Identifying High Quality, Culturally Diverse, Children's Literature to Foster Inclusiveness

Scholars advocate for the inclusion of varied and accurate multicultural children’s literature across the curriculum as a means of providing students with “mirrors” and “windows” into the world while simultaneously building fundamental literacy skills (Mendoza & Reese, 2001). Put another way, “A child may see his or her own life reflected in a book or may have an opportunity to see into someone else’s life” (Mendoza & Reese, 2001, p.6). By stocking classroom libraries and sharing books reflective of students’ varied cultures and the cultures of others, teachers foster more inclusive and empathetic classrooms.

Texts depicting students' non-mainstream cultures are often absent from classroom libraries. This is of particular concern, given that these underrepresented children can be left feeling disconnected from their classroom and/or school which in turn, negatively impacts learning (Siddiqui, 2016). It is essential that all students experience a sense of belonging, and inclusive children’s literature is one way of fostering vital classroom connections.

Unfortunately, educators often struggle to include varied texts for a variety of reasons. For example, teachers may feel intimidated by the task of identifying high quality books for inclusion. Mendoza and Reese (2001) write, “They [educators] do not want to offend anyone, nor do they want to harm any of the children they teach, but they worry they might inadvertently select and share inappropriate texts.” (p.15). Furthermore, even when teachers feel comfortable selecting texts, finding the time to do so is difficult.

For those who aim to bolster classroom libraries with culturally inclusive texts, but struggle to identify standards for evaluation, Mendoza and Reese (2001) suggest considering the following guiding questions:

1. Are characters "outside the mainstream culture" depicted as individuals or as caricatures?
2. Does their representation include significant specific cultural information? Or does it follow stereotypes?
3. Who has the power in this story? What is the nature of their power, and how do they use it?
4.  Who has wisdom? What is the nature of their wisdom, and how do they use it?
5.   What are the consequences of certain behaviors? What behaviors or traits are rewarded, and how? What behaviors are punished, and how?
6. How is language used to create images of people of a particular group? How are artistic elements used to create those images?
7. Who has written this story? Who has illustrated it? Are they inside or outside the groups they are presenting? What are they in a position to know? What do they claim to know?
8. Whose voices are heard? Whose are missing?
9. What do this narrative and these pictures say about race? Class? Culture? Gender? Age? Resistance to the status quo?

(Mendoza and Reese, 2001, p.19)

Mendoza and Reese (2001) also urge educators to collect multiple culture-specific titles in order to provide, “an adequate window and an undistorted mirror” (p.14). They emphasize the importance of remembering that even a high quality text cannot possibly represent the experiences of an entire cultural group.

Do the questions listed above resemble the process you embark upon when selecting inclusive texts? What are some other ways you create a culturally-inclusive classroom? Share your stories with us!

Mendoza, J., & Reese, D. (2001). Examining multicultural picture books for the early childhood classroom: Possibilities and pitfalls. Early Childhood Research & Practice, 3(2),1-32.

Siddiqui, S. s. (2016). Through the looking glass: Reflecting Muslim narratives in children's literature. California Reader, 49(4), 10-14.