Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, students, families, and educators have faced unprecedented challenges. These challenges have disproportionately impacted racially/ethnically diverse, low-income communities because of long-standing health system, socioeconomic, and educational inequities. With closures of schools, libraries, and childcare centers, many…

The authors searched for picture books that are useful for intercultural education and for discovering students' perceptions about the values and intercultural experiences conveyed through the books. To do so, the authors selected two books by following established criteria and analyzed students' responses through semistructured interviews. The…

Children's literature plays an essential role in the literacy development of children. This department column focuses on the teaching and use of children's literature and provides educators with information about a wide range of books across multiple genres that are representative of the diverse world in which we live. A strong emphasis is placed…

In this paper, we discuss a creative role-play approach to the use of think-alouds focused on exploring multiple perspectives. The teaching idea presented here draws on transformative and critical theory in education and research-based practices. It encourages children to see the world through the eyes of diverse fictional characters or, in the…

Discusses the policy of silence (and its complex reasons) that often rules when it comes to teaching and learning about race, religion, ethnicity, and sexuality. Discusses briefly five books and articles that deal with breaking this silence, and offers observations about effective multiculturalism in the classroom. (SR)

Provides a rationale for using trickster tales in the classroom. Introduces representative trickster tales from many cultures, and samples activities that teachers can use to introduce trickster tales to their students. (SR)

Explores the concept of "democracy" and what it means in a multicultural society. Outlines several assumptions of critical literacy and suggests that it is important in realizing a strong democracy. Shows how the Saving Black Mountain project exemplifies critical literacy in action. Notes that students learned that their spoken and…

Considers how being a multicultural teacher demands facing a lengthy and complex set of issues, beginning with the understanding that good multicultural teaching has the bottom-line goal of helping every child be successful in the classroom. Presents 10 recommendations for reaching that goal. (SG)

Discusses the strong link in Denmark between literature and international awareness. Surveys several books by Danish authors that heighten awareness of other cultures. (SR)

Notes that an increasing number of contemporary multicultural children's books aid readers' text comprehension with an author's note, foreword, or afterword. Describes ways teachers can use these author's notes, and ways to make the most of this author information. (RS)

Discusses 60 recently published works of multicultural children's literature. Attaches a list of books cited and a list of books for bilingual classrooms (written in a language other than English or written in English and another language). (RS)

Presents brief annotations of 49 illustrated children's books, categorized into the following groupings: multicultures, odds and ends, solutions, animals, individuals, celebrations, and settings. (SR)

Discusses a variety of assessment practices used in primary classrooms to meet the need of a diverse student population, including concepts about print, running records, anecdotal notes, writing vocabulary and word dictation, self-assessment/goal-setting interviews, nonfiction journals, and scoring rubrics. (SR)

Discusses definitions of multicultural literature, rationales for including it in the curriculum, and how it should be selected. (SR)

Argues that children's multicultural literature can help explore negative bias--how it develops through ignorance and is disarmed by sharing accurate information concerning cultural variations. Presents a five-phase procedure for exploring bias using children's multicultural literature, and illustrates it by applying it to the book "Flossy…