Wanted: Cultural Books for Multicultural Students!

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.

My classroom is made up of a wide variety of students. Many of them speak English as a second language and have difficulty reading the most basic of texts. Although I teach juniors and seniors in high school, many of my students read well below grade level. Despite this, we have very high expectations for our students, and our students do achieve. It is my goal to push them to an even higher level though, and reading for pleasure is a surefire way to give them the literacy skills needed to succeed beyond high school.

The majority of my students have never read a book for fun. Many of my students' parents cannot speak English, and reading was not emphasized in their homes. In addition, many of the families cannot afford to purchase books for their children even if they wanted to, and our library does not have many current books for our students to read.

I want to provide my students with books that portray a variety of cultures. I have already received some copies of The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Life of Pi, and the Absolutely True Diary or a Part-Time Indian. In order to have enough cultural books for an entire class, I'd love to have copies of Does My Head Look Big in This? (a book about a Muslim girl's decision to wear the hijab), Tasting the Sky (a book about a Palestinian boy's childhood), and Three Cups of Tea (a book about a man who travels to Pakistan and builds a school for a poor village). When students finally have access to books that interest them, it changes their entire outlook on reading in general. They then become interested in reading and some of them actually become voracious readers. Their vocabulary and writing improve, and their attitude towards their education improves. Introducing the students to reading relevant books is the first step in making them lifelong learners.

By providing these books to our students, you will be exposing our students to literature that actually appeals to them. You will show them that reading can be fun, and that there are books out there that reflect many different cultures. Reading is a skill that these students need to succeed in life beyond high school, and these books will help them take a great step in the right direction.