The multicultural books I read:
- “Separate is Never Equal” Author and Illustrator: Duncan Tonatiuh, Pub. Date: 2014
- “The Name Jar” Author and Illustrator: Yangsook Choi, Pub. Date: 2001
- “I am Sacagawea” by: Brad Meltzer, Illustrated by: Christopher Eliopolous Pub. Date: 2017
- “Undocumented: A Worker’s Fight” Author and Illustrator: Duncan Tonatiuh Pub. Date: 2018
I chose to review “Separate is Never Equal” by Duncan Tonatiuh. This book is about Sylvia, a third grader, and her families fight to go to the same school as everyone else. When Sylvia and her family moved from Santa Ana, California to a farm near Westminster, her aunt went to enroll Sylvia, her brothers, and her cousins at the nearby public school. When Sylvia went to enroll, the secretary denied her enrollment and demanded she went to the “Mexican School”. When Sylvia and her aunt questioned this, the secretary did not have an answer, all she said was “it was the rules”. Sylvia spoke perfect English and both her parents were citizens of the United States, so she did not understand why she did not get the same opportunity as everyone else. Sylvia and her brothers went to the “Mexican School” where the building was old, dirty, and located near a cow pasture. Her parents did not approve of this school because it was under developed and the teachers did not have high expectations of the students. The teachers expected the students to dropout in eighth grade. Her father was furious about the unfair treatment going on in the school system, so he decided to do something about it. He gathered other parents and families that experienced the same unequal treatment and found a lawyer to represent them. Sylvia’s father and his lawyer decided to file a lawsuit against the public school for unequal treatment. After almost a year of trials, the judge ruled in favor of Sylvia’s family, stating that anyone regardless of race can go to public school.
This book had some very interesting elements to it, that will help with multicultural education. Implementing multicultural children’s books into classrooms is an important aspect of teaching. This book discussed the unfair treatment of latinx people in the public-school system. I think it is important for students to understand our history and the unfair treatment people of color faced. This book discussed this issue in a children friendly manner, so I would definitely use it in my classroom to teach. Not only does this book display culturally pluralistic ideas, but the illustration conveys added meaning to the story. Duncan Tonatiuh does an amazing job creating unique illustrations for his stories. His characters have cartoon-like features, while displaying a realistic story through his drawings. Tonatiuh uses foreshadowing through out his book, giving you clues to what might happen next in the story. I found myself predicting what would happen in the ending, while reading the middle of the story.
One way to implement this book into a lesson or activity would be reading the book to the classroom, followed by a discussion and then an activity. After reading the book, I think it would be a good idea to have a discussion with students about the book because it is an intense topic to discuss. After the discussion, I would read statements to students and the students have to decide whether the statement/situation is fair or unfair by walking to one side of the room. Students will then have the opportunity to discuss why they had their answer- only if they want to discuss it. This would be a great way to have student think about unequal treatment throughout the world in a kid friendly way.
