This book was created and published on StoryJumper™

©2015 StoryJumper, Inc.   All rights reserved.

Publish your own children's book: 

www.storyjumper.com

According to Banks (2004), the focus of multicultural 

education is "social equity, justice, removal of 

prejudice, praxis (reflection and action), and fostering a 

genuine respect and understanding of of the experience 

and history of oppressed groups" (p.15).  

"Critical literacy allow students to see literacy 

as empowering" (Wood, 2005). 

1. Disrupting the commonplace

2. Interrogating multiple viewpoints 

3. Focusing on sociopolitical issues

4. Taking action and promoting social justice 

(Lewis, Flint, Sluys, & Henkin, 2002)

For preservice teachers wanting to promote social justice through 

a critical literacy stance, the Jane Addams Children's Book Award 

provides an excellent source of children's books to select from. 

Starting in 1953, this award is given annually to children's books 

published the proceeding year that effectively promote the cause 

of social peace, social justice, world community, and the equality 

of all sexes and all races as well as meeting conventional 

standards for excellence. 

1. Separate is never equal: Sylvia Mendez & her 

family's fight for desegregation 

2. Sugar

3. Razia's ray of hope: One girl's dream of an education

4. Dolores Huerta: A hero to migrant workers 

5. The mangrove tree: Planting trees to feed families 

6. Ruth and the green book

7. Nasreen's secret school: A true story from 

Afghanistan 

8. Silent music: A story of Baghdad 

Synopsis: Tonatium's (2014) Separate is Never Equal is a riveting tale of a 

young Sylvia Mendez and her family's struggle for educational equality. 

Determined to overcome the racist barriers that prevented her and her 

siblings from attending the local "white" school and receiving the best 

education, Sylvia and her family embark on a legal battle to end school 

segregation in the state of California. 

Student Discussion Question: How did Sylvia's story help influence 

other historical movements for school integration? 

Teacher Implementation of Critical Literacy: This book is unique in 

that from this single text, teachers are able to address all 4 elements of 

critical literacy. However, the text naturally lends itself to discussions about 

taking action and promoting social justice. By sharing Sylvia's story, 

teachers can help students realize that even as young children, they have 

the power to take action against injustice. Teachers can help students 

identify examples of prejudice and discrimination and devise attainable 

solutions for redressing the identified issue. 

Synopsis: Rhodes' (2014) chldren's book Sugar is an excellent book to help 

teach students the beauty of friendship with diverse people. An orphaned 

African American girl who works long days harvesting sugar cane post 

emancipation, Sugar makes finds friendship among the unlikeliest places. 

Despite racial and cultural differences, Sugar makes friends with the son of a 

white plantain owner and a Chinese labor worker. Her willingness to accept 

others, in spite of their differences, helps unite a community divided by 

cultural differences. 

Student Discussion Question: What lessons about friendship and diversity 

can be learned through Sugar's story? In what ways does the story reflect the 

goals/aims of multicultural education and multicultural literature? 

Teacher Implementation of Critical Literacy: Given the racial and cultural 

differences among Sugar and her two friends, teachers can incorporate the 

second element of critical literacy, interrogating multiple viewpoints. By doing 

a character study of Sugar and her friends, teachers can facilitate discussions 

focused on the different perspectives each has and how their individual 

cultures and place in society may shape their perspectives. 

Synopsis: For students who regularly attend school without any 

opposition, it can be easy to take education for granted. However, for 

Raiza, school is not a privilege that she has the luxury of. A young Afghan 

girl, Raiza is unable to attend school because in her village, girls are 

prohibited from attending school. However, when a local girl's school 

opens in her village, Raiza must convince her family that she and her 

community can benefit from her and other girls attending school. 

Student Discussion Question: What issues of gender inequality are 

raised within the story? What are the relationships between education and 

social justice as seen in the story and in your current lives? 

Teacher Implementation of Critical Literacy: Teaching from a critical 

literacy approach includes focusing on sociopolitical issues. By sharing this 

story with students, teachers are able to use literature as a vehicle to 

engage in politics of day to day life and question existing power structures 

that may marginalize women. Teachers can also help students understand 

nuances of sociopolitics within various cultures and the complexity that 

may result from them. 

Synopsis: As a teacher, many educators understand that their work and 

sphere of influence on their students extend beyond the classroom. 

Dolores, a teacher from California, embodies what it means to teach 

beyond the classroom. Concerned about the poverty conditions many of her 

students are living in, Dolores soon learns that many of her students' 

parents are migrant workers, who are being treated poor and paid very low 

wages. Dolores fights on behalf of her students and families and embarks 

on a journey to bring about change in the working conditions they are 

subjected to. 

Student Discussion Question: Compare and contrast the conditions of 

migrant workers within the story and those working in nearby 

Immokalee,Florida. What social justice lessons can be learned from 

Dolores's story that may be applicable to migrant workers elsewhere? 

Teacher Implementation of Critical Literacy: In order to "disrupt the 

commonplace," teachers can help students develop the language required 

to critique not only those who take advantage of poor people through unfair 

labor conditions, but also the language to critique the historical 

representation of labor workers in historical texts. Teachers can also help 

students study the language of migrant workers and the ways in which their 

language can be used to dominate them. 

You've previewed 19 of 30 pages.

To read more: