Our library shelves should have books in which children can see themselves and the diversity of the world. Multicultural books feature characters of various colors or ethnicity. They may share various beliefs or customs of a particular culture. We also think of multicultural books as being written or illustrated by a person sharing their diversity.
Children need to see themselves in books. This is often referred to as books being mirrors. AND, kids need to see that the world is full of wonderful people who come from a variety of backgrounds. This is often to as books being windows.
According to Rudine Sims Bishop, Professor Emerita of Education at The Ohio State University, 鈥淏ooks are sometimes windows, offering views of worlds that may be real or imagined, familiar or strange. These windows are also sliding glass doors, and readers have only to walk through in imagination to become part of whatever world has been created and recreated by the author. When lighting conditions are just right, however, a window can also be a mirror. Literature transforms human experience and reflects it back to us, and in that reflection, we can see our own lives and experiences as part of the larger human experience. Reading, then, becomes a means of self-affirmation, and readers often seek their mirrors in books.鈥
Please help us fill our library bookshelves with multicultural books for our diverse readers.
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Our library shelves should have books in which children can see themselves and the diversity of the world. Multicultural books feature characters of various colors or ethnicity. They may share various beliefs or customs of a particular culture. We also think of multicultural books as being written or illustrated by a person sharing their diversity.
Children need to see themselves in books. This is often referred to as books being mirrors. AND, kids need to see that the world is full of wonderful people who come from a variety of backgrounds. This is often to as books being windows.
According to Rudine Sims Bishop, Professor Emerita of Education at The Ohio State University, 鈥淏ooks are sometimes windows, offering views of worlds that may be real or imagined, familiar or strange. These windows are also sliding glass doors, and readers have only to walk through in imagination to become part of whatever world has been created and recreated by the author. When lighting conditions are just right, however, a window can also be a mirror. Literature transforms human experience and reflects it back to us, and in that reflection, we can see our own lives and experiences as part of the larger human experience. Reading, then, becomes a means of self-affirmation, and readers often seek their mirrors in books.鈥
Please help us fill our library bookshelves with multicultural books for our diverse readers.
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