Module 6 - Book focusing on character with disabilities - TWU - Multicultural Literature

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Lord, Cynthia. 2006. RULES. Detroit: Thorndike Press. ISBN 9780786295593.

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Catherine, 12 years old, just wants to be normal and to have a normal family. But, she has a big responsibility helping to care for her 8 year-old autistic brother. She realizes that he doesn't just know things like regular people know them, so she creates a list of rules for him to remember, such as "chewing with your mouth closed," "flushing the toilet," saying 'hi' back when someone says 'hi' to you," etc. Catherine also really wants a friend to live in her neighborhood, and she finds out that a new girl is moving in soon next door. She hopes that this new girl will be a really good friend, just like the kind she has created in her imagination. While attending Occupational Therapy with her brother, she makes friends with a boy in a wheelchair, who cannot speak, but "talks" by tapping a "communication book." This relationship, as well as the other situations in her life, starts Catherine thinking about what makes a person "normal" and how to accept a new definition of "normal."

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This is a very pleasant book, that is well-written. Cynthia Lord states in the author's notes that this is first book, and that she is also the parent of an autistic child. The story feels real and authentic. I have a nephew with a form of autism, and David, the boy in the story, reminded me lot of him. I am familiar with a lot of the actions and reactions that autistic children have. My son also has three autistic boys in his Cub Scout group, and again, what I was reading was familiar. Ms. Lord writes what she knows and lives each day. This story was easy to get into and to get involved with very quickly. It is an easy and fast read, but has a lasting positive message about living and interacting daily with a person who has a disability. It is not easy sometimes, but there are some very special moments that make it all worth while.

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The are a lot of markers in the book that help the reader understand the two disabilities that are described in this story. David, has autism, and here is a passage that helps to describe it for the reader:

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I know she needs me to babysit sometimes, but I hate when she tells me he shouldn't be any trouble. Trouble comes quick with David, and "should" doesn't have anything to do with it. He should remember to flush the toilet, too, but that doesn't mean it happens.

When Mom had gone, I took my long mirror off my door and propped it at an angle against one corner of the living room, so I could work at my desk and still see David reflected in the mirror.

Every few words I make, I glance out my bedroom doorway to the mirror. David stands at the TV, the remote in his hand. He loves rewinding the trains backward up the tracks and speeding them ahead to almost crashing, over and over.

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The other character in the book with a disability is Jason, who is in a wheelchair, and cannot speak, but he uses a "communication book" to talk with people:

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Jason taps, and I tear my focus away from Kristi passing the last streetlight at the edge of the park. Catherine. Pretty. Today.

I nod. "It's a very pretty day."

Jason touches my arm. Catherine. Pretty.

My neck feels prickly. I rub it, looking down to a frill of seaweed, bits of rope and a broken lobster trap caught between the huge rocks at the water's edge. What does he mean? Is he being nice or telling me he likes me?

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Catherine is funny in this book as she tries to fix her problems, but the reader can also feel her heartbreak, when she deals with the burden of David's autism, and the lack of attention from her parents for her needs and problems. Having a child with a disability is difficult at times, and you can see it easily in one scene in which David is really scared of a bumble bee, and the mother comforts him, but the father does not. It places a strain on everyone, even in the best of circumstances. I think that Ms. Lord describes this very well, it is not right or wrong, it just is the way it is.

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One thing that is very special is that Catherine and David have developed a language of their own. Catherine has read the book "Frog and Toad" so many times to David that they both have it memorized. David uses lines from the book to describe or explain his thoughts and emotions. Catherine does the same and speaks back to him using lines from the book. It creats a very poignant and special feeling when they do this. It is while using this special communication that Catherine is best able to remember how much she really loves her brother and that all of the hardships are really worth it.

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I think that middle school students are really going to enjoy this book. It is a quick and easy read, but with such a good story. Children with disabilities may be able to relate to it, or kids knowing someone with a disability may enjoy it because it helps them understand a little more. But, any student will be in for a real treat reading this story. It could be promoted using a booktalk with classes, or perhaps an interesting book trailer could be created and played in the library.

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From School Library Journal

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Grade 4-7-Twelve-year-old Catherine has conflicting feelings about her younger brother, David, who is autistic. While she loves him, she is also embarrassed by his behavior and feels neglected by their parents. In an effort to keep life on an even keel, Catherine creates rules for him (It's okay to hug Mom but not the clerk at the video store). Each chapter title is also a rule, and lots more are interspersed throughout the book. When Kristi moves in next door, Catherine hopes that the girl will become a friend, but is anxious about her reaction to David. Then Catherine meets and befriends Jason, a nonverbal paraplegic who uses a book of pictures to communicate, she begins to understand that normal is difficult, and perhaps unnecessary, to define. Rules of behavior are less important than acceptance of others. Catherine is an endearing narrator who tells her story with both humor and heartbreak. Her love for her brother is as real as are her frustrations with him. Lord has candidly captured the delicate dynamics in a family that revolves around a child's disability. Set in coastal Maine, this sensitive story is about being different, feeling different, and finding acceptance. A lovely, warm read, and a great discussion starter.

Module 6 - Picture Book focusing on Gay/Lesian characters - TWU - Multicultural Literature

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Polacco, Patricia. 2009. IN OUR MOTHERS' HOUSE. New York: Philomel Books. ISBN 9780399250767.

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This is the first Patricia Polacco book that I have read that I absolutely did not enjoy. She is a brilliant storyteller and illustrator, but this book was preachy and way-over-the-top. She was shoving this "politically correct" story down the reader's throat, and nothing about it set well.

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Before critiquing this book, I want to state that the pictures are beautifully drawn and accompany the story very well. They are drawn with pencils and markers, and there is lots of color, life, and movement in the art. The expressions on their faces are very endearing and there seems to be lots of story contained within these pages.

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This is the story of two lesbian women who adopt three children, of three different ethnic backgrounds. They have a perfect life and have lots of fun. There is a lot of love and happiness, and everything is perfect despite the fact that the moms' lifestyle is questioned by a neighbor. The kids all grow up to be quite successful and "normal," and all of this is to be celebrated.

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Before beginning my critique of the story, I must say that I am a high school librarian in an ultra -conservative area, and that my hands are really tied on purchasing any types of controversial books for my school library. Personally and politically, I am very conservative in my thoughts and opinions, and I know that gay and lesbian books are a "hot-button" topic. I realize that I am part of that very "hot" part of the button. I have strong opinions on this subject, and luckily they match up with my community and school's opinions.

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Throughout this class, I have been taught tolerance and respect for all cultures, and that all should be represented and appreciated. But, I am from the "dominant", female, and heterosexual culture, and my opinions deserve to be shared, spoken, and respected as well. As a librarian, I am required to allow my patrons to have access to all information that they desire, the information is to be authentic and truly reflective of all cultures, and to be on the look-out for information that is unfair, unjust, and disrespectful to a culture, let alone inauthentic. But instead of accepting everything as "politically correct," why doesn't someone stand up and say, "No, gays and lesbians are not a culture, and are not to be embraced and celebrated, but instead to be recognized as a psychological disorder, and that they deserve treatment and counseling to deal with their issues?" Librarians should use caution in promoting books that show any deviant mental disorders in a positive light, especially with story characters interacting with children. Promoting these types of books to kids is ludicrous. Being "politically correct" does not always mean CORRECT.

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There are cultural markers in this story, but they have been criticized as being stereotypical. The lesbian mothers have short hair and only wear pants. In the end of the story, they wear dresses and hats to a tea party, but it states that they are very uncomfortable in this attire, and only do it to please their daughters. I don't see the short hair and wearing of pants as stereotypical, I see it as the norm for the lesbians that I have known and many of the ones that are featured on TV and in the movies.

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One of the scenes in the book shows how a member of their neighborhood feels about this lesbian couple:

At the end of the day, when everyone was cleaning up and getting ready to sit in our backyard and just talk, Meema looked up to see Mrs. Lockner coming down the street. The Lockners had been invited but hadn't come. She planted her feet squarely in front of our mothers.

"I don't appreciate what you two are!" she snarled at Meema and Marmee.

Will and Millie came running up. I froze where I was. Mrs. Lockner wheeled and stalked off.

"What the matter with her, Momma, what's the matter with her?" Millie kept saying.

All of the neighbors closed in on us.

"She is full of fear, sweetie. She's afraid of what she cannot understand: she doesn't understand US," Meema quietly said.

"There seems to be no love in her heart, either," whispered Marmee.

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The author is telling the reader that if you cannot accept gays and lesbians, then the problem is yours, and not theirs. The lesbians are "wonderful" and "contributing positively" to the world, and anyone with a different opinion, or medical psychological evidence showing homosexuality to be a mental disorder , is just WRONG. I would never share this book with a child and try to deliver this kind of a message to them. It would be wrong.

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Ms. Polacco has the moms create a beautiful home environment for their kids, celebrating the art, music, food, family, and stories there. She promotes it as being better than heterosexual parents even, and the children blossom and happily thrive in this loving environment. They even grow up to be "normal" and productive members of society and marrying opposite sex partners. This is supposed to show us as the reader that the homosexual lifestyle does not harm the children in any way. This is up for major debate.

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Here is a positive critique from School Library Journal, but I disagree with it completely. This is one of those times that it is best to read the book personally and not depend on a critic's review:

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From School Library Journal

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Grade 1–4—This gem of a book illustrates how love makes a family, even if it's not a traditional one. The narrator, a black girl, describes how her two Caucasian mothers, Marmee and Meema, adopted her, her Asian brother, and her red-headed sister. She tells about the wonderful times they have growing up in Berkeley, CA. With their large extended family and friends, they celebrate Halloween with homemade costumes, build a tree house, organize a neighborhood block party, and host a mother-daughter tea party. The narrator continually reinforces the affectionate feelings among her mothers and siblings, and the illustrations depict numerous scenes of smiling people having a grand time. Most of the neighbors are supportive, except for one woman who tells Marmee and Meema, "I don't appreciate what you two are." Eventually, the children grow up, marry heterosexual spouses, and return home to visit their aged parents with their own children. Is this an idealized vision of a how a gay couple can be accepted by their family and community? Absolutely. But the story serves as a model of inclusiveness for children who have same-sex parents, as well as for children who may have questions about a "different" family in their neighborhood. A lovely book that can help youngsters better understand their world.

Module 6 - Novel by Naomi Shihab Nye - TWU - Multicultural Literature

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Nye, Naomi Shihab. 1997. HABIBI. New York: Simon Pulse. ISBN 9780689801495.
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I had to really search to find a copy of this book. I have very much enjoyed the few books that I have read recently by Naomi Shihab Nye, and I wanted to read HABIBI. I searched in all of the libraries in my area and no one had a copy. I finally checked my Kindle, and I did find one there to download. I don't get graphics on my electronic bookreader, so I was surprised when I saw a copy of the cover that I was able to find on Amazon.com. My imagination is always so much different than book illustrators. I had the main character pictured much differently, and I liked my mental visual better than the one shown above. The story describes the main character with a long braid, and I pictured her with darker skin, eyes, and hair.

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This is an interesting story of an Arab American family that moves from the United States, back to the Palestinian area of Jerusalem. The father was originally from this Middle Eastern area, but he sought greener pastures, and so he immigrated to the United States, went to medical school, married and had children, and became a naturalized American citizen. The mother was born and raised in America, and so they raised their children in the St. Louis area as normal American kids. The father, Poppy, decided that before the kids got too old, he wanted the family to move back to Jerusalem so that they could learn his culture and heritage. Liyana is 14 and her brother is a couple of years younger. They make this difficult transition to Jerusalem which is still involved in Jewish and Arab Palestinian unrest. This story shows many of these tough situations and how it affects the family, as well as their extended Arab family, and their new friends. Liyana falls in love with a Jewish boy, which makes for a dangerous situation in a world where boys and girls cannot have any type of close relationship until they are ready to be married, and especially not have a romance between an Arab and a Jew.

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Overall, I really enjoyed this story. I got caught up in the family's transition from America to the Old City of Jerusalem. I was intrigued by their difficulty in learning to speak Arabic, buying groceries, conversing with the extended family members, schoolmates, shopkeepers, teachers, etc. Their new world is an extreme change from St. Louis, America. But, the kids even seemed to be more flexible and resilient than the parents at times. Poppy stressed about raising an American daughter in this culture, when she was already used to wearing short shorts and interested in making new friends, both girls and boys. In the story, he is also thrown into jail for helping a boy in the refugee camp, and he stresses about the constant violent political tensions surrounding him and his family. His wife, tries to make the best of this new living situation, but there are many clues in the story that she is homesick, as she searches for familiar foods, like mayonnaise and tuna. Liyana even finds a two-month old American ladies magazine on a rack, and purchases it for her mother, knowing that it will bring her some comfort.

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The father seemed to be the main one in the story struggling with his cultural identify. He called himself an Arab American which surprised his Arab family members. Liyana does a lot of self-discovery in the story, and she actually sees herself as more Arab than American. She had not really questioned it while in the U.S., but now she devotes a lot of time to pondering who she is and what makes her happy. She now sees herself as part of the peace process in this troubled part of the world.

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I believe Naomi Shihab Nye is a poet through and through, and even though this story is written in prose, there is poetry everywhere. Some of the beautiful thoughts are wonderfully wordcrafted throughout the story, and it just made me pause each time I read one. You just had to stop and ponder them before continuing on with the story. An example of this is in the "First Things Last chapter. Her own first things kept lasting longest in her brain, and in the "To the Village" chapter, Think of all the towns and cities we've never seen or imagined. The book is very well-written, and has a nice feel to it. There is so much love throughout the story, between family members, between friends, and in a budding romance between Liyana and Omer, that it reminds the reader that love can conquer all.

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My one big complaint about the book is that the political conflict seemed very one-sided in this story. It pounded away on the fact that Palestinians are very mistreated and abused in the Middle East, and that the Jews are bad, bad, bad, in every way. Many of the scenarios were based on Jews harassing Arabs in a variety of ways. Also mentioned several times, was the fact that the Jews had such a horrible time during the WWII era, that they should remember and now be more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. Also, because America supports the Jews in Israel, and supply them with money and weapons, that the Palestinians are doomed to always be the underdog. I wished that these terrible conflicts could have been shown in a more well-rounded aspect, but I know that Ms. Nye is a Palestinian American, and she writes about what she knows and understands, so this is the story that she wants to tell.

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There are many, many cultural markers in this book, that help to explain the Palestinian Arab culture in this story. Liyana and her mother and brother were discovering much of it at the same time as the reader. When the family first arrived in Jerusalem, they wanted to go to their hotel and rest up before traveling to a nearby village to meet all of the extended family members. However, all of the Arab family showed up at the hotel and here is a bit of American culture meeting Arab culture all at once:

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Liyana had an impulse to stand very close to Poppy, for protection and also for translation, so he could keep her posted on what was being said. Tears poured down Sitti's (grandmother's) rugged cheeks. Suddenly she threw her head back, rolled her tongue high up in her mouth, and began trilling wildly. Liyana had never heard anything like it. Aunt Saba and Aunt Amal began clapping a rhythmic beat. Mom looked startled. Rafik raised his eyebrows.

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Poppy shook his head, waving both hands in Sitti's face to quiet her down. "That's her traditional cry," he explained. "She uses it as an announcement at weddings and --funerals."

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"Which one is this?" Liyana asked.

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Poppy spoke rapidly to Sitti in Arabic, but she didn't stop right away. She trilled and trilled and trilled. She shimmied her arms in the air like a Pentecostal preacher. The backs of her hands were tattooed with the dark blue shapes of flying birds. Liyana said, "Poppy! You never told us she had tattoos!"

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Poppy said, "I didn't want you to get any ideas."

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I can see American teenagers being completely undone by this whole scenario. It would be quite a scene. This is just the beginning of many cultural markers in this story, such as explanations of traditional food, clothing, music, poetry, politics, family relations, matchmaking, art, etc. Because of this, the reader goes away with a nice introduction and explanation of the Palestinian culture in this part of the world. It is interesting and gives the reader insight into a society that many American students are not at all familiar with.

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I would love to promote this book to my high school girls who are looking for something new and different. This is a great story by itself, "a girl meets boy," kind of story, but the setting is what makes it unique and special. I will do a booktalk on it to stir up interest, and after that I think word of mouth will contribute to its success for independent reading. A special book display featuring books by Naomi Shihab Nye is a must this year in my high school library. I am excited to promote her to the kids.

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From School Library Journal

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Grade 5-9. An important first novel from a distinguished anthologist and poet. When Liyana's doctor father, a native Palestinian, decides to move his contemporary Arab-American family back to Jerusalem from St. Louis, 14-year-old Liyana is unenthusiastic. Arriving in Jerusalem, the girl and her family are gathered in by their colorful, warmhearted Palestinian relatives and immersed in a culture where only tourists wear shorts and there is a prohibition against boy/girl relationships. When Liyana falls in love with Omer, a Jewish boy, she challenges family, culture, and tradition, but her homesickness fades. Constantly lurking in the background of the novel is violence between Palestinian and Jew. It builds from minor bureaucratic annoyances and humiliations, to the surprisingly shocking destruction of grandmother's bathroom by Israeli soldiers, to a bomb set off in a Jewish marketplace by Palestinians. It exacts a reprisal in which Liyana's friend is shot and her father jailed. Nye introduces readers to unforgettable characters. The setting is both sensory and tangible: from the grandmother's village to a Bedouin camp. Above all, there is Jerusalem itself, where ancient tensions seep out of cracks and Liyana explores the streets practicing her Arabic vocabulary. Though the story begins at a leisurely pace, readers will be engaged by the characters, the romance, and the foreshadowed danger. Poetically imaged and leavened with humor, the story renders layered and complex history understandable through character and incident. Habibi succeeds in making the hope for peace compellingly personal and concrete...as long as individual citizens like Liyana's grandmother Sitti can say, "I never lost my peace inside."

Module 5 - Novel by Asian American Author - Minfong Ho - TWU - Multicultural Literature

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Ho, Minfong. 2003. THE STONE GODDESS. New York: Orchard Books. ISBN 9780439381970.

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Even though I was born in the mid-sixties, I have to admit that I know hardly anything about the Asian Wars that have been fought during my lifetime. I don't remember watching the news about it, or movies, or even TV shows. In school, I never got past WWII, so I completely missed it. Reading this book was a real learning experience for me, because I vaguely remember hearing the term "Khmer Rouge," but I had no idea what it was all about. My husband is a real history student, and when I completed this story, I shared with him what I had learned. He told me that I needed to educate myself on this aspect of history and perhaps even watch some movies about Cambodia. I am feeling very ignorant about this subject, but I believe that this little book has provided me with an interesting introduction.

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The Sokha family are as normal as any Cambodian family can be prior to the invasion of the Khmer Rouge. The father is university educated, the mother is a dance teacher to her two daughters as well as other girls inside the palace. There is an older brother who is on his way to becoming a Buddhist monk, and a very young pre-school age brother. One day soldiers come by and tell everyone in the city that they must evacuate, and the capital city of Phnom Penh will be attacked very soon. The family packs a few belongings and slowly makes their way to one of the sets of grandparents living in the countryside. It doesn't take long for the Khmer Rouge to round up their father and send him for "reeducation," and he is never heard from again. The main character of this book, Nakri, along with her older sister and brother, Teeda and Boran, are sent to a work camp for several years. When the war finally ends, and the Khmer Rouge are forced out of Cambodia, Nakri and Boran return to reunite with their mother and brother, and to also tell them that Teeda died in the camp. The struggling family is finally able to immigrate to the United States, where they begin the very slow transition beginning a new life.

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I really enjoyed this story of hardship, loss, courage, and perseverance. Nakri had so many obstacles to overcome and she had to deal with some truly horrific circumstances. As stated earlier, I was not familiar with the warfare and oppressive conditions in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge regime. This book was teaching me, as well as drawing me into the story. I like that it was written with a lot of the history woven into the story. It helped me to understand something so much better than if it had been just casually mentioned. The story is geared toward young readers, and so the brutality of this story is there, but not as graphic as it could be. It allows the reader to learn at an introductory level, without being forced to suffer through the gruesomeness of the subject that is obviously a very real part of this part of history.

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The story has a lot to do with the traditional Cambodian dancing, done by young girls in representing the goddesses, or apsaras of old. The bookcover illustrates the very beautiful costume that the young dancers wear as they perform. Teeda and Nakri were both being trained by their mother to perform the apsara dance. They were both very talented and practiced for many hours each day, putting in the years of disciplined training that it took to do it properly. This beautiful dancing actually helped the girls as they were in the work camps, as they would imagine the movements and music, and talk each other through it as they suffered the harsh working conditions. When Nakri finally immigrates to the U.S., the music and dancing once again are the therapy that she needs to make the difficult transition to a new country and culture. It ties her to the past, helping her maintain her cultural identify, while giving her the courage to conquer a new language and way of life.

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Minfong Ho was born in Burma and grew up in Thailand. When refugees from Cambodia started pouring into Thailand, she was a relief worker in the refugee camps. Ms. Ho is the child of Chinese immigrants and she and her family were forced to move several times due to political turmoil. She is an "insider" and writes about what she knows well, and has had in an interesting position to observe and research very closely.

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This book is full of cultural markers to assist the reader in learning about the Cambodian culture. One of my favorites is when the family gets up early to see Boran walking to the temple with the other monks:

" Lifting aside the mosquito netting around my bed, Ma reached in and shook me gently. 'Get up,' she whispered, 'if you want to see Boran.'

Boran! My brother had just recently been ordained as a novice monk at the temple, and would be walking barefoot down our street with the other monks, ready to accept our offerings of food this morning. I had not seen him for weeks. Quickly, I got out of bed, and followed my mother downstairs.

In the kitchen she bustled about slicing vegetables, her cleaver deft and rhythmic against the wooden chopping board. I helped her ladle out fresh-steamed rice onto squares of banana leaves, as she folded the leaves into neat little pyramids."

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I like this part because it feels like a happy family scene, but with the uniqueness of the Cambodian culture. Later, as the family is forced to leave, the reader is able to feel the "new culture" of oppression, with everyone dressed in black, the lack of conversation and music, the slave labor, the beatings of the workers, the lack of food, the amputees laying in make-shift hospitals after having stepping on landmines left by the Khmer Rouge, etc. Cambodia was basically destroyed during this wartime, but the survivors are resilient and determined to work toward a better life for themselves and their families. Some made the choice to remain in Cambodia and rebuild, and others sought out opportunities to relocated to other countries, including the United States.

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I am anxious to discuss this book with history and social studies teachers in my school district and to seek out a way to use this book in the classroom. Currently, our school has an extremely small number of Asian American students, and I don't think any are from Cambodia, but this is a story that students need to be made aware of. This little novel is an excellent introduction of this overlooked part of our world history, and I think that it can easily be integrated into a classroom lesson on Asia. The story is very interesting and engaging, and I really believe that students will want to know more as they read this book. Sometimes it takes the librarian bringing it to the attention of a teacher, to get them to use it in a classroom setting and to create interest on a subject.

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I like this book very much and I will place a copy of it in my school library. I am now anxious to read other books by Minfong Ho.

Booklist
Gr. 6-9. When the Khmer Rouge takes over Cambodia, the Sokha family flees Phnom Penh along with thousands of other city dwellers. Nakri, almost 13, winds up in a brutal labor camp along with older siblings Teeda and Boran. Trained as a classical dancer, Teeda nurses Nakri through an illness and inspires her with her dedication to dance. Only Nakri and Boran survive the camp, rejoining the remnants of their family who journey to a refugee camp on Thailand's border. Eventually they immigrate to the U.S., where Nakri begins a confusing new life. It is dance that ties the story together, as Nakri prepares to follow in her sister's footsteps in her new country. Nakri's first-person account includes a great deal of cultural information that American readers need, but this slows the narrative and diminishes the emotional impact. Although it lacks suspense, this is a compassionate portrait of a young Cambodian refugee that will also supplement social studies units.

Module 5 - Chinese American novel by Grace Lin - TWU - Multicultural Literature

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Lin, Grace. 2006. THE YEAR OF THE DOG. New York: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 9780316060004.

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This was a very pleasant little chapter book that tells the story of a Chinese American girl, searching to find her talents during the Chinese "Year of the Dog." This chronological story tells a delightful tale about a young girl living in two different cultures, enjoying both very much, and the fun experiences that she has in trying to discover herself. Pacy, or Grace, as her American friends call her, lives in a large and loving family. They celebrate the Chinese holidays and traditions. Pacy and her sisters are the only Chinese/Taiwanese Americans in their school, until Melody and her family move in. Pacy quickly becomes best friends with Melody, and so their adventures begin, everything from science experiments gone bad, to pining for the same boy to look their way.

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This story has plenty of fun characters, drawings, and Chinese culture. I must admit that I didn't know very much about the Chinese/Taiwanese American culture before I read this book. Whatever I did know prior to this book came from TV and movies, and not much of that. For some reason, as a reader I was never much drawn into the Asian cultures. But, I really enjoyed this story, and I think that I learned a lot about this culture. Before reading I did not know that each of the Chinese years were based on animals and that they had special significance. I did not know about the special "red" envelopes and "red" eggs that are given as presents in the Chinese culture. I like some Chinese food, but I did get a really hungry as I read about all the food that Pacy's mother prepared for the various holidays. I also didn't realize about all of the different and delicious Chinese vegetables that Pacy's mother worked so hard to grow in her garden. These "ugly" vegetables became the topic of Pacy's book that she wrote and illustrated, and later won a prize for. It was all very interesting and new for me, and I liked it. I would like to read more books by Grace Lin, and other Chinese American authors.

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Grace Lin writes as an "insider." She is a Chinese American author and illustrator. She states why she wrote this book. "I wrote it because this was the book I wished I had growing up."

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There are a multitude of Chinese cultural markers in this book. There were some Taiwanese words in the text and they were all explained in the same section.

"But Auntie Kim, Uncle Leo, Grandma, and Grandpa and lots of other cousins, aunts, and uncles came out and welcomed us inside. They were all wearing their special silk clothes, and in the moonlight we shimmered like a stained-glass window. Grandma's dress was a silky, silver gray. She glowed like a pearl ring. All our relatives hugged and kissed us and asked, 'Ja-ba, bei?' over and over again. That meant, 'Have you eaten yet?' in Taiwanese."

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There were descriptions of the family's dark hair color, consistent with the Chinese peoples, and the traditional Chinese clothing, food, holidays, gifts, dolls, and stories. These cultural markers made it easier to visualize the culture and the story.

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Pacy's mother is a story teller, and several times in the book, she would pause and say, "Did I ever tell you about that?" Then she would launch into a story about her childhood or someone else in her family. This "flashback" element to the story added another dimension to the cultural markers. We could see into the past of what it was like to be a child in a traditional Chinese/Taiwanese school and home. It also allowed the reader to see how important financial success is to this culture and how hard they work at developing their skills and talents for some future financial comforts. It was intriguing.

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There is some discussion in the story, and the author's notes about the confusion of Taiwanese people being just Taiwanese, or Chinese, or both. This points back to the political struggles that have occurred throughout the years about whether Taiwan is part of China or not. They share many similarities, and even the people who have immigrated to other parts of the world are still not sure of how to explain what to call themselves. Pacy has this issue in her life, even though she does not see it as a problem. However, when she attends a Taiwanese camp, she is criticized by other Taiwanese American kids for being a "Twinkie," yellow on the outside, and white on the inside. This is due to the fact that she only speaks English, and not Taiwanese or Chinese. This is a cultural bias among the Taiwanese Americans themselves.

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Pacy has some issues in coming to grips with being Chinese American, in that she really wanted to play "Dorothy" in the upcoming school play of "The Wizard of Oz," but someone pointed out to her that Dorothy was not Chinese, and Pacy then refused to try out for the part, because she believed it to be true. This led her to start looking for books, movies, TV shows, and plays about someone just like her. She couldn't find much, so that is why she wrote a book about herself and Chinese vegetables.

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In the Chinese "Year of the Dog," Pacy does discover some of her talents, finds a Chinese American friend, and learns more about herself and the two cultures that she embraces. She has a positive environment, with a happy home, good friends, and lots of extended family love and support. This is a happy book with a good message, that also just happens to inform the reader about a culture that they may not be so familiar with. I would strongly recommend it to young readers. It may also be just the book that a young Asian American child is looking for, so that she can identify with someone in a book.

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I would like to share this book with a social studies teacher from the upper elementary grades, as supplement to a unit on Asia, or perhaps world holidays. Not only is it interesting for young students to note that there are many wonderful cultures, holidays, and traditions throughout the world, but when people from around the world immigrate to the U.S. they bring these traditions with them. This book is a good example of a family keeping their culture alive. Parts of this book are great for "read-aloud" opportunities, and students should enjoy this type of story as part of their social studies lesson to gain a greater insight into the Chinese/Taiwanese American culture.

From School Library Journal
Grade 3-5–A lighthearted coming-of-age novel with a cultural twist. Readers follow Grace, an American girl of Taiwanese heritage, through the course of one year–The Year of the Dog–as she struggles to integrate her two cultures. Throughout the story, her parents share their own experiences that parallel events in her life. These stories serve a dual purpose; they draw attention to Graces cultural background and allow her to make informed decisions. She and her two sisters are the only Taiwanese-American children at school until Melody arrives. The girls become friends and their common backgrounds illuminate further differences between the American and Taiwanese cultures. At the end of the year, the protagonist has grown substantially. Small, captioned, childlike black-and-white drawings are dotted throughout. This is an enjoyable chapter book with easily identifiable characters.

Module 5 - Picture Book by Allen Say - TWU - Multicultural Literature

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Say, Allen. 1999. TEA WITH MILK. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 9780395904954.

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I had only read one book by Allen Say, GRANDFATHER'S JOURNEY, so I headed off to the largest library in my area to read as many more as I could by this author and illustrator. I found six others, and I spent the morning enjoying myself. He is a fantastic storyteller, in both word and illustration, and I have really fallen in love with his work. I found a wonderful message within each book. I am currently a high school librarian, but I am going to get in touch with the elementary librarian in my district and make her aware, if she is not already, of this fantastic author, and his picture books.

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I picked TEA WITH MILK because I think that it is a book that will appeal to a variety of ages. It is the story of a young Japanese American girl raised in America, but taken back to Japan when she is a young adult. She immediately feels cultural conflicts in everything from the name she prefers, to the food she eats, to the type of schooling that she is subjected to, and worst of all, having a matchmaker pick a husband for her.

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This book is full of contrasts and comparison. She has a Japanese name, but she prefers an Americanized version of it. In America, her parents speak to her in Japanese, but everyone else speaks to her in English. She eats Japanese food at home, with green tea, but at her friend's houses, she eats very American food, and tea with milk and sugar. There are pictures of her wearing a kimono, and also westernized clothing. She speaks perfect English, but when back in Japan, no one at her school will speak to her in English. She is ridiculed and considered a foreigner there. Her parents have her learn traditional Japanese activities for a lady, such as flower arranging, calligraphy, and the tea ceremony. All she really wants to do, though, is go to college, have a job and an apartment, and to be an independent woman. These are activities that she could have pursued in American, but ones that are very difficult to achieve in Japan.

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As told on the last page of this book, this is really the story of Allen Say's mother. It is a beautifully told story of knowing that "home is really where the heart is."

"May, home isn't a place or a building that's ready-made and waiting for you, in America or anywhere else."

"You are right," she said. "I'll have to make it for myself."

"What about us?" Joseph said. "We can do it together."

"Yes," May said, nodding.

"We can start here. We can adopt this country," he said.

"One country is as good as another?" May smiled. "Yes, Joseph, let's make a home."

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Allen Say's illustrations are gorgeous, and they tell the story as much as the words do. The first picture is of a little girl standing straight and tall under an American flag, and the next picture is the same girl grown up, but wearing a kimono, slouching and depressed. The picture of May standing all alone in the school yard is devastating to ponder. This young girl is so lost and forlorn, and she has no one to reach out to. The idea of marrying someone with the help of a matchmaker is truly horrible to her, and the picture of her sitting next to a potential husband is another excellent example of how miserable she is.

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The watercolor paintings are full of details that reflect the cultural conflict that May feels. There is an illustration of her in western clothing walking through a department store, and the other women are dressed in kimonos. May's facial expressions tell the story, and are so well depicted. She finally meets a kindred spirit, a young Chinese banker. They have both had a variety of experiences in their lives, and both of them know what it is to feel cross-cultural conflicts. They are able to help one another to find happiness, and the illustrations of these two characters together are happy and more peaceful, with the illustrations showing contents from both worlds, such as western clothing, but Japanese lanterns or the Kobe harbor lighting the backgrounds.

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The cultural markers are very obvious in the text and the illustrations, but this story can be applied to any character trying to live in two different cultures. The characters are drawn with Japanese features, like dark hair, brownish skin tones, traditional Japanese clothing, depictions of the traditional tea ceremony, and a Japanese flag flying on a building in the city.

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The text contains cultural markers as well, such as:

"Once they arrived in Japan, she felt even worse. Her new home was drafty, with windows made of paper. She had to wear kimonos and sit on floors until her legs went numb. No one called her May, and Masako sounded like someone else's name. There were no more pancakes or omelets, fried chicken or spaghetti. I'll never get used to this place, she thought with a heavy heart." These details do not sound sterotypical to me of the Japanese people. There are actual details here that I was not familiar with, like the windows being covered with paper, or the women sitting on the floor for long periods of time.

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Allen Say is an "insider" writer of the Japanese, and Japanese American culture. He was born in Yokohama, Japan. He came to the United States as a teenager, and he studied art. He lives in San Francisco with his family, and I found mention of San Francisco in some of his books, so again, he writes about what he knows.

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From Publishers Weekly
Say's masterfully executed watercolors tell as much of this story about a young woman's challenging transition from America to Japan as his eloquent, economical prose. Raised near San Francisco, Masako (her American friends called her May) is uprooted after high school when her parents return to their Japanese homeland. In addition to repeating high school to learn Japanese, she must learn the arts of a "proper Japanese lady"flower arranging, calligraphy and the tea ceremony and is expected to marry well. Declaring "I'd rather have a turtle than a husband," the independent-minded Masako heads for the city of Osaka and gets a job in a department store. With his characteristic subtlety, Say sets off his cultural metaphor from the very start, contrasting the green tea Masako has for breakfast in her home, with the "tea with milk and sugar" she drinks at her friends' houses in America. Later, when she meets a young Japanese businessman who also prefers tea with milk and sugar to green tea, readers will know that she's met her match. Say reveals on the final page that the couple are his parents. Whether the subject is food ("no more pancakes or omelets, fried chicken or spaghetti" in Japan) or the deeper issues of ostracism (her fellow students call Masako "gaijin" a foreigner) and gender expectations, Say provides gentle insights into human nature as well as East-West cultural differences. His exquisite, spare portraits convey emotions that lie close to the surface and flow easily from page to reader: with views of Masako's slumping posture and mask-like face as she dons her first kimono, or alone in the schoolyard, it's easy to sense her dejection. Through choice words and scrupulously choreographed paintings, Say's story communicates both the heart's yearning for individuality and freedom and how love and friendship can bridge cultural chasms.

Module 4 - Novel by Cynthia Leitich Smith - TWU - Multicultural Literature

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Smith, Leitich Smith. 2001. RAIN IS NOT MY INDIAN NAME. New York: HarperCollins Publisher. ISBN 9780688173975.

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I really enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would. The cover of the book threw me a little and I wasn't sure of what I was getting. It turns out that this 14 year-old girl lives in Kansas, but with Native American ties to Oklahoma. In the beginning of the story, her best friend is killed, and she must deal with this terrible loss. She had also lost her mother in the last few years. This is a huge burden for a young teen to deal with. She has a loving family, and they allow her the time and space to discover who she is and the best way for her to deal with these terrible losses.

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Sometimes I felt like I was missing something in the story, and I would have to flip back pages, and reread sections, looking for details that I thought I had overlooked, but I found out that is just how the story is written. I had to do some reading "between-the-lines" and piece together some of the story on my own. At first this bothered me, but after awhile I grew used to it, and I kind of liked it. When I finished, I pondered the book and I decided that the story felt real and true as to how a teenager might deal with these types of problems. Her father lives in Guam, on a military base, but he remains in close contact with the family by phone. Despite the difference, a crucial conversation to the story between father and daughter, helps Rain to deal with some of her issues, and the distance does not seem a problem. She has an extremely loving, and involved brother and grandfather, not to mention a great-aunt, and a "soon-to-be" sister-in-law that listen to Rain and help her figure out ways to go on with her life.

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Rain is a "mixed breed" Indian. Her mother was Muscogee Creek-Cherokee and her father has an Irish and German background. She doesn't look Native American, but she feels some ties to her mother's side. In the book, she doesn't want to actively pursue her great-aunt's "Indian Camp," but nevertheless she figures out a way to be a part of it, without actually being a part of it. She ends up feeling a strong connection to the other kids in the camp, and also being able to explain to a news reporter what it is to be a Native American.

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I liked that this story was a non-traditional look at Native American youth. Rain loves computers, and has created a website, and has studied computer programming. She likes science fiction, and movies, and walking her dog. She has friends that are Native American, African American, and White. She is an honor student at school, reads teen magazines, and likes Cherry Coke and CrackerJacks. This is a side of Native American youth that we don't often see in books, and many readers are going to be surprised by this.

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It mentions in the book that Rain's mother was born and raised in Eufala, OK, and then went to a semester of college in Haskell, KS, at the Cherokee college there. I live very close to Eufala, OK, and in fact my town's high school football team used to play them each season, before we had to change divisions. Some of my local Cherokee high school students choose to go to Haskell, KS, for college. This all felt very real and accurate for me as a reader, and I really connected with it. I want to place this book in my high school library, because I think this will be one of the reasons that the students will enjoy it.

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Cynthia Leitich Smith was raised in Kansas, and went to college there. She is a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, so she writes this book as an insider. I have a Cherokee heritage, and I work and live inside the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. There is a high population of Cherokee students in my school district, and I work in the high school. I felt very comfortable with this story as feeling authentic, and there wasn't anything that felt out of place culturally.

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One of the cultural markers that I found in the book was when Rain's Native American friend tried to give her an Indian dream catcher. I liked her reaction to it: "This looks like what you want, " Dmitri said, jumping down from his doorway, holding a dreamcatcher. "Hang it above the bed." "It's beautiful," I said, "but dreamcatchers are kind of....trendy, don't you think?" "My mother made it," he answered. What with that foot crowding my mouth, I could hardly find a reply. Too bad Dmitri couldn't sell me a word-catcher to let good ones through and trap the rest. It was just that I'd seen so many tacky-looking dream-catchers over the years, the kind with fakelore gift tags and flamingo-pink feathers. I looked again, more closely this time. The one Dmitri had shown me was beautiful. Being the real thing made a huge difference.

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Another cultural marker that I found was in Rain's 3rd grade class the teacher gave an assignment,. The kids were required to dress as an important person and to give a report about that person. Rain "got it in her head that she wanted to pick an Indian woman, and a trip to the library narrowed her choices to Sacajawea or Pocahontas. She chose former Kansas senator Nancy Kassebaum instead." I really enjoyed that Rain finally felt that she could think outside her "cultural box" and be who and whatever she wanted to be. This is an important lesson.

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I would be thrilled to suggest this book to high school students. It is a well-written book that has an interesting story and I think students will be able to relate to it. It is a great story of friendship and family love, and it deals with some important issues like the loss of a loved ones, and also finding your true identify within yourself. It is great for independent reading, and could be grouped with other novels by popular Native American authors. I also hope that there will soon me more books like this as I think that they will prove to be popular reading.

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From Publishers Weekly

Multiple plot lines and nonlinear storytelling may make it difficult to enter Smith's (Jingle Dancer) complex novel, but the warmth and texture of the writing eventually serve as ample reward for readers. The sensitive yet witty narrator, 14-year-old Cassidy Rain Berghoff, grows up in a small Kansas town as one of the few people with some Native American heritage. That experience alone might challenge Rain, but Smith creates a welter of conflicts. Rain's mother is dead (she was struck by lightning), and as the novel opens, her best friend is killed in a car accident just after he and Rain realize their friendship has grown into romance. Six months later, her older brother urges her to go to her great-aunt's Indian Camp. At first she shrugs it off, but later volunteers to photograph the camp for the town paper and begins to share her Aunt Georgia's commitment to it. When public funding for the camp becomes a contested issue in the city council, Rain decides to enroll. Some of Smith's devices such as opening each chapter with a snippet from Rain's journal add depth and clarify Rain's relationships for readers, although other elements (the detailing of song lyrics playing in the background, for instance) seem stilted. Even so, readers will feel the affection of Rain's loose-knit family and admire the way that they, like the author with the audience, allow Rain to draw her own conclusions about who she is and what her heritage means to her.