foods of 122 countries through 337 authentic recipes in
a book that is arranged geographically by continent or region--Africa,
the Middle East, Europe, Asia and the South Pacific, the Caribbean,
Latin America, and North America. Each of the seven sections
opens with a general, but brief, description of the area and
its culinary traditions; within the sections, the countries
and their typical foods are introduced (outline maps show where
each country is located), and in general, at least two recipes
for each country are listed.
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Bernier-Grand, and David Diaz, Cesar: Si,
Se Puede! Yes, We Can!,
Marshall Cavendish, 2005. (Grades 6-8)
Poetry and illustrations highlight Cesar Chavez' struggle to
empower migrant workers using peaceful protest. |
Carle, Eric, Today
is Monday, Philomel, 1993. (Grades PreK-3)
Each day of the week brings a new food. When Sunday arrives, children
from around the world gather to share their favorite foods. |
Cha, Dia, Dia's
Story Cloth, Lee and Low, 1996. (K-5)
A Laos woman
recounts her family's wartime displacement, during which she was
forced to flee to a refugee camp in Thailand and remain away from
her home for four years, in a story that is illustrated by a lavish
Vietnamese story cloth. |
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Collins, David,
George Washington Carver: Man's Slave Becomes God's Scientist,
Watts, 1990 (Grades 4-7).
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Denenberg, Barry,
So Far From Home: The Diary of Mary Driscol, An Irish Mill
Girl, Lowell Massachusetts, 1847, Scholastic, 1996. (Grades
4-7)
Fourteen-year-old
Mary Driscoll and her family have lived in terrible poverty in
the Irish countryside every since the potato famine began several
years ago. When Mary is offered a chance to join her aunt and
older sister in America, she jumps at the chance to seek a better
life for herself. But after a long, stormy, and miserable ocean
voyage, Mary arrives in America to find that it is nothing like
she expected. She takes a job in a textile mill in Lowell, Massachusetts,
where she is scorned by most of the American workers and expected
to work long hours under terrible, unsafe conditions. There are
few bright spots in this account of the life faced by many girls
in New England cities during the mid-nineteenth century, and most
of what happened to the fictional character of Mary happened to
various girls who lived back then and worked in factories and
mills. |
DePaola, Tomie, The
Legend of the Poinsettia, Putnam, 1994. (Grades K-3)
dePaola's
skillfully pared-down narrative and paintings that glow with
strong colors present the story of a well-intentioned Mexican
child, Lucida. Distressed because she has no other gift to
offer Baby Jesus, she carries into the church an armful of
weeds, each of which suddenly becomes "tipped with a flaming red star," marking
the miraculous blooming of the first poinsettias. Available
in English and Spanish. |
Demi, One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical
Folk Tale, Scholastic, 1996 (Grades K-2).
The story of Rani, a clever
girl who outsmarts a very selfish raja and saves her village.
When offered a reward for a good deed, she asks only for one
grain of rice, doubled each day for 30 days. Remember your math?
That's lots of rice: enough to feed a village for a good long
time--and to teach a greedy raja a lesson.
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Durham, David Anthony, Gabriel's
Story, Doubleday, 2001 (Young Adult).
Set in the 1870s, the
novel tells the tale of Gabriel Lynch, an African American youth
who settles with his family in the plains of Kansas. Dissatisfied
with the drudgery of homesteading and growing increasingly disconnected
from his family, Gabriel forsakes the farm for a life of higher
adventure. Thus begins a forbidding trek into a terrain of austere
beauty, a journey begun in hope, but soon laced with danger
and propelled by a cast of brutal characters.
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Goble, Paul,
The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses, Aladdin, 1993 (Grades
K-2).
For
most people, being swept away in a horse stampede during
a raging thunderstorm would be a terrifying disaster. For
the young Native American girl in Paul Gobl''s 1979 Caldecott-winning
masterpiece, The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses, it is
a blessing. Although she loves her people, this girl has
a much deeper, almost sacred, connection to her equine friends.
The storm gives her the opportunity to fulfill her dream
-to live in a beautiful land among the wild horses she loves.
With brilliant, stylized illustrations and simple text,
Paul Goble tells the story of a young woman who follows
her heart and the family that respects and accepts her uniqueness.
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Gregory, Kristiana,
The Legend of Jimmy Spoon, Odyssey, 1993 (Grades 4-7).
Twelve-year-old
Jimmy Spoon yearns for a life of adventure. So when two Shoshoni
boys offer him a horse, Jimmy sneaks away from his family
in Salt Lake City to follow the boys. When Jimmy arrives at
the Shoshoni camp, he discovers that he is expected to stay
- as a member of the tribe. Inspired by the memoirs of a white
man who actually lived with Chief Washakie's tribe as a boy
in the mid-1800s, The Legend of Jimmy Spoon is a compelling
coming-of-age adventure.
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Hamilton, Virginia, The
People Could Fly: The Picture Book, Knopf/Random House, 2005. (Grades 3-5)
A group of African slaves working in cotton fields in America
escape an abusive overseer through magic recalled from Africa. |
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Hospkinson, Deborah,
Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt, Knopf, 1993 (Grades
K-3).
As a
seamstress in the Big House, Clara dreams of a reunion with
her Momma, who lives on another plantation - and even of running
away to freedom. Then she overhears two slaves talking about
the Underground Railroad. In a flash of inspiration, Clara
sees how she can use the cloth in her scrap bag to make a
map of the land - a freedom quilt - that no master will ever
suspect.
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Hoyt-Goldsmith,
Diane, and Lawrence Migdale, Buffalo Days, Holiday House,
1997 (Grades 4-6).
Portrait
of a young Crow Indian boy - Clarence Three Irons, Jr., a.k.a.
Indian - living in Lodge Grass, Montana. Indian's father raises
cattle and horses, and manages the Crow buffalo herd. The
buffalo has always been a critical element in Crow culture
and the herd's return from near- extinction is an important
link for the Crow with their past. The ways in which the Crow
have preserved and extended their cultural heritage is Hoyt-Goldsmith's
focus, including the annual round-up reflecting the grand
buffalo days - the fair and rodeo offering a chance to build
and camp in tipis, don ceremonial garb, and attend to sacred
dances.
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Katz, William Loren, Black
Women of the Old West, Atheneum, 1995 (Grades 4-7).
Using primary sources
and featuring dozens of black-and-white archival photographs
and reproductions, Katz recounts stories of African American
women who made the journey west and illuminates the times
in which they lived and their reasons for going. Some women
of color escaped west from slavery. Others sued for freedom
after being taken there by their owners. Still others came
as mail-order brides. Many black women flourished on the
frontier, where they found more opportunities for education
and better paying jobs.
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Kindersley, Barnabas and Anabel,
Celebrations, DK, 1996.
Great photos of children
engaged in celebrations all around the world at all seasons,
with descriptions of the holidays from the children themselves.
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Krull,
Kathleen, and Yuyu Morales, Harvesting Hope: The Story of
Cesar Chavez, Harcourt, 2003.
The story
of Cesar Chavez's 340-mile march to protest the working conditions
of migrant farmworkers in California. Readers meet Chavez at his
grandparents' home in Arizona where he lived happily amid a large
extended family. His childhood was cut short when, due to financial
difficulties, the family was forced to move to California to seek
employment. After years of laboring in the fields, Chavez became
increasingly disturbed by the inhuman living conditions imposed
by the growers. The text is largely limited to one side of a spread;
beautifully rendered earth-toned illustrations flow out from behind
the words and onto the facing page. |
Kuklin, Susan, How
My Family Lives in America, Simon & Schuster,
1992. (Grades K-2)
The story
of three children, each with an immigrant parent, with discussions
of the food they eat, the names of different dishes and
eating customs. The book includes three recipes:
one African, one Puerto Rican and one Taiwanese. |
Miller, Brandon Marie, Buffalo
Gals: Women of the Old West, Lerner, 1995 (Grades 4-7).
Miller's book acquaints
children with a historically accurate picture of the daily life
of 19th Century women of the western frontier. Without neglecting
the story of the Native American women who lived on the frontier,
Miller catches both the bone-wearying labor and the excitement
that sometimes made living in the West worthwhile. She augments
her text with excerpts from journals and memoirs as well as
photographs from regional archives, which are especially effective
because the images are not familiar ones.
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Moore, Jo Ellen,
and Gary Shipman, Bread Around the World, Evan-Moor,
1995. (Grades 1-3)
Discover
the types of bread produced by people all over the world. Curriculum
units include cooking demonstrations, field trips, science, math
and writing experiences. |
Morris, Ann, Bread,
Bread, Bread, Morrow, William and Co., 1993. (Grades K-3)
Celebrates
the many different kinds of bread and how it may be enjoyed all
over the world. |
Myers, Walter Dean,
The Righteous Revenge of Artemis Bonner, Harper Collins,
1992. (Grades 4-7)
In 1880,
15-year-old Artemis Bonner, an African-American New Yorker, travels
to Tombstone, Arizona, to avenge the murder of his Uncle Ugly
and to find his uncle's hidden gold stake. Artemis chases the
murderous scalawag from Mexico to Alaska and back again before
a showdown on the exact spot where Uncle Ugly met his untimely
demise. A 1993 ALA Best Book for Young Adults. |
O'Dell, Scott, Carlota, Houghton
Mifflin, 1977. (Young Adult)
Carlota thinks her role
in life is to take the place of her dead brother to please her
father. At 16 she races her stallion, dives for gold in shark-infested
waters and fights in the Mexican-American War. But her most
difficult feat is to defy her father and become her own person.
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Paulsen, Gary, The Tortilla Factory,
Harcourt, Brace, 1995 (Grades K-3).
Paulsen tells young readers
how a corn seed eventually becomes a tortilla. "The black earth
sleeps in winter . . .," but in the spring, it is worked by
brown hands that plant the yellow seeds. Seeds become plants,
and then the corn is ground into flour and sent to the tortilla
factory. The flour disks come off the machine, are packaged,
and eventually arrive in kitchens -" to be wrapped around juicy
beans and eaten by white teeth, to fill a round stomach and
give strength to the brown hands that work the black earth." This
circular telling works nicely with the strong, attractive paintings
that get texture from their linen surface.
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Perez, L. King,
and Robert Casilla, First Day in Grapes, Lee & Low,
2002 (Grades 1-3).
Growing
up in a migrant family, Chico has experienced first school days
in artichokes and first days in onions, and "now his first day
in third grade would be in grapes." His encounters with bullies
and the grumpy school bus driver shake Chico's confidence, but
a friendly classmate and an understanding teacher help him adjust.
Realistic watercolor, pastel, and colored-pencil illustrations
portray Chico's emotions. |
Pinkney, Andrea D., and Brian Pinkney,
Bill Pickett, Rodeo-Ridin' Cowboy, Gulliver, 1996. (Grades
K-3)
This storybook biography
traces Pickett's early life and eventual rise to the upper ranks
of professional rodeo fame and provides historical information
about black cowboys.
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Rutberg, Becky,
Mary Lincoln's Dressmaker, Elizabeth Keckley's Remarkable
Rise from Slave to White House Confidante, Walker, 1995
(Young Adult).
Born
a slave in 1818, Mary Keckley endured 37 years of abuse, including
forced sexual relations (and a resulting pregnancy) before
buying freedom for herself and her son. Once free, she used
her sewing skills to bec ome one of Washington D.C.'s most
successful dressmakers. Then she closed her dress shop to
care for the first lady after Lincoln's assassination.
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San Souci, Robert,
Cut From the Same Cloth; American Women of Myth, Legend and
Tall Tale, Philomel, 1993 (Grades 3-8).
The women
come from the Native American, African American, Mexican American,
and Canadian traditions. Although they differ in many ways from
their male counterparts, there are still tricksters, sweet talkers,
and brave and strong protagonists like those found in hero stories.
There has been some retelling, some modifications of dialects,
some reshaping of open endings, but the plots have not been tampered
with. Each story is illustrated with an engraving of some sort,
with black background and white lines that give the pictures an
antique quality like a woodcut or copper engraving. Notes on the
stories and an extensive list of further reading are appended. |
Schlissel, Lillian,
Black Frontiers: A History of African American Heroes in the
Old West, Simon and Schuster for Young Readers, 2000 (Grades
4-7). |
Soto, Gary, Too
Many Tamales, GP Putnam's Sons, 1993. (Grades
PreK-3)
While helping make tamales for Christmas dinner, Maria tries
on her mother's ring. When she realizes the ring is missing,
her cousins come to the rescue. |
Stevens, Jan Romero,
Carlos and the Cornfield/Carlos y la milpa de maiz, Rising
Moon, 1995 (Grades 2-5)
Picture book
in English and Spanish describes how Carlos learns a life-long
lesson affter planting corn for his father. Includes recipe for
cornmeal pancakes. |
Swain,
Gwenyth, Eating, Red Leaf, 1999. (Grades Preschool-3)
Children
throughout the world have favorite foods. |
Taylor,
Mildred D., Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Puffin, 1997.
(Grades 4-7)
Cassie's
family faces a real challenge: to hold on to land in the South
during the Depression. Her father works away from home and her
mother works and runs the family farm. Lynne Thigpen dramatizes
this excellent classic story of a black family's struggles to
remain independent and proud against all obstacles. |
Taylor, Mildred D., The Well: David's Story, Dial,
1995. (Grades 4-7)
During a drought in 1910, 10-year-old David Logan's family has
the only working well in their part of Mississippi. They share
their water willingly with both black and white neighbors, but
white teenager Charlie Simms tests their generosity, goading
David's older brother Hammer into a fight requiring restitution
in the form of labor on the Simms's farm. Charlie and his brother
get even for the disgrace of Hammer's beating by secretly contaminating
the Logans' well with dead animals, only to be exposed and punished
when a neighbor reveals their act.
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Tillage, Leon Walter,
Leon's Story, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1997 (Grades 4-6).
Tillage describes
the trials of sharecropping - trying to get an education in an
inferior school and walking a long distance while watching
a bus full of white children pass by. The author witnessed
the murder of his father when a group of drunken white teenagers
ran over the man. The father of the driver gave Mrs. Tillage
100 dollars and told his son to apologize. He never did. There
was never any legal action taken. The events are succinctly
and honestly expressed in the author's first-person account.
Roth's monochromatic collage art, placed before the beginning
of each chapter, documents the sparseness of Tillage's life
and its boundaries: home, church, school, work, and the balcony
at the movie theater. The last story, "Marching," explains
the role of many groups of southerners, representing a number
of ethnic groups who supported and helped the marchers. The
afterword and note about the genesis of the book are important
addenda. |
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Williams, Sherley Anna, Working
Cotton, Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1992 (Grades K-3).
Shelan, the young child
of two migrant workers, follows her parents into the fields
to help them pick cotton during a long day of work, in a dramatically
illustrated study of migrant family life.
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Woodson,
Jacqueline, and Hudson Talbott, Show Way, Putnam,
2005. (Grades K-5)
A Show Way
is a quilt with secret meanings, and the image works as both
history and metaphor in this picture book. Based on Woodson's
own history, the story is of African American women across
generations, from slavery and the civil rights movement to
the present. Growing up on a plantation in South Carolina,
Soonie learns from Big Mama about children "growing up
and getting themselves free," and also how to sew quilts
with signs that show the way to freedom. |
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