Multicultural Literature for Children

Multicultural Literature for Children

 

General Purpose

Reading multicultural literature can help children gain a better understanding of people from other countries and ethnic backgrounds. These stories may describe how people live in different parts of the world, or they may portraying how children from different cultural backgrounds live together in the same country. They can be fiction, nonfiction, folk tales, fairy tales, legends, or poetry, but above all they must be accurate and portray characters in positive, non-stereotypical ways. The information presented here will help parents, teachers, and other interested adults find bibliographical lists of high quality multicultural materials for children of all ages.

Why should children read mulicultural literature?

Reading literature about people from other cultures has been proven to have positive developmental affects on children of all backgrounds. For the children of a specific ethnic minority, reading positive stories about their own ethnic group can increase self-esteem and make them feel part of a larger society. For children of a "majority" group, reading stories about other cultures can increase their sensitivity to those who are different from themselves, improve their knowledge of the world, and help them realize that although people have many differences, they also share many similarities.