• Home
  • Our Shop
  • About Us
    • About MKB
    • Our Shop
    • MKB Board
    • Editorial Board and MKB Administrators
    • Our Contributors
    • For Bloggers: Join MKB
    • Books and Products from Our Members
    • Cultural Resources
    • Contact Us
  • Product Promotion Services
  • Blog Hops & Series
    • Holidays Around the World
      • Martin Luther King Day
      • Chinese New Year
      • Purim
      • Passover
      • Easter Around the World
      • Ramadan
      • Hajj (Eid al Adha)
      • Rosh Hashanah
      • Day of the Dead
      • Diwali
      • Hanukkah
      • Christmas in Different Lands
    • Heritage Months
      • Black History Month
      • Women’s History Month
      • Asian-Pacific Islander Heritage Month
      • Middle Eastern and North African Heritage Month
      • Hispanic Heritage Month
      • Native American Heritage Month
    • Blogging Carnivals
    • Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop
    • Global Learning for Kids
  • Resources for Raising Global Citizens
  • Privacy Policy

Multicultural Kid Blogs

For families and educators raising world citizens, through arts, activities, crafts, food, language, and love.

Celebrating Culture Through Books

September 14, 2020 by Leticia Amaya

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you click and purchase, Multicultural Kid Blogs will receive a small commission that will be used towards maintaining the site.

Now, more than ever, families need to honor their heritage. Celebrating culture through books is a great way to begin! Racism is a topic all children of color learn about at a very young age, but we need to remain united even as our country is changing. With this in mind, as parents and educators, we must teach our children of color to be proud of who they are by celebrating our accomplishments.

celebrating culture through books

We found some wonderful books for elementary aged children. My son loves reading them and talking about them over and over again. Here are a few of our favorites with brief summaries and activity ideas to help you enjoy them as much as we do.

Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family Fight For Desegregation by Duncan Tonatiuh

Book Cover

Summary: In the story, Sylvia and her family move to Westminster, CA. Her parents plan to enroll her in school, but the local school does not accept dark Mexican children. Sylvia has to attend the Mexican school on the other side of town. It’s an old house on a farm converted into a school. Sylvia’s father, Gonzalo, fights for Sylvia and her siblings to attend the all white school.

Activity: I spoke to my son about key words in the book such as segregation, fairness, and petition. We talked a lot about why having separate schools is wrong and how things have changed now. We also talked about what a school for all children looks like. Then we made a diorama.

Side By Side/Lado A Lado: The Story of Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez

Book Cover
Summary: The reader learns about the lives of Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez and their contributions to unionizing farm workers. Farm workers were not getting fair and equal pay. They worked long hours, and were treated poorly by their bosses. Dolores and Cesar changed that by creating United Farm Workers and educating them on their rights as workers in the United States. The author tells the story through beautiful and realistic illustrations that make the reader a part of the story.

Activity: My son learned vocabulary words such as union, boycott, equal pay, hunger strike, and bully. We talked about the dedication needed by farm workers to pick crops and the importance of respecting and valuing these workers. We also talked about the need for equal pay. Then, my son chose a few topics that were important to him and made his own sign to use while boycotting.

Dreamers by Yuyi Morales

Book Cover - Celebrating culture
Summary: The story depicts the journey of a young mom crossing the border with her son looking for a better life. She talks about their struggles, but she also shares how happy she is to be in a place where she is free. She soon learns to speak English by reading books from the local library. The illustrations in this book are simply beautiful.

Activity: My son learned the terms immigrant, crossing the border, and dreamer. He also learned that not all families are lucky to have homes or to speak English fluently. We then talked about the importance of having resources available to us.

Conclusion

All these books are great tools for celebrating culture and starting conversations with our children about racism and inequality. I hope these books teach your child as much about inequality and the importance of standing up for everyone’s rights as they did for my son. Enjoy!

Related Posts

Why We Still Need More Diverse Children’s Books

Travel the World Through Books

Windows & Mirrors: Choosing Diverse Multicultural Children’s Books

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailby feather
The following two tabs change content below.
  • Bio
  • Latest Posts

Leticia Amaya

Leticia is an educator with over 15 years of experience. Her specialties include, teaching gifted and talented children, literacy intervention, NEST classroom model, bilingual education, and Orton-Gillingham approach.

Latest posts by Leticia Amaya (see all)

  • Celebrating Our Ancestors – Dia de los Muertos - October 26, 2020
  • Celebrating Culture Through Books - September 14, 2020
  • Keeping Kids Motivated During Remote Learning - July 20, 2020

Filed Under: Books for Children, Education, Learning About Culture, Teaching Diversity Tagged With: children's books, culture, diverse children's books, diversity, diversity education, multicultural children's books

Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required

Follow Us!

Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on Google+Follow Us on TwitterFollow Us on PinterestFollow Us on RSSFollow Us on Instagram

Anti-Bullying Resource FREE Download

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Grab Our Button!

grab button for Multicultural Kid Blogs
<div class="multicultural-kid-blogs-button" style="width: 200px; margin: 0 auto;"> <a href="https://multiculturalkidblogs.com/" rel="nofollow"> <img src="https://multiculturalkidblogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/button-take-3.jpg" alt="Multicultural Kid Blogs" width="200" height="200" /> </a> </div>
Multicultural Children's Book Day Co-Host

Archives

Copyright © 2023 · Lifestyle Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT