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Who Should Write for Parallel Cultures?Can children's books that focus on children from parallel cultures be written by outsiders to that country or culture? How can teachers and librarians evaluate children's books about cultures other than their own?Ideally, reading about parallel cultures should teach children to value diversity and to empathize with people from disparate backgrounds; however, there is the risk that a poorly written or misinformed book will produce the opposite result. So, how should we select books about parallel cultures for children? How do we know if a book authentically represents another culture if we ourselves do not belong to that culture? In her article "Multicultural Children's Literature: Creating and Applying an Evaluation Tool in Response to the Needs of Urban Educators," [1] Jennifer Johnson Higgins offers some potentially useful, though by no means exhaustive, tips. The partial list below is adapted from her guidelines. First, make sure the author is qualified to depict the culture he or she has chosen to write about. Here, the old adage "write about what you know" usually applies: no amount of research can compensate for an insider's first-hand knowledge. Second, consider what all people have in common, regardless of their upbringing. People are complex: no two human beings are entirely alike, so make sure that the writing and the illustrations in a given book describe individuals, not stereotypes. Avoid books in which the characters and their actions appear overly simplistic. Third, think about what all people do and do not want. Everybody wants to be treated with respect and dignity. Make sure that the book you are considering does not establish a hierarchy in which one group of people is intrinsically more valuable than another. Similarly, nobody wants their history or heritage to be misrepresented, so avoid books that sacrifice historical accuracy in order to advance the plot. Do you agree or disagree with the above points? What criteria, if any, would you add? Make a list of the multicultural children's books you have read and explain why they either meet or fail to meet these guidelines [1] Jennifer Johnson Higgins, "Multicultural Children's Literature: Creating and Applying an Evaluation Tool in Response to the Needs of Urban Educators," in New Horizons for Learning [http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/multicultural/higgins.htm; New Horizons for Learning Copyright and Permission Information] (Copyright January 2002) |