For the purposes of this paper, I will analyze and discuss seven different children’s literature books that depict people of different cultures and identities. I chose these books because these books challenge children’s preconceived notions about certain groups and help them change those. These books encourage children to not only understand the diversity in the classroom but to appreciate and accept them too and apply this mindset in the classroom and their community as well. In an inclusive classroom, there will be students from different backgrounds, disabilities, socioeconomic statuses and as well as English Language Learners. The books I chose were either chapter novels or picture books. The topics discussed in these books include poverty,
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From a young age, we are taught what is expected of each gender. Girls are supposed to be the stay at home mother who takes care of the kids and cleans whereas the boys are supposed to go to work every day and be the main source of income. A quality children’s literature book tries to negate that stereotype by allowing anyone to be anything they want to be. Our first book is “Little Kunoichi, the ninja girl” written by Sanae Ishida. This bilingual book is about a young girl studying to be a ninja and having trouble with classes and fitting it. She meets a young samurai boy and together they practice nonstop, or “shugyo” (a common word in the novel). They practice together and end up wowing the crowd at the Island Festival. The book features a strong Japanese culture and has Japanese words in it. The last page of the book explains various cultural images as well as terms from the story, so it’s great for not only English Language Learners and people wanting to learn about the Japanese culture. The illustrations are imaginative and unique, not to mention not flowery, they are strong and fit the idea of a woman becoming a ninja. Kunoichi at one point was wearing a pink ninja suit and everyone else was wearing a black ninja suit—all of her classmates were also boys. The activity I would use is having students draw their dream job and dress up as that job and show up to a career day in which they talk about what their job does. This story is …show more content…
This book challenges the stereotype that only boys can be pirates. The main character, a little girl, wants to play pirates with the boys even though girls “aren’t” allowed. She goes on to express how she can play pirates because girls can be pirates just like boys can. She negates the fact that girls can’t do anything boys do by saying princesses can do it too and not care so why shouldn’t princesses be pirates too. “A princess can be a pirate, if she chooses” (p.2)! The story ends with “only girls can be pirates is simply not true. Girls can be princesses AND pirates too” (Zellerhoff, 2012, p.22). This story has a great message that anyone can be a pirate, boys, girls, small and tall, white or black—we can all be pirates too, especially princesses. The illustrations fit the text and are a great addition to the idea of challenging stereotypes. It shows the princess doing all things the pirates too. The activity I would do is talk about toys and ask each child to list toys they like and tally the results. In that, we could discuss how boys and girls could like the same toys and how everyone can do anything they set their mind to. This book is told in a humorous interpretation of rhyme and is a great addition to any
From a young age, we are taught what is expected of each gender. Girls are supposed to be the stay at home mother who takes care of the kids and cleans whereas the boys are supposed to go to work every day and be the main source of income. A quality children’s literature book tries to negate that stereotype by allowing anyone to be anything they want to be. Our first book is “Little Kunoichi, the ninja girl” written by Sanae Ishida. This bilingual book is about a young girl studying to be a ninja and having trouble with classes and fitting it. She meets a young samurai boy and together they practice nonstop, or “shugyo” (a common word in the novel). They practice together and end up wowing the crowd at the Island Festival. The book features a strong Japanese culture and has Japanese words in it. The last page of the book explains various cultural images as well as terms from the story, so it’s great for not only English Language Learners and people wanting to learn about the Japanese culture. The illustrations are imaginative and unique, not to mention not flowery, they are strong and fit the idea of a woman becoming a ninja. Kunoichi at one point was wearing a pink ninja suit and everyone else was wearing a black ninja suit—all of her classmates were also boys. The activity I would use is having students draw their dream job and dress up as that job and show up to a career day in which they talk about what their job does. This story is …show more content…
This book challenges the stereotype that only boys can be pirates. The main character, a little girl, wants to play pirates with the boys even though girls “aren’t” allowed. She goes on to express how she can play pirates because girls can be pirates just like boys can. She negates the fact that girls can’t do anything boys do by saying princesses can do it too and not care so why shouldn’t princesses be pirates too. “A princess can be a pirate, if she chooses” (p.2)! The story ends with “only girls can be pirates is simply not true. Girls can be princesses AND pirates too” (Zellerhoff, 2012, p.22). This story has a great message that anyone can be a pirate, boys, girls, small and tall, white or black—we can all be pirates too, especially princesses. The illustrations fit the text and are a great addition to the idea of challenging stereotypes. It shows the princess doing all things the pirates too. The activity I would do is talk about toys and ask each child to list toys they like and tally the results. In that, we could discuss how boys and girls could like the same toys and how everyone can do anything they set their mind to. This book is told in a humorous interpretation of rhyme and is a great addition to any