The article titled, Connecting With Latino Children: Bridging Cultural Gaps with Children's Literature by Sally Nathenson-Meija and Kathy Escamilla is about the use of Latin American literature with elementary students. Authors in this article discuss how important it is for both teachers and children to learn as much as possible about the traditions and histories of cultures other than there own because of the extremely diverse society we live in. They recognize that knowledge about other cultures can be taught through the use of multicultural literature in the classroom. A three year study was done at a University in Colorado's teacher education program. The purpose of this study was for the teachers candidates to connect with the large population of Latin American children in the surrounding schools through literature as well as to provide the other children in the class with an insight into the Latin American culture. Over the three years, the program sought out Latin American literature and provided it to the teacher candidates to teach and use with the students in the schools.
The article talks about how the teacher candidates were more knowledgeable about the Latin American culture as were the children who were not a part of this culture. Those children who were a part of this culture had demonstrated more interest and enthusiasm in literacy related activities than prior to the study because they were better able to connect with it. However, while the study was interesting in itself, many other interesting things about Latin American children's literature was discovered during the three year process. As discussed in the article, the criteria for selecting quality Latin American children's literature was as follows: It must have, "Strong, believable storylines, well crafted, not contrived or condescending; Believable, well-written language; Quality illustrations that matched and supported the story" (Nathenson-Meija 107). Based on these criterion, several books were found. However, according to Nathenson-Meija and Escamilla this number is still not high enough in comparison to books representing the majority culture in America. Also, while several books were found eventually, locating them initially was not easy. Libraries and local bookstores contained few books that were accurate representations of Latin Americans. Another thing that was discussed in the article was bilingual books. Children's books in both Spanish and English were not difficult to find. However, in almost all of these books that contained both languages in the same book, the Spanish text was written underneath the English text. Not only was it underneath but it was also italicized or printed in a different less original font making it harder to read.
While this article is not specific to any of the books in which I reviewed, many aspects of it can be applied to the various books as well as my experience in locating books to authentically represent the Latin American culture. As supported in the article it is difficult to locate books. One thing I did find was that bilingual books were quite common. The books In My Family/En Mi Familia by Carmen Lomas Garza and Gathering the Sun by Alma Flor Ada were both bilingual books that I reviewed. In both of these books the Spanish and English language was printed side by side. However as discussed in the article there are several books that do print the Spanish beneath the English text. In my search I also came across books that italicized the Spanish text. While in my experience, this was mostly seen in books that are not representative of Latin American culture but are instead simply books that are bilingual. However, either way this still could sent the message to children that the English language is "above" the Spanish language. It is also more difficult to read, again reinforcing this idea.
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