multicultural books (written by or about people who have experienced multiple cultures)
The Composition By: Antonio Skarmeta
Pedro is a boy growing up in a country under a dictatorship.
Pedro is really good at soccer and focuses on that until things start to
change. His parents are listening to the radio more intently. He also witnesses
his friend’s father taken away by the army. He learns that his friend’s father
was taken away for being against the dictatorship. One day at school an army
captain comes and has the children write about what their families do at night.
Pedro knows he can’t write about his family listening to the radio and
disagreeing with the dictatorship, so he writes about everything else they do.
He also lies a bit to make it sound even more boring. His parents read it and
decide they may need to buy a chess set, since that’s one of the lies Pedro
added.
Interest Level:
3-5
Grade level
Equivalent: 3.5
I Hate English! By: Ellen Levine
Mei Mei and her family move from China to New York. She
compares everything in her new home and school to the way it was in China. She
hates everything about English and refuses to work or speak in English. Nancy,
a teacher, comes and helps Mei Mei with her English, and eventually gets her to
speak in English. Mei Mei then realizes that English is important and she can
have both English and Chinese in her life.
Interest Level:
PreK-3
Grade
level Equivalent: 1.8
My Name is Maria Isabel By: Alma Flor Ada
Maria moves to America from Puerto Rico. At her new school
her teacher calls her Mary because there are already two other Marias. Maria
has a hard time responding to Mary because it’s not her name. the teacher
thinks she is being careless and inattentive. Everything changes when Maria
gets an assignment to write about what she wishes. She writes about how she
wishes to be called by her real name, Maria Isabel Salazar Lopez, the name she
was given in honor of her grandmother. After reading this the teacher calls her
by her real name from then on.