This volume contains keynote and workshop presentations from several Virginia Hamilton Conferences on multicultural literature for children and young people. The papers and speeches are as follows: (1) "A Toiler, A Teller" (Virginia Hamilton); (2) "The Next America" (Arnold Adoff); (3) "The Magic of Imagining: Transaction with Young Adult Fiction and Poetry" (Arlene Harris Mitchell); (4) "A Conversation with Patricia and Fredrick McKissack" (Anthony L. Manna and Carolyn S. Brodie); (5) "Making the Journey" (Sheila Hamanaka); (6) "A Journey Toward a Common Ground: The Struggle and Identity of Hispanics in the U.S.A." (Nicholasa Mohr); (7) "The Mythic Dimensions of Appalachia" (Gary D. Schmidt); (8) "Literature in the Pediatric Setting: The Use of Books To Help Meet the Emotional and Cognitive Needs of Chronically Ill Children" (Marcella F. Anderson); (9) "Jewish American Experiences in Children's Books" (Esther Cohen Hexter); (10) "Deep Like the Rivers" (Ashley Bryan); (11) "Word Magic" (Barbara Juster Esbensen; and (12) "The African American Folktale in the Primary Classroom" (Darwin L. Henderson). Appendices include a selected listing of multicultural trade books for children and young adults, sources of multicultural materials, and a description of the Virginia Hamilton manuscript collection. (JB)