Notable Books for a Global Society Project

Teaching & Learning 307

December 2nd

Jennifer Escobedo & Takiya Flowers

Introduction -

Once you learn to read you will be forever free. Frederick Douglas truly believed that

reading was crucial in order to live a full life and I could not agree more. Reading is an essential

part of everyone's lives, whether it be for an aesthetic purpose or an efferent purpose (Tunnell

and Jacobs, p. ) or even both, you can gain so much from the simple act of reading. One of the

most compelling aspects of reading is the way it transforms your reality and allows you to escape

into the pages of a book. A reader can jump into the pages of a book and enter a different time

zone, country, or even a different world. This aspect alone has helped many people through their

personal adversities as a form of therapy. This element of reading is also useful for people to

escape into a different part of the world and immerse themselves into another culture.

Not everyone has the means to travel the world and learn about a different culture first

hand, so reading can be the next best thing. This is why multicultural and global literature is so

important. These books provide the journey that many children don't have the opportunity to

take. These books can also help children understand people of another culture and become

culturally sensitive. In our society today, culture is somewhat of a taboo topic due to serious

racial tension we are currently experiencing, but books can ease that tension by enlightening

children on different cultures and showing them that in the end we are alike. The same way

reading helped Fredrick Douglas through that time of racial issues, it can do the same for our

society today. Reading multicultural and global literature can help prevent ignorance and educate

a whole generation of children. Childrens Literature Briefly explains a notion known as

Xenophobia, which is the mistrust of fear of strangers and foreigners (Tunnell and Jacobs, p.

194). Due to the effects of xenophobia, we as a society are unable to live together in peace but
exposing students to multicultural literature can help lessen that fear and mistrust resulting in a

more united and culturally accepting society. Children are the future and as teachers we can help

in making that future a brighter one by becoming knowledgeable about multicultural and global

literature so we can introduce it to our students.

Multicultural literature not only helps children learn about other culture but it can also be

a familiar face for students of different cultures. These books provide comfort for a child who

feels out of place in our White American dominant society. Unfortunately, there is an obvious

lack of cultural representation in literature, but multicultural literature can help fill that gap.

These books can give a child something to identify with and feel like their culture is also

significant. It can be a story focused on a specific culture or even a normal story with

multicultural characters and protagonist, both will give a student that familiarization with the

story. The Notable Books for a Global Society Award is great because it puts an emphasis on

books that may not be in the spotlight otherwise. In this assignment we will be critically

analyzing a few of the multicultural and global books that were honored by the Notable Books

for a Global Society, and take a closer look at these books that give homage to different cultures.

Purpose - It is crucial that teachers are knowledgeable about multicultural and global literature,

and this assignment is helping us do just that. This assignment is meant to enlighten us as future

teachers about the significance of multicultural and global titles and increase our comprehension

of the different types of multicultural literature that there is. It is necessary for teachers to be

knowledgeable about all genres in order to create a well-rounded classroom library and expose

the students to a wide variety of literature to choose from. Multicultural literature is a blanket

term for many different genres that include international elements, therefore it is essential for us
to understand the extent of multicultural literature and the different components within that type

of text. Through this assignment we will explore and familiarize ourselves with the best of

multicultural literature according to the Notable Books for a Global Society. We will also critique

the multicultural titles in order to become acquainted with the elements displayed in exceptional

multicultural literature. Becoming familiar with the criteria used to analyze good multicultural

literature is important so that we are able to use that criterion to analyze multicultural books we

may want to use in our classroom as teachers. Evaluating any book requires you to look at

components such as credibility, interesting content, and is honest or believable (Tunnell and

Jacobs, p. 195). When evaluating multicultural literature you judge the same standards that you

would for any other work or writing, but you also have to look for things like stereotyping and

accuracy of cultural facts (Tunnell and Jacobs, p. 195). Making educated decisions about what is

a good or mediocre piece of writing is a great skill to have, but acquiring that skill takes time and

a lot of reading. This assignment serves as a crash course of what international literature is and

how to evaluate it, but it is merely the beginning of the multicultural and global literature

research we will do throughout our teaching career.

Steps Taken - For this assignment we met up at the downtown Pullman public library and

dissected the two rubrics for the assignment, reviewed a few student example available on

blackboard, and familiarized ourselves with Notable Books for a Global Society Award criteria.

We then looked over the list of Notable Books for a Global Society Winners from 2014 through

2006. After looking over all the books we decided to choose books from the more recent lists

because those are the ones we felt would show the best display of the NGBS Award criteria. We

each looked up a few of the books on the lists and read dictations and reviews about the books on
the Goodreads website. After about an hour and a half of researching books we found on the

lists, we each chose four books we wished to further analyze through this assignment. We then

discussed our four books and talked about why we thought these were good choices, and

ultimately made a mutual agreement on the eight books.

Choosing the books we wanted to use for the assignment took a bit of time but was not

nearly as difficult as finding the books themselves. First we checked the shelves of the Pullman

library, but sadly were only able to find one of the eight. We decide to continue with the book's

eight we chose and simply attempt looking in other libraries, that was easier said than done. We

looked in the Owen library here on campus and only found one of the seven remaining books,

but we stuck to our guns and decided to keep looking for the original books we decided on. We

scoured the libraries in our hometowns and were able to find four more of the books leaving us

with a decision to make, either buy the remaining two books or chose two other books from the

lists. We decided to buy one of the books and switch out the other one.

Finally, our collection was complete and the real work began. We decided to divide the

workload and each read four books then meets up again to discuss what we had read. We each

chose two books from our four as top contenders for the award and exchanged the books so the

other person could read them and make a mutual decision about which book deserves to win.

After we read each other's books we met up yet again and discussed which books should be the

winner and honor books based on the criteria set forth by the NBGS and our personal opinion

about the books. We were able to come to an agreement on the winner and two honor books

fairly quickly because we both had similar views on which we thought deserved to win.

Following our decision-making, it was time to get our thoughts down on paper. We

created an outline for what we wanted our essay to look like, then divided the work evenly and
got to work. We set up an interactive Google doc so we could both see the progress being made

and make suggestions about each other's writing. Finally we met a few more times to further help

each other and wrap of all the sections of our paper.

Multicultural/Global Literature Definition - Before working on this assignment we

mistakenly thought multicultural literature was exclusively defined as books that incorporate a

race other than Caucasian/White American. I believed multicultural literature was a book that

had the inclusion of a race, whether it is a story focusing on a certain culture or simply a story

with an ethnic protagonist or main point of view. I later realized that my definition of

multicultural literature was only part of it. Multicultural literature includes stories about different

religions, beliefs, sexual orientation, and even disabilities, such as deaf culture (Tunnell and

Jacobs, p. 194). Another important aspect of multicultural literature is its global component.

Multicultural literature is not exclusive to the primary cultures we encounter in North America

(Tunnell and Jacobs, p. 193), there are so many different cultures around the world that have

books written about them which are also multicultural literature. Multicultural and global

literature is classified as any piece of writing that puts an emphasis on any type of isolated

cultural group or groups.

Notable Books for a Global Society Award Winner - Every Human has Rights

Based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

With Poetry From the ePals Community

By: National Geographic

Foreword By: Mary Robinson

Summary - One cannot stress how impactful and necessary this book is for all children to read.

This deep and humbling photographic declaration is perfect for spreading cultural sensitivity and

awareness. Every Human has Rights teaches the reader about all the basic human rights that we

are all born with through pictures of people who were not able to exercise those rights. This book

opens the eyes of its reader and shows them how lucky they are to have the rights they hold and

educated them on the rights they didnt realize they held. Many people in the world have no

indication of these basic human rights, and that included American citizens. It is crucial that

students are taught about the basic human rights so they are able to defend themselves from

anyone trying to violate their rights and so that they understand that although you are different

from someone else, you have the same rights in life. This book includes many different races,

from African Americans to Jews during the time of the holocaust. There are so many cultures

being represented, which allows many different students to identify with the story and adds to the

incredible message of the book. The book itself is engaging and includes pictures, poems, and

historical facts. The poems are about the rights but still hold personal and emotional depth. These

three elements work perfectly together to create an interesting, relatable, and informative piece

of writing.

Strengths & Weaknesses - A major strength of Every Human has Rights is its inclusiveness of a

plethora of cultures. Many students will be able to look at the pictures in this book and feel like

they are represented in some way. It makes everyone feel that his or her culture is valued. By

making sure that multiple cultures are shown in the pictures it further proves the overall message

of every human having rights. It emphasizes cultures that are normally overlooked in our society.

Another very important strength this book poses is its accuracy of information. The book is
based on the actual United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and was written by

Mary Robinson a former United Nations high Commissioner for human rights, which are both

very reliable sources that show the authenticity of the information. A weakness of the book, that

hardly deserves mentioning, is the author's choice of font. I know the author was trying to create

a contrast of fonts for different portions of each page but I found that some of the font was much

too light in color. That was really the only issue with the book and we felt that the overall

product and story message were outstanding.

Award Criteria & Reason for Winning - Every Human has Rights met all five of the criteria set

forth by the Notable Books for a Global Society. The pictures and poetry certainly displayed rich

cultural details. Every photo showcased a unique culture and included a caption explaining the

people in the photo, which gives the reader insight on what they are looking at. The poetry gives

the book authentic dialogue and gives the historical information a personal touch that the reader

can connect with. That is the key to making a book about historical content engaging, incorporate

an empirical and relatable aspect that creates a relationship between the reader and the

information being delivered. The authentic dialogue is also executed through the photos, a photo

can speak volumes and that is what the photos in this book do for the reader. The entire book

content covers an in-depth concept of cultural issues. In our society basic human rights are being

violated all the time to people of any culture, this book sends a clear message about that by

including a multitude of cultures in the explanation of the human rights. There are also many

minority groups included to further support the overall message of the book. One page that

describes the right to be treated like a human being displays a photo of starved Jewish men in a

concentration camp during the holocaust that were used as specimen in scientific experiments, is
one of the most impactful displays of a minority being discriminated in an extreme form

resulting in the need for that human right. Minorities are most often the ones denied their basic

human rights and this book certainly shows that through the content it provides.

How to Use in the Classroom - This book is definitely for upper level classes, perhaps 5th to 8th

grade levels. This book would can be presented through many different lessons, but ideally

would be used in a history class. In American history classes one of the first lessons is the U.S.

declaration of independence and the Bill of Rights, but we do not recall any of our history classes

going over the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It seems that American history classes

are Anglo centric and neglect the importance of teaching children of the most basic human rights

granted to every human being at birth. The book would thrive in an activity comparing the U.S.

Bill of Rights to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Comparing the two will show kids

how similar they are and that even people who are not American citizens have rights. In our

society today there are major issues dealing with immigration and the rights of immigrants in a

foreign country. This book help kids understand that even if someone is not a citizen they have

rights in America too. This type of class activity can open the students eyes to the injustice

occurring to immigrants and may even inspire the students to become allies for the movement

against the violation of immigrant rights. The book alone can be used as the basis for an activity

by reading with the students then asking them to choose one of the basic human rights mentioned

in the book to further research. In this activity the students will learn how these basic human

rights came to be and understand the events that prompted the inclusion of the human right they

chose into the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Robinson, M. (2009). Every human has rights: A photographic declaration for kids. Washington,
D.C.: National Geographic.

Honor Book #1 - Why Do We Fight?: Conflict, War, and Peace By: Niki Walker

Summary - This is an insightful and interactive chapter book that explains world conflict in a

child appropriate manner. As adults, we often disregard the fact that children are also being

exposed to and affected by the injustices and conflicts occurring in our world. This disregard

causes us to neglect our responsibility to explain why these awful things are happening. Failing

to properly inform a child of what is going on in the world will only leave lingering questions in

their mind and may result in them believing false facts or being impressionable to negative

statements. This books serves as a great medium for adults to use to inform children about the

world conflict. This book allows kids to become educated about war and use their knowledge as

strength rather than fear the unknown. The book itself is black and white with bright yellow

highlighting, making it an inviting book despite the very serious topic it deals with. The content

jumps off the pages through the usage of engaging graphics such as bubble charts and playful

font. What makes this book so incredible is that it is able to appeal and relate to a child.

Normally children have no interest in reading about the world's history with conflict, and when

they do read about that history they are left feeling bored or disconnected with the information.

However, this book generously relates the world conflict to everyday conflict a kid may

experience. The book has sections that evoke the reader to self reflect by asking question about

their lives and conflict they experience such as, So have you been part of any conflicts this

week? Before you say no, stop and think about it. Did you agree with everything everyone

around you said? (Walker, p. 7). By including these simple self reflecting questions the reader is

able to meditate about their own experiences and relate them to the information being presented
about world conflict, making it easier to grasp the concept. The book also includes definitions for

difficult words and inspirational quotes dealing with conflict said by influential people in our

history.

Strengths & Weaknesses - Why Do We Fight? is an exceptionally written example of a

multicultural and global title. The strengths of the book are its structure and engaging way of

proposing accurate historical content that is culturally inclusive. The structure of the book is

great because it is inviting and interactive which helps the reader understand the complicated

information. World conflict and war is not an easy subject to explain, but the format this book

uses makes it simple and breaks it down into kid friendly design the black and white with yellow

color pop is eye catching and makes it easy to follow, while the quotes give a personal value to

the historical content. Another strength is the accuracy of information and inclusion of other

cultures. The story is written with an American point of view but avoids being overly patriotic

and bias. The information is truthful and gives recognition to the mistakes made by both parties

of a conflict. Ironically one of the book's strengths may also be a weakness. Although the format

of the book is engaging and amusing, it can also be overwhelming to read. On a few of the pages

there is just too much going on and lacks a clear direction. This can make it a bit confusing but is

not an alarming issue overall.

Award Criteria & Reasons for Being Honored - All the books we reviewed were wonderful and

we appreciated elements included in all of them, but Why Do We Fight? stood out due to its

diverse content. This book didnt focus on just one cultural group, it tackled a subject that affects

just about everyone in the world. This is a truly international book that can be read anywhere in
the world and have value. Not only did this book include different ethnic groups, but it also

included religious and social culture, such as stereotype culture. This book included all five of

the Notable Books for a Global Society criterion. It is very rich in cultural details, shown through

the accurate historical facts presented that deal with the world conflict. The book is written

through an American perspective but includes many different cultures and goes into detail about

cultural factors in world war, conflict, and peace. This book displayed one of the best examples

we saw of authentic dialogue and relationships. Throughout the book there are portions where

the reader is required to have a sort of conversation with the information from the book and self

reflect in order to digest the content they are reading. The author does this to create a relation

between the reader and the historical information in the book. There tends to be a disconnect

between the reader and the information when it has to do with a historical topic, but the authors

style of dialogue prevents this disconnect and engages the reader. The book is about global

conflict and makes sure to go in-depth about cultural issues. One part of the book that shows this

is the section written on cultural stereotyping and how that can cause conflict. Making

stereotyping assumptions about other cultures is a problem in our society and the book did a

great job of explaining the wrong in that. Why Do We Fight? is an insightful book that educates

students on the history of world conflict in an effortless, appropriate, and captivating manner.

Walker, N. (2013). Why do we fight?: Conflict, war, and peace. Berkeley, California: Owlkids
Books.

Honor Book #2 In Marching for Freedom: Walk Together, Children and Dont You Grow

Weary By: Elizabeth Partridge

 In Marching for Freedom: Walk Together, children and Dont you Grow Weary by

Elizabeth Partridge. This book tells the different stories of several people who were involved in

the civil rights movement including the famous Martin Luther King Jr. This book does a great

job telling the story of what lead up to the voting rights act being passed in 1965 it tells the

personal stories of people who at the time were just little kids but participated in protest and

marches for the sake of their parents and a better future for themselves many children were

beaten and even thrown into jail on multiple occasions for protesting but they did it anyways. A

little African American girl was arrested and thrown into jail at the age of ten for accompanying

her grandmother as she attempted to register to vote. Bloody Sunday was March 7th 1965 African

Americans gathered together and protested peacefully as they were unrightfully beaten and tear-

gassed by police officers

The biggest strength this book represented was meeting the criteria for the Noble books

of Global Society. The criteria that stuck out to me most was accuracy and authenticity of the

people depicted in terms of physical characteristics, social and economic status, intellectual and

problem solving abilities, and displays of leadership and cooperation was met by allowing the

people who went through the beatings and jail time. It also focused on the in depth treatment of

the issue of African Americans being treated unfairly because of their race. It also showed

uniqueness of language and style because the people who went through it also told it.

One of the weakness that I saw this book has is it sort of lacks the NBGS criteria for

thought-provoking content that invites reflection, critical analysis and response it would have

been nice to give the reader a sense of why African Americans werent able to vote and why they

were treated so unfairly although it explains voting rights act was passed in 1965 it doesnt

explain why whites felt like African Americans shouldnt be able to vote why did they think that.
Today we read stories of what happened during the civil rights movement but still today I

wonder as a college student what caused people to treat a specific race so unfairly.

As a future teacher there are several different ways I could incorporate this book into my

classroom I would have an activity where students were split into two different groups for a day

one group will be minorities and the other will be majority I then will tell the majorities they

arent allowed to go into specific places in the school or work with anyone who is a minority

doing that will give my students a sense of what African Americans went through during the civil

rights movement. I could also use this book to bring up the topic of racism in my classroom and

help them understand that people are so much more than the color of their skin but they are

simply people. In order to keep history from repeating itself is to talk about our past hardships.

I chose this book as an honor book because I feel like it met majority of the NBGS

criteria and also because this time period was so detrimental to the world we live in today shows

students that without the African Americans who risked their lives to march and fight for their

rights African Americans today wouldnt have that voting rights act that was passed in 1965.

Partridge, E. (2010). Marching For Freedom: Walk Together, Children, and Dont You Grow

Weary. New York, NY. Viking. Print.

Critical Reaction of My Name is Not Easy By: Debby Dahl Edwardson

Summary - I chose to read this book because I wanted to read a story that focused on a specific

culture. The first two books I read were broad and are diverse in cultures they include, therefore I

wanted to switch it up and read a book that narrows its view to one unique culture. I wanted to

something different, and boy was this book different. This book first caught our attention because
it includes a culture that is not popular and that not many people would be familiar with, the

native Alaskan culture. The story is about a native Alaskan boy who grew up in his arctic tribe

but is now having to go to the Sacred Heart boarding school. This change is a huge culture shock

for Luke resulting in his struggle to adjust. Luke is used to being surrounded family and love and

feels like his new home is prison like. This story is great for students to read because it may

prompt them to sympathize with students in their own school who come from different cultures

and are having a hard time conforming to the cultural change. It is hard for all kids to adjust to

change so there is a common ground that students can relate to and learn from. The book has

multiple narrators, which offers varying point of views.

Strengths & Weaknesses - As a whole I enjoyed the book and appreciated the message. I thought

the author did an exceptional job of displaying rich and accurate cultural facts as well as

authentic cultural dialogue. I am not familiar with native Alaskan culture but I believe this book

gave me a good basis of what it means to be Native Alaskan. I thought it was great that the

author pointed out what aspects of the book were fictional and what was based on real life

events. This concept made the cook culturally authentic and left me feeling much more

knowledgeable about the Alaskan culture. Although the book showed great authenticity, a major

weakness of the story was the format and organization of information. The book had a unique

structure that gave multiple points of views but was a bit difficult to follow along with. At times

you forget which character is narrating because the different people are awfully similar to each

other making it difficult to follow the characters parts, which resulted in misunderstanding of the

storyline.
Edwardson, D. D. (2013). My name is not easy. Las Vegas, NV: Skyscape/Amazon Children's

Pub.

Critical Reaction of Under the Mesquite By: Guadalupe Garcia McCall

Summary - I was attracted to this story (Jennifer) because it is rich in Latin culture and I know I

would have truly appreciated this book when I was a girl the way I appreciated it now as a young

adult. Like we previously mentioned, there is a clear lack of multicultural representation in

literature today but it was even less when I was in grade school. I am Mexican- American

(Jennifer) so I am able to identify with White American literature but only to a certain extent. I

was unable to fully identify with any piece of writing growing up because there were parts of my

culture missing from literature. This story would have been a breath of fresh air for me growing

up and I am glad I encountered now so I can add it to the shelves of my future classroom library.

The story is a novel written in poem verses and is about a sixteen year old girl named Lupita who

is Mexican - American and struggling to juggle responsibilities of an older sister in a Latin

household while dealing with the illness of her mother. This story displays beautiful and

simplistic poetry that makes such an impact. I could relate to all the references made by Lupita

from her mom intensely watching novelas (Hispanic soap operas) to her experiences as an older

sister of eight children. In Hispanic culture it is very common that the oldest girl in the family

assumes the responsibilities of a mother figure when mom is not home, that was definitely the

case in my life experience and I was often left caring for my two younger brothers and a few

cousins while my parents, aunts, and uncles worked. That just goes to show how authentic the

story truly is, many Hispanic students will be able to find themselves in the verses of this book

and other students will be able to further understand the culture of a Latin - American person.
Strengths & Weaknesses - This book showed outstanding authenticity of the Hispanic culture. As

part of the Mexican-American culture (Jennifer) I felt that the dialogue was on point and true to

my experiences. This authenticity will reach out to other Hispanic students and provide a book

that gives them something to identify with. While also giving students outside of the Hispanic

culture an insight about the Latin culture. The book also includes a glossary of the Spanish words

used throughout the poems, which is wonderful because the reader can learn vocabulary from

that culture and feel like they are in the loop. The poetry also creates genuine dialogue that is

heart wrenching and causes the reader to create a deeper connection with the characters.

Coincidentally, a weakness of the story is also one of its strengths that are the verse format that

the book is written in. Poetry is an impactful and personal form of telling a story but it can result

in a lack of detail. The story was a short one and we were left wanting a little more, a little more

story telling and a little more insight on the situation. Ultimately the primary weakness of the

book was that it is so good, we were left wanting more.

McCall, G. G. (2011). Under the mesquite. New York: Lee & Low Books.

Critical Reaction of The Old African By: Lester

The Old African by Julius Lester was a Noble Books for Global Society Award winner for

the year 2006. This book sums up the history of pain and hardships African Americans slaves

faced during the time of slavery. The Old African was captured and forced to become a slave but

what nobody knew was he had a special power that allowed him to escape with the other slaves

and lead them to freedom everyone knew of him through his kind gestures but never through his
words because he never spoke. This story is special because as they traveled through the ocean

the people who died because of slavery suddenly came to life and joined their loved ones.

In the beginning of the story a young African American boy is being beaten by his slave owner

Mr. Riley the boy is being punished for trying to escape so Mr. Riley is punishing him in front of

all the other slaves including the Old African to show them what would happen if anyone else

tries to escape. What Mr. Riley didnt know was the Old African used his powers to ease the pain

the young boy suffered from the lashes of Mr. Riley and also to ease the hearts of the slaves

watching the boy suffer. Although the slaves were told not to intervene the old African couldnt

bare to watch anymore so he tried to get between the boy and Mr. Riley thats when Mr. Riley

tried to punish the old African as well but the powers from Mr. Riley didnt allow him too. The

old African and his wife were taking into slavery together they were forced to march through the

forest for 3 days until they reached the ocean where they then were chained to the ship. The Old

African lost his wife and mentor on the ship due to the pain and suffering of being a slave the

story then fast forwards back to where the young boy was being beaten by Mr. Riley for trying to

escape to the ocean all the other slaves thought the boy was crazy but in fact the old African uses

his powers to transform into a bird to see the ocean the little boy tried to escape to and in fact the

little boy wasnt lying when he reached the ocean he transforms back into a human then uses his

powers to get all the other slaves free he creates dark clouds into ships uses the lightning to set

Mr. Rileys house on fire. When the house caught on fire the slaves were set free and walked

back to their homeland on their journey all the slaves who passed away due to slavery suddenly

came to life to join their families including the wife and mentor of the old African.
This story was such a powerful book for students to understand what African American slaves

went through with a friendly spin of magical capabilities to get younger readers engaged. One of

the biggest strengths of this book is it gives children a sense of understanding of slavery and all

the horrible things African American endured during that time period it is important for young

readers to learn about the history of all ethnic groups so history doesnt repeat itself. What is a

good way for history not to repeat itself? A good way is to educate students by creating stories,

novels and autobiographies of why, where and how these things happened. This book also did a

good job with meeting the NBGS criteria it had appealing format because although things were

so awful the magic made it kid friendly it included richness of detail concerning African

Americans because it helped children understand how unfairly they were treated.

One of the biggest weaknesses I saw while reading this book is I feel the illustrations are a little

graphic for young readers although they express the horrible things African American slaves

endured some children won't understand why people were treating each other that way. The story

challenges teachers to have those uncomfortable conversations for some about slavery and race

with students because I am sure younger students will have a lot of questions.

Lester, J. (2005). The Old African. New York, NY. New York: Dial Books. Print.

Critical Reaction of El Deafo By: Cece Bell

I want to start off by saying I really enjoyed reading this book El Deafo by Cece Bell and

I think this book is a good book for all age groups to read and also a great book for teachers to

read to students in their classroom because it tells the story of life through the lens of a little girl

named Cece who knows she is different because she has to wear a phonic ear but doesnt want to

be looked as different because of it. In a classroom full of students you will have students who
look similar but also students who look very different and some who may have a special need

and maybe others that dont but thats what makes your classroom so unique because you're

constantly learning new things about each other. El Deafo is about a little girl named Cece who

lost her hearing at age 4 due to a sudden illness and because of her hearing impairment she has to

wear a device called a hearing aid that is strapped to her chest with cords around her ear to help

her hear better although it helps with hearing it draws a lot of attention especially to the kids at

school. Cece is having a hard time making friends the kids at school make fun of her because of

her impairment or try and use being her friend as a trophy to say they have a deaf friend. There

are a lot of things the other children didnt understand just because she couldnt hear didnt mean

she needed them to shout at her and blast the radio and television in fact all Cece needs was for

them to speak a little more clearly because her hearing aid has a microphone that allows words to

travel directly to her ears in fact it allows Cece to hear her teacher's voice in the teacher's lounge,

restroom and anywhere she goes inside the school its like she has a superpower. At the end of the

book Cece ends up finding a girl that she becomes really close to and becomes well adjusted to

the school she is in.

There are a lot of strengths this book has it helps bring awareness to people with disabilities but

also teaches students that just because Cece cant hear doesnt mean she feels different things

than everyone else she has feelings to. Dont assume because someone has a disability that they

want to be treated any different because of it in the book a lot of people assumed because Cece

was deaf she needed them to yell at her or assumed she was dumb when all she needed was for

them to speak a little more clear. This book will help students understand that everyone is

different in their own way and to be accepting of all people.

One huge weakness this book had for me was it was written in comic book format although the

illustrations were amazing and the colors were very vibrant and attractive it was hard to keep up

with the story because I was so attracted to the pictures I didnt know what order to read the story

in. Some students may like that but other will have a hard time like me trying to finish the book.

Critical Reaction of A Place where the Sunflower Grows: By Amy Lee Tai

A place where the sunflower grows by Amy Lee Tai this book is about a young Asian

American girl named Mari who is taking away from her home unwillingly without any of her

belongings and forced to live in a desert without any friends or things to call her own but

somehow she learns to make the most out of the situation but of course without running into a

little trouble.

Mari was very young when she and her family were forced to move away from their home

bringing nothing but the things they could fit in their suitcase. The family was locked up in a

internment camp where they were forced to stay although Mari was young she didnt like being

held against her will so she became defiant because she wanted things to change so she began

not eating and didnt participate in the art class they had for prisoners at the Topaz Relocation

Center. Until she decides to plant sunflower seeds in hopes that a flower will somebody grow

and make her life a little more tolerable because she has something to look forward to.

Throughout the book Mari decides to make light of her situation so she starts to eat again and she

participates in the art classes and creates beautiful drawings and even ends up making a friend

Mari somehow turns this horrible situation and makes the best of it and at the end of the book the

sunflower seeds began to sprout and grow and with that so did Mari.
This story gives us just a glimpse of what Asian Americans went through very similar to the way

the Nazis treated the Jewish during world war II I enjoyed reading it because it told the story

from the perspective of a little girl who was forced to live in a internment camp and taking from

everything she knew and loved aside from her family but still manages to find happiness but not

without facing a few challenges.

One of the biggest strengths this book exemplifies is it talks about issues that were never

really given light and shows how to make the best of the situation you are in although Mari and

her family were being treated unfairly she still found something that made her happy and that is a

good life lesson children need to be taught. Also you're not going to like every situation you're in

and thats okay but to make the best of it this book touched on all five NBGS criteria including

Accuracy and authenticity because the story was told by Mari who at the time was just a young

girl in the internment camp, richness and detail concerning Asian Americans and how horrible

they were treated being forced out of their homes to work in an internment camp, In depth

treatment of issues although i am sure things were worse for the parents of Mari it showed what

it was like being in an internment camp for just a child, Enduring quality of the story and Lastly,

Inclusion of members of a minority group for the purpose other than tokenism or fulfillment of

any type of quota i think this book by Amy Lee Tai wasnt written for money she simply wanted

to bring light to what Asian Americans went through because there arent a lot of books that tell

the history of their past lives. As a whole i really enjoyed this book and cant pin out a weakness

it has i think it would be good to use in a classroom with younger children for multiple reasons

when i new student enters the class, when students are going through a huge change in their lives

that can affect them and also because the book is written in english and Japanese it's also a good

book to read to English Language Learners as well.

Lee-Tai, A. (2006). A Place Where Sunflowers Grow. Illustrated by Felicia Hoshino. San

Francisco, CA. Childrens Book Press. Print.

Conclusion -

In conclusion we decided as a unit we can take several things away from this project but

the most valuable thing it taught us was about culture the history of many different races can be

told by many different perspectives culture is so important to incorporate into your classroom.

The true stories we read on historical events we thought we knew so much about exemplifies that

we as future teachers are life long learners as two minority students we really appreciated being

able to read and relate the books to our own culture the only thing we thought we could do

differently with this assignment is find our books a little earlier so choosing books that are

similar so we could choose books that are similar in content because it would make it easier to

compare books and chose an award winner. As future teachers we have taken many different

courses in college that tell us how detrimental it is to incorporate cultural values into our

classrooms not from just one culture but to all the culture that are in your classroom this project

was just another tool that happened to expand our library and introduced us to hundreds of new

books on culture so we will be able to use the knowledge we gained from this project in our

classroom for our future as teachers. As stated before these books bring light to the terrible

tragedy of some cultures and it also opens up opportunity for classroom discussions because the

best way for history not to repeat itself is for our children to become knowledgeable of our past.

The books on the Noble Books of Global Society list have the potential to change the lives of

millions of students who feel like the history of their people isnt being showcased enough it can
also change the lives of students who were never exposed to other cultures other than their own

and showcase new cultures and ways of life students can easily read about. The feeling of

acceptance is very important to everyone not just in a classroom setting but to a person's life and

sometime learning multicultural literature at school is the only sense of difference a child may

know in our (Childrens Briefly book pg.194) we learned about a term Xenophobia its the

mistrust or fear of people who are strangers or foreigners, is in part responsible for our

worldwide inability to live together in peace, affording one another equal opportunities. Parents

and society may purposely or inadvertently program children to mistrust, fear, or even hate

certain groups of people who are unlike them. Teaching children at an early age about positive

differences between people will not singularly ensure a more gentle and tolerant society..
 Bibliography:

Cece, Bell.(2014). El Deafo. Amulet Books. New York. New York. Print

Edwardson, D. D. (2013). My name is not easy. Las Vegas, NV: Skyscape/Amazon Children's

Pub.

Lee-Tai, A. (2006). A Place Where Sunflowers Grow. Illustrated by Felicia Hoshino. San

Francisco, CA. Childrens Book Press. Print.

Lester, J. (2005). The Old African. New York, NY. New York: Dial Books. Print.

McCall, G. G. (2011). Under the mesquite. New York: Lee & Low Books.

Partridge, E. (2010). Marching For Freedom: Walk Together, Children, and Dont You Grow

Weary. New York, NY. Viking. Print.

Robinson, M. (2009). Every human has rights: A photographic declaration for kids. Washington,
D.C.: National Geographic.

Walker, N. (2013). Why do we fight?: Conflict, war, and peace. Berkeley, California: Owlkids
Books.