Hola!


Welcome to our blog!
This blog focuses on culturally authentic, Mexican/Latino children's literature and the authors that produce this literature. To learn more about the featured authors, click on their pictures in the left hand column to go directly to their personal web pages or biographies.

As the authors of this blog, we are both currently graduate students in the literacy program at SUNY Fredonia. We have been learning a lot about multicultural literature and how to tell whether this literature is authentic or not based on many different aspects including: language, audience, illustrations, and author style.

Although there is not one definition for cultural authenticity, we believe, much like Howard (1991) that "readers from the culture will know that it is true, will identify, and be affirmed, and readers from another culture will feel that it is true, will identify, and learn something of value, sometimes merely that there are more similarities than differences among us" (p. 92).

We have chosen 10 books from the Mexican/Latino culture that we believe to be authentic. We chose to focus on Mexican/Latino culture because it is not as highly represented in children's literature as African American or Asian American. Because we are both passionate about children's literature we decided to take a closer look at a culture that seems more underrepresented. Each blog post will focus on a different children's book and we will outline why we believe these particular books are authentic while allowing you to become more familiar with their authors and giving ideas of how to incorporate this particular book into a classroom.

We hope you enjoy the blog and would love to hear what you think!

Kayla & Amanda


Howard, E. F. (1991). Authentic multicultural literature for children: An author's perspective. In M. V. Lindgren (Ed.), The multicolored mirror: Cultural substance in literature for children and young adults (pp. 91-99). Fort Atkinson, WI: Highsmith.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Mama Goose: A Latino Nursery Treasury by Alama Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy

This Latino nursery treasury is a bilingual book full of lullabies, jump-rope songs, riddles and more from all over the Spanish-speaking world. This book is full of over 50 different folklore pieces that are loved by many children. This book is great for students in grades k-5 and can be very educational about the Spanish culture.

We believe this book is authentic because it is a bilingual book where every lullaby, song, or riddle is in both Spanish and English. In the beginning of the book there is an introduction to the Spanish culture and it explains how English-language learners are able to share this treasury. The book is divided into sections and in the beginning of each section it describes how the text is used in the Spanish culture. For example, one section is "nanas" or "lullabies," and it lists the different names that "nanas" carry in the Spanish culture and that they are used to put children to sleep, the same way our culture uses lullabies.

A pre-reading activity for this book could be to list some common lullabies, songs, and riddles that are known in our culture and see if they are in the book. A during reading activity could be to compare and contrast a rhyme or poem from the list made before reading to the Spanish version of that same rhyme or poem if it's in the treasury. A post-reading activity could be to have students write their favorite lullaby, song, or riddle, or create a new one on their own. The teacher could try to get a Skype session with Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy so the students can share their favorite one or the one they created.

To join skype for free, visit this website http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/home

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