CHL208 Multicultural Children’s Literaturechl208多元文化儿童文学.ppt

CHL583: Multicultural Children’s Literature History But, first, some resources: /professional-development/childlit/HistoryofChildLit/index.html /sac/english/bailey/childlit.htm Brown Gold by Michelle Martin Martin argues that, just as the late 19th Century was a golden age, we are currently in a Golden Age for multicultural children’s literature, especially picture books. Brief History Nancy Larrick’s groundbreaking article: “The All-White World of Children’s Books” was a 1965 study of more than 5,000 picture books. History Larrick found that out of the more than 5,000 picture books she studied, less than one percent reflected any contemporary images of African Americans. Literature (like much art) is connected to larger social/political movements. What is happening before, during, and after the 1960s in the U.S.? History In 1998 (according to a study by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center), six percent of children’s books published that year were written or illustrated by a person of color and/or had themes representing minority cultures. At the time, 30 percent of the U.S. population was non-white. History The Center did a follow-up study in 2004 and found that multicultural titles had increased to 11 percent of the books published for younger readers. However, Some major publishers are still convinced that “diversity and brown-skinned faces are trendy” (Macbeth 50). Therefore, many books with minority characters or covering minority themes are published by small, independent presses who specialize in minority literature. Why do you think this is? Why don’t major presses publish more multicultural texts? Best selling children’s books: 1.Charlottes Web, E. B. White 2.The Outsiders, S. E. Hinton 3.Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Judy Blume 4.Love You Forever, Robert Munsch 5.Where the Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls 6.Island of the Blue Dolphins, Scott ODell 7.Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone 8.Are You There, God? Its Me, Margaret, Ju