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Payad and Sparks 1

Notable Books for a Global

Society
______________________
TCH&LRN 307
Washington State University

Jade Payad and Stephanie Sparks

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Introduction

It is true what they say that books are jewels, they are timeless and they are alive,
we can always use books to gain knowledge and experience through others.
As we’ve discussed in class, books or literature are a window or a mirror. It is a
window, because we can see the world through the books or stories that we are reading,
we can feel what they felt or the experiences that they have felt. It is also a mirror,
because we can see ourselves through the books that we are reading. We can see
ourselves through the characters and their experiences as a person. This project is an
analysis of the eight numerous books that have been selected throughout various years
and were given the Award as a Notable Books for Global Society. These books that have
been chosen for this project are going to be discussed, summarized and critiqued. This
project will also discuss the personal definition of multicultural literature by the writers
before and after reading the books, articles and the discussions of the topic in the
classroom. The writers will also chose a winner and two honor books, thoroughly
critique it and find a way that it can be used in the classroom.

Purpose of the Assignment

The purpose of this assignment is to expand our knowledge of different cultures.

As future teachers, we will encounter different types of people with rich and vast
culture, and we need to be aware of their culture, customs, traditions, food, etc. We as
teachers, need to be culturally diverse and we need to encourage our students to be as
well and this assignment can help us do this and can help us share the different cultures
to our students through the Notable Books for a Global Society award. This is why the
Notable Books for a Global Society is important, by doing this project, teachers will
have an opportunity “to connect students to the world by providing a wider view”
(Landt, 2006, 691). The world is is globalizing in a fast way and we must all keep up, it
is important for our students to be aware of the different cultures, so that they may
know how to interact with others and they can gain knowledge and experience through
the Multicultural Literature.

Steps Used in Completing the Assignment

For this assignment Jade and I decided to be partners because we had another
class together and had yet to have an opportunity to work together. Then we decided
when we would be meeting and where since our schedules allowed more opportunities
for us to work together. The way we went about choosing books is, going to the course
page, searching the content and finding the folder with the Notable book titles over the
years. Once they were found I (Stephanie) went through the lists for each year and
found one title that seemed interesting. Once an interesting title was found I would look
up what the book was about, then search for it using the Searchit tool for the on campus
libraries, primarily Owens. If they had the book, the book would then be requested. If
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they did not have the book another one of the more interesting titles would be looked
up online and then searched for using searchit. Once a book (or more, a lot of them
caught my interest) was selected from every year ranging from 2006-2016 I picked one
picture book and one chapter book that interested me. I then brought all of the books
when meeting with Jade I had her pick one picture book and chapter book. We then
chose another additional chapter book and picture book so we each ended up with two
of each.

Glass Slipper Gold Sandal was the book I chose as my first choice picture book
because I’ve always loved fairy tales. I knew this would be a retelling of Cinderella so I
had to read it. Ever since I was younger I’ve always liked to read the different tellings of
this story, I grew up with the Disney movie but I always felt interested in the storyline.
In my school libraries growing up I would find so many different versions of this story
so when I checked this book out and saw the cover I knew I had to read it. I suppose
that’s why I gravitated towards the title when I saw it on the 2008 Notable list.

Cowboy Up! Ride the Navajo Rodeo was selected to read because this is a topic I
haven’t read much about, or even know about. I grew up in a small town and one of the
smaller towns in the surrounding area has a Rodeo about twice a year. I’m not very
interested in those types of events, but I thought I should give it a chance. I should
understand the event and culture of this event before I wrote it off as something
uninteresting to me. Once I’d checked it out I saw it was a picture book with actual
pictures of real children I became that much more interested. Plus I thought it would be
interesting to see how a Navajo Rodeo is conducted, how the events are conducted,
what goes into preparation and what happens.

The Porcupine Year was a book I chose based off of the cover. I know I’ve been
told not to judge a book by its cover but the artwork and title pulled me in. The artwork
is beautifully hand drawn in what looks like colored pencil and some kind of design on
blue paper. The title, The Porcupine Year just sounded interesting. What is the
porcupine year? I wanted to find out.

Starry River of the Sky was chosen because I remember hearing about it from other
classmates who read it in one of the previous weeks. I heard that it was a story with a
collection of stories about this culture. I thought that might be an interesting book to
read because of this fact. I wanted to see what this culture's stories told about the way
things happened long ago, and their beliefs.

The book, El Deafo by Cece Bell was chosen, because the cover was eye catching,
and when I opened the book I found it interesting, because it was a graphic novel. After
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Jeanette told me that this book is part of the Notable Books for a Global Society, I
wanted to read this, because it was also one of the choices from last week’s Newberry
Literacy Project, I thought that it was very interesting, it is an autobiography written as
a graphic novel, and there are not many of these types of books. I also wanted to read
this, because Jeanette suggested it and told me a little summary of it, and I thought that
it was very interesting and that students can de drawn to it, because of the colorful
cover and the amazing story.

The book, A Place Where Sunflower Grow by Amy Lee-Tai, was chosen, because I
when I was looking at the choices I thought that book cover was interesting, and when
read the plot on the inside cover, I found it intriguing, because I did not hear that many
stories about the internment camp that Japanese Americans were forced to move into.

The book, Maya’s Blanket/La Manta de Maya by Monica Brown, was chosen
because when I was choosing the books, this caught my eyes, because of the colorful
cover and when I opened I thought it was interesting that there was an English and a
spanish version.

The book, A long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park, was chosen, because I was
intrigued with the title. When I read the plot on the inside cover, I wanted to familiarize
myself with the character's culture, so I wanted to read this book.

Definition of Multicultural Literature

Stephanie:
Before reading these books and the chapter for class my assumption about
Multicultural Literature relied heavily on its title. I figured that since multi means more
than one, and cultural refers to the different cultures in the world, that this type of
literature focused on many cultures. So books about different cultures like; chinese,
african american, deaf, disabled, etc. I wasn't sure what they would be about as
individual books and stories, but knew they would most likely center on people's way
of life, beliefs, traditions and the different things that make up their culture. After
reading the chapter in Children's Literature Briefly, the article and our class discussions
my definition not so much as changed, but expanded into something different.

Jade:
Before reading these books, the Children’s Literature Briefly, our discussions in
class and the article that I read, I defined multicultural literature as literature that tells
another culture. It can be a historical fiction or nonfiction. Multicultural Literature to me
is a window to the world, it can help readers open up and gain knowledge and
experience through multicultural literature. After reading these books, the Children’s
Literature Briefly, our discussions in class and the article that I read, I changed my
definition of multicultural literature.
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Jade and Stephanie:

We discussed and talked about everything we have learned from all the
components we had to do for this project and adjusted our definitions based off of
them. We also discussed our thoughts and this is what we came up with as our new
definition. After reading the eight multicultural books, the Children’s Literature, Briefly,
and the Multicultural literature and young adolescents: a kaleidoscope of opportunity article,
we now define multicultural literature as, the wide range “of groups, that have been
marginalized, because of race, gender, ethnicity, language, ability, age, social class,
religion/spirituality and/or sexual orientation (Landt, 2006, 691), through multicultural
these groups are represented and their stories told without prejudice or
misunderstanding. Multicultural Literature is understanding the differences and
similarities of the different cultures. After we read the Children’s Literature, Briefly, we
also said that multicultural literature gives us an understanding of the world, and
understanding that different groups have similarities and differences. In our class text
it points out that well written multicultural children's books “May serve to help our
new generations see people living in far-flung parts of the globe or even in their own
city as equal and valuable citizens”(Tunnel, et al, 2016, 202) which is something that we
talked about in class but became even more real after reading these books. Not ever
multicultural book will take place or have traditions from another country, they can be
about people they see and interact with everyday, like Native Americans who are from
this country but have different histories than they may have heard of. Or disabled
people they see or may be in class with that have their own struggles and similarities to
them. After reading all of these books, the article, and our book we have added to our
definition to form one we find more complete.

Criteria for the Notable Books for a Global Society

Before reading the eight multicultural books that we read for the project, we first
read the Criteria of the Notable Books for a Global Society. We chose our winner and
two honor books based on this criteria, the we believe excelled in all the requirements
and criteria of the said award. The criteria are the following:

Part I (Must meet one or more criteria from this section)

● Portray cultural accuracy and authenticity of characters in terms of

(a) physical characteristics,
(b) intellectual abilities and problem solving capabilities,
(c) leadership and cooperative dimensions, and
(d) social and economic status;
● Be rich in cultural details;
● Honor and celebrate diversity as well as common bonds in humanity;
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● Provide in-depth treatment of cultural issues;

● Include characters within a cultural group or between two or more cultural
groups who interact substantively and authentically;
● Include members of a “minority” group for a purpose other than filling a
“quota.”
Part II (Must meet all the criteria from this section)

● Invite reflection, critical analysis, and response;

● Demonstrate unique language or style;
● Meet generally-accepted criteria of quality for the genre in which they are
written;
● Have an appealing format and be of enduring quality.

This criteria allowed us to see why these books were chosen as Notable Books for
Global Society in the first place. The criteria also gave us a good start on what to look
for and consider in choosing our winner, and honor books. But more than that it also
gives a good idea of how to find books to share with our classes in the future. Our
future classrooms will most likely be diverse, and even if they are not we owe it to our
classrooms to include these types of book as a way to introduce them to other cultures
and hopefully reflect, learn and benefit from them.

We made a chart for our eight books to rate them based on the first part of the
criteria so we could choose our winner. We also talked with one another and shared our
ideas about why some things may not have been included or if the story had a need for
all of them since it says the books need to land in one or more of the categories. We
thought up a chart since we did something similar for the Newbery Awards project. It
shows our assessment of these books and the criteria they posses.

Books Read: Rich Honor and Provide in- Characters who Includes
Cultural Celebrate depth Interact “minority”
Details Diversity & treatment of authentically & characters for
Common cultural issues meaningfully purpose other
bonds than filling a
“quota”

Glass Slipper X X X X X
Gold Sandal:
A Worldwide
Cinderella
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Starry River X X X X
of the Sky

Cowboy Up! X X X X
Ride the
Navajo Rodeo

The X X X X X
Porcupine
Year

El Deafo X X X X X

A Place where X X X X
Sunflowers
Grow

Maya’s X X X X
Blanket/La
Manta de
Maya

A Long Walk X X X X X
to Water

The Eight Multicultural Books:

El Deafo written by Cece Bell, illustrated by David Lasky

Bell, C. (2014). El Deafo. New York, NY: Abrams Books.

Summary:
The story is about a girl named Cece, she is a normal girl, but one day she was ill
and her parents took her to the hospital. There they found out that she has meningitis.
She was kept in the hospital for a while, which upset her, because she cannot see her
siblings, and she had a hard time walking. When she wa finally well, they finally took
her home, after a while everything was fine, her sibling was extra nice to her and even
gives her candies. One day, she was with her Mama, and suddenly can’t find her, she
realize that she cannot hear anything, they bring her to the a clinic that tests her hearing.
One week later, she had to come back and the doctor gave her a hearing aid making it
possible for her to hear, she even gets phonic ears, that she considers as her super
power. She starts her new school and at first she did not like it, but she found out that
everyone is like her, they all wear hearing aids. Everything was well, but her family had
to move to a new town. Everyone treats Cece different, and she is always in a bubble.
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And then she meets a new friend, Laura, she is nice at first, and Cece likes Laura,
because she doesn't care about Cece’s condition, one bad thing about about her is that
she is bossy. She then meets is Ginny she likes her, because she is nice and they like the
same things, but she always treats her differently and always introduces her as her
”deaf friend.” She meets another friends whose name is Martha, everything is good
with Martha until one day they were playing tag, and Cece gets into an accident,
Martha blamed herself, so she kept away from Cece. Cece feels like she has no friends
again and that she is in a bubble. One day in class, she had a hard time reading the
board, so she ended up going to the doctors and getting glasses. Cece gets the courage
to talk to her crush, Mike Miller, and they talk about how Cece can hear everything
their teacher is saying. Everyone thinks that she is so cool, and they did an experiment
to see the range of phonic ears. She then hears a conversation between Martha and Mike
Miller. Martha thinks that it is still her fault that Cece wears glasses. In the end the two
reunites and become friends again.

Critique:
One of the strengths of the book, El Deafo is that according to the criteria of the
Notable Books for a Global Society a book “must portray cultural accuracy and
authenticity of characters in terms of physical characteristics, intellectual abilities and
problem solving capabilities, leadership and cooperative dimensions and social and
economic status.” I believe that this book meets and exceed this criteria. This book is
written in a comic book style, that includes illustrations on every page. This book is also
an autobiography of Cece Bell, so the characters are authentic. The book also highlights
the intellectual abilities, problem solving capabilities, leadership and cooperative
dimension, social and economic status of Cece and her family. Cece always looks at the
bright side of life and her family always supports her and encourages her to be the best
in everything despite her disability.

A Place where Sunflowers Grow written by Amy Lee-Tai, illustrated by Felicia

Hoshino
Lee-Tai, A. (2006). A place where sunflower grow. San Francisco, CA: Children’s Book
Press.

Summary:
The story is about a little girl named Mari-Chan. The author starts the story by
giving us a background information of the story, what inspired her to write this story.
The story is set in 1942, when the U.S. government forced Japanese Americans to move
into internment camp, because they do not trust them, with the war going on. Mari and
her mother plant sunflower seeds outside of their new home, because she wants it to
resemble their old backyard. The sunflowers after three weeks, still has not grown
because flowers do not grow easily in the desert. Mari loves art and she takes art classes
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on the camp, when her teacher told the class that they can draw whatever they want,
Mari had trouble coming up with anything. She told her mother and her grandfather
about her struggle of not being able to come up with anything to draw, they told her
that it happens to everyone and that she should be patient. On the next class, the
teacher told them to draw something that makes them happy, when she could not think
of anything, she told her to draw something that made her happy before she came to
the camp. She quickly thought of her old backyard in their house in California, and
shared it to class. She showed it to her mother, and they decided to hang it in their wall.
After class, Mari and her friend Aiko checked on the sunflowers and after three months
of water, it finally started to grow, and in that moment her old life, and her new life
would be like after the war didn’t feel so far away.

Critique:
This book has an English and a japanese version and is a historical fiction, the
author used her mother's experience in the internment camp as a reference point for the
events used in the story. One of the strengths of the book, A place where flowers grow, is
that according to the criteria of the Notable Books for a Global Society a book must have
“rich cultural details.” This book has this element and is shown through the story set in
an internment camp somewhere in a desert in the U.S. It shows the through illustration
and writing details and situation of the life of the Japanese Americans that were forced
to move to these camps. The only thing that I think the weakness of this book is, is that
the situations might not be as accurate, because the author did not experience this
herself and actually wrote this story based on the experiences of the people she knew
that was in the internment camp. This book has a

Maya’s Blanket/La Manta de Maya by Monica Brown, illustrated by David Diaz

Brown, M. (2015). Maya’s Blanket/La Manta de Maya. New York, NY: Lee & Low Books
Inc.

Summary:
The story is about a little girl who has a blanket that her grandmother made for
her when she was younger. It protected her from all her bad dreams and she felt
magical underneath it. But her blanket became frayed so with her grandmother’s help
she made it into a dress. She accidentally spilled on it and the stain with not come off,
so with the help of grandmother she turned it into a skirt. When it became too small for
her, with the help of her grandmother they turned turned it into a shawl. But after
playing a tug of war, it ripped into two. So, they made a scarf out of it, but after a while
it fell apart, so she made it into a ribbon and tied it into her long hair. But she cut her
hair, so with the help of her grandmother she made it into a bookmark. But one day she
lost it, and so she wrote a story, about her magical blanket about all her adventures.
When Maya grew up , she had a little daughter and she read her book to hr every night.
And Maya’s daughter fell asleep underneath her own special, magical blanket.
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Critique:
This book has an English and a spanish version and was inspired by the
traditional Yiddish folk song “I Had a Little Overcoat”, about an old overcoat that is
continually repurposed as smaller items. One of the strengths of the book Maya’s
Blanket/La Manta de Maya, is that according to the criteria of the Notable Books for a
Global Society a book “must portray cultural accuracy and authenticity of characters in
terms of intellectual abilities and problem solving capabilities.” This book shows that
Maya thinks creatively and uses her problem solving and intellectual abilities to make
her magical blanket useful again. One of the weakness of this book is that children
might be a little confused with some of the spanish used that was used in the English
version if the book. The author could have a translation of each spanish word used on
the bottom of the book, so that children can use this as a reference, if they are confused.

A Long Walk to Water written by Linda Sue Park

Park, L. (2010). A Long Walk to Water written. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publishing Company.

Summary:
The story tells the two stories. The first story is about Nya, is an eleven year old
girl who lives with her family, she has a task of getting water for her family each day,
she must take two trips and she has only enough time to eat and then go back and get
water again. The other story is about Salva, he is an eleven year old boy who goes to
school. One day, he is at school when the they were attacked by the enemy. He was
forced to be away from his family and travel to Ethiopia where there are refugee camps.
He is often not wanted with the groups that he is traveling with, because he is too
young and they think that he is a burden. After a while, they have reached the refugee
camp, where they stayed there for six years. After that time, they were forced to leave
the country, but not a lot of them survived, because they were either shot by the men
who was forcing them to leave, the river where a lot drowned or by being eaten by
crocodiles. Salva with seven other boys, traveled to Kenya, where another refugee camp
was located, he was there until he was 22 years old. There he learned how to speak
English due to one of the volunteers helping him learn. He then found out that he was
one of the chosen people who are are allowed to migrate to the U.S., so he flies to New
York to meet his new family. He was successful in the U.S. and even attended college
where he studied Business. One day, his cousin messaged him that he found his father.
Salva the traveled back to South Sudan, he met his father, and found out that his
mother, sister , and other brother survived. Salva had an idea and he spent years
planning it and trying to make his plan work. Back to Nya’s story, one day she saw that
they are building something in their town, it was a pipe! This would bring them fresh
and clean water and Nya would not have to walk far to get water. She also found out
that they are building a school, where she and her siblings can finally attend school and
learn how to read and write. At the end of the chapter, Nya’s whole village celebrated,
because they now have clean and fresh water. After trying it out, she thanked the man
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who was responsible for it. He then introduced herself as Nya and in return he
introduce himself as Salva.

Critique:
The book A long Walk to Water, is based on a true story, but some of the details in
the story have been fictionalized. One of the strengths of the book, is that according to
the criteria of the Notable Books for a Global Society a book must have “rich cultural
details.” The author explained all of the situations well and because of this it made me
empathize with the characters. One of the weakness of the book is that might be
confusing for some of the readers, because of the two stories going back and forth and
younger readers might be confused with the stories. There are also some words that
might be unfamiliar for young readers. Therefore this book might be more for young
adults or adults.

Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal: a worldwide Cinderella written by Paul Fleischman and
illustrated by Julie Paschkis
Fleischman, P., & Paschkis, J. (2007). Glass slipper, gold sandal: a worldwide Cinderella. New
York, NY: Henry Holt And Company.

Summary:

Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal: a worldwide Cinderella begins with a mother and
her child sitting in a chair reading the story of Cinderella. The story goes through all
different cultures versions of the cinderella story. The regions these tales come from are
shown on a map on the end papers, they are; Appalachia, Mexico, the West Indies,
Ireland, Iraq, Zimbabwe, Iran, India, China, Laos, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Russia,
Poland, Germany, and France. It begins the tale with the Mexican version of how
Cinderella lived with her father and wanted him to marry a widow with two daughters
because she gave her sweets and treated her nicely. Then how he did marry the woman.
It has illustrations that are bright and colorful much like a lot of mexican art. It is boxed
over patterned paper with women, animals, flowers, and sweets that could be
associated with mexico in an orange tone with the figures in yellow. The next page is
the Korean tale that ends with how she slept curled up in the hearth. A korean
cinderella is illustrating the scene again in a small boxed picture over patterned paper
this time with birds, a woman in what can be assumed as rice field based off of the
baskets she carries, and a dragon. As it goes on it does this with every culture at least
once or more in the book. When it talks about the shoe that appeared on the girl's feet it
mentions how in France it’s a glass slipper, in India it’s diamond anklets, and Iraq they
are sandals of Gold. The book shows what food and clothing are most valued or
common in these different cultures, and also shows the subtle differences that make
each one different but how the heart and overall moral of the story is the same.
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Critique: I honestly loved this story and not because I’m so familiar with
Cinderella stories. I loved it because the artwork and the story showed so much about
the cultures it represented in the story. The story showed what was valued in each
culture like I mentioned with the what acted as Cinderella’s slipper. How in India it’s
diamond anklets, Iraq golden slippers, and France like in a lot of the tellings of this
story and in the Disney animated film her shoes are glass slippers. It shows children
how a story they may have heard one way may be told in different parts of the world,
the different foods she was offered, different clothes she wore, different titles for the
prince, the different foods that are eaten. The illustrations also have so much care in
them. The surrounding area outside of the box, or the different sections in the story
have so much thought into them. The colors, and images chosen to represent this
culture are very interesting and beautifully done, even younger readers will be able to
notice the different things they value, or eat based on the drawings alone. I think that
this is a great story to show how universal this story is and how there may be
differences based off of what is important in each culture the theme is the same. My
only negative critique is that the pictures can be so attention grabbing that you can
completely glance over them and the name of the country can look hidden. It is not a
big problem though, because based on the colors, the characters, clothing, and food it is
pretty easy to figure which country they were representing if you’re familiar enough
with them and look at the end pages. But for children they may notice the differences
and get confused about which country or culture they have switched to.

Cowboy Up! Ride the Navajo Rodeo written by Nancy Bo Flood and Photography by:
Jan Sonnenmair
Flood, N. B., & Sonnenmair, J. (2013). Cowboy up!: ride the navajo rodeo. Honesdale, PA:
WordSong An Imprint of Highlights.

Cowboy Up! Ride the Navajo Rodeo written by Nancy Bo Flood and
photography by Jan Sonnenmair is a book all about the rodeo culture. The book tells
you about different events, activity, and the food you can find at the rodeo. One of the
interesting things about this book is that it takes you through a whole day at the rodeo
starting with the excitement the night before and ending as the night is over and
everyone is home. The pictures are chosen so that they depict the excitement and you
get to see the real-life action of the rodeo. It is uniquely written with a poem about the
event, day, or other activity at the rodeo first. It is sometimes preceded by an announcer
message split up by a line on the other side of the poem. There are also short
conversations that occasionally take place of these. Then it talks about the event and all
the skills and rules required to participate in that specific event. Interwoven are pictures
of people partaking in the event.
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My critique for the book is that it’s an interestingly written and put together
book about rodeo. For anyone who isn’t familiar with the culture or the experience of a
rodeo this book does a good job at letting you feel a day there. The pictures were
beautiful and helped you move through their day with the same feelings they talk
about in the book, and make it feel like you’re truly a part of the fun. But one negative
critique is that while I like the poetry, conversations, and snippets of rodeo announcing
as it shows different feelings about the rodeo, I do think it can be a bit distracting at
times. The way it’s arranged makes it feel a bit choppy and might be hard for students
to read silently to themselves without getting a little stuck. I think the book may do for
read aloud purposes for younger readers.

The Porcupine Year written by Louise Erdrich

Erdrich, L. (2008). The Porcupine Year. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

The Porcupine Year is about a girl named Omakayas or Little frog and her family
after they have left their home in search of a new one. They are an Ojibwe family who
have to move after the government sent her family off to make room for the European
white settlers to make homes on their land. It all starts when she and her brother get
pulled away on a river far from home and find a porcupine, they don’t know how they
survived the harsh river but they continue on to where their family has set up camp and
think they’re dead. From there it tells their story of going to find the rest of their family
who has moved onwards and how they fight the odds. There is a scare with some bears
almost eating her baby brother, a scar from an eagle trying to steal their food, a rough
winter where stories are shared and they all almost die of starvation, losing a loved one,
and finally finding their family and the start of their new home along with the
memories of their old one. At the end Omakayas talks with her grandmother about life,
and their new life happy to be there. The year ended up being called The Porcupine
year from then on.

My critique for this book is that it is a very engaging story. It’s historical fiction,
but still hits you just how much Native Americans must have gone through after the
settlement of Europeans drove them off their land. The land the university that
Washington State is on is land taken from the Native Americans. I think this would be a
good book for children to read, or to read to them to talk about the harsh reality of what
happened. Even this story is pretty censored but would give a more real account than
the usual settlers became friends with Native Americans narrative children are told
usually during Thanksgiving at a young age. The only negative thing I could find about
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this story is that it is split up into chapters but the titles are the only thing
distinguishing them until you get to certain points. For example, the first three chapters
and interweaved together until the break to Chapter Four which is labeled as such and
on a new page. It was a little confusing to see at first since I had guessed after the third
chapter title appeared in the middle of the page and blended with the story, but it
happens randomly throughout the book.

Starry River of the Sky written by Grace Lin

Lin, G. (2012). Starry River of the Sky. New York, NY: Little, Brown Company.

Starry River of the Sky is about a young boy named Rendi who notices that
the moon in the village he has run away to is missing, but no one else comments on it.
Rendi works as a chore boy in the Inn of the village and was given the job by Master
Chao and works with his daughter Peyi. Rendi has run away and ended up in the
village after stowing away on a cart, in the village he hears crying at night that keeps
him up. Out of the blue a woman shows up to the Inn alone, she brings with her stories.
One day after overhearing Peyi and the mysterious woman talking about him he makes
a deal with her. If she can make him laugh with her story every time she tells a story he
must tell one of his own. He ends up laughing and has to own up to his part of the deal.
At the end of the story Rendi takes what he has learned and discovered from the stories
and he leaves to go home. But this does not happen before the mystery of the missing
moon and the cries he hears at night are finally found out.

This story is one that has the main story of Rendi and everyone in the
village with the missing moon, but has a lot of cultural stories mixed into them. They
explain things and give lessons that reflect the Chinese culture and tell of the heritage.
My critique is that it is a good story

The Notable Books for a Global Society Winner /Use in the Classroom

The book we chose for our winner is Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal: A Worldwide
Cinderella written by Paul Fleischman and illustrated by Julie Paschkis. I read the book
originally and suggested it to Jade, who then read it and we both felt that it fit all the
criteria of the Notable books for Global Society and our own criteria for the winner.

The book is a retelling of Cinderella with a twist. It includes telling of the story
from different cultures and their version of the story. It shows not only what Cinderella
eats, but also how she gets food; a cow that brings her honey from his horn in the
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Russian version, figs, and apricots given to her from a fairy in Iran, and rice is brought
from Godfather snake in India. But also in the art work, different colors, images,
physical traits, and symbols are used for each individual culture to represent what is
valued in their culture and what is important. But overall the tale has the same theme
and morals in every telling. The reader can really see the similarities, accuracy, and
differences between the cultures. Especially since most pages have a panel of a mix of
two or three of the cultures next to each other, like when it describes what appears on
Cinderella’s feet; glass slippers in France, diamonds anklets in India, and sandals of
gold in Iraq. We felt that not only did it show different cultures and represent them next
to each other well, but they also made the cultures stand out, they never overshadowed
each other and they all worked together to tell the story including the differences.

Also, the Notable Books criteria had certain criteria that it had to meet in order to
be selected. Looking back to this book we noticed that our winner included these
elements in the following ways:

The first part of the specific criteria states that the book invites reflection,
critical analysis, and response. Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal does this by showing all the
different cultures of this story together in the book. It shows their different ideals of
beauty, their cultures food, and their values without dismissing any of the others or
overshadowing a certain culture over another. It at one point switches off about what
clothes she wears to the ball and how she got them. Each are connected to their
respective culture and addressed in the book instead of focusing on one and moving on.
It shows how they are different, but ultimately shows their similarities as well. In the
end, she was so beautifully dressed her own family didn’t know it was her, but it didn’t
have to be only a kimono that was worn, it talks about cloaks sewn of kingfisher
feathers, and sarongs made of gold as well. The artwork also switches off with the
mention of these items depicting a girl of this culture, so no traditionally Disney blue
eyed blonde Cinderella throughout the book. But they all connect and you know at the
end of the book it’s about a girl, and this girl can come from any one of these cultures,
the story is not restricted to one.

The second part of the criteria calls for unique style or language. The style
of the book is narrative, and it tells the story pretty straightforward, but it adds
elements of the cultures and makes sure to describe and use words that fit within the
cultures it portrays. The artist as previously mentioned also makes sure to add in nods
to the culture in their art surrounding the text and the main pictures in the story. Such
as in one portion reflecting the Chinese culture the images are drawn in white on a red
background showing koi fish, and a feathered cloak that resembles one you’d see
emperors wear. I thought this was so interesting and very thoughtfully done, they draw
the attention as much as the main illustrations and really make a connection to things
associated with these different cultures. I have never seen a picture book with a format
like this one, and I really loved it.
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The NBGS criteria also requires that the book matches the genre that the
book is intended for, and that the book has appealing format and enduring quality.
This book is a fairy tale and fits into the fantasy genre as well and it does a great job of
reflecting that. In one part, referring to the Appalachian version of Cinderella how after
her stepmother orders her to scour pots and pans a witch comes in and casts a spell that
makes them scour themselves showing magic. It also mentions how in the Russian
version a cow speaks to her as it gives her honey from its horn including talking
animals. The whole story is magical itself from the drawings, to the versions of the story
the whole book fits its genres well. It’s a very accurate and well done example of a
fairytale fantasy book. The book's formatting is beautiful and interesting. Every part of
the book shows what the cultures are and even has the names of the places the part of
text comes from weaved into the colored, illustrated background paper. Each girl also
changes looks from culture to culture, not just her clothes but her physical attributes as
well. The Ireland Cinderella does not look like the Indonesian, or Korean Cinderella,
they all fit the culture they are representing and are not white washing or inaccurately
representing the different Cinderella’s being mentioned. It’s filled with illustrations that
show the culture accurately and beautifully done.

This book could be used in the classroom to show how different cultures
tell the same stories. The differences, the similarities and how they all fit into the same
theme and how the story at heart is about the same girl. But it is told to reflect different
cultures versions of this girl is something that children should notice throughout the
book and can be used to help them better connect and learn about these cultures. It can
be used as a read aloud to the students and encourage them to talk about everything
they noticed about the book. Then a class discussion can be had about different cultures
and how to be accepting and learn about them. Especially with the president we have
there may be mixed feelings about different races and cultures so we should address
that and point out how everyone should be treated well, and have valuable to the world
and our communities. It can also be shown how diversity is very important because just
like they may not be able to fully relate to all of the things these different Cinderella
wear, or eat, that other people may not be able to relate to the versions they have heard.
It can be used at even the youngest age groups like, kindergarten to talk about different
cultures, races, and diversity in the story and classroom and how we are all people
deserving of being treated well and fairly. It can encourage the message that all people
should be treated the same and that the awful treatment of Cinderella should be
recognized as unacceptable no matter where she comes from. Older students might also
be able to create their own version of Cinderella based off their own cultures and then
share them with the class to make connections and show the different tellings and
cultures that exist in the classroom.

We chose this as the winner because Cinderella is so widely known, and

this put a cultural twist on it. There are so many versions of this story, but this one takes
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more than one and puts them together to showcase the different cultures telling of this
story. Sure you can read about the French version of Cinderella but how does she
compare to the Iranian Cinderella? This book actually shows you those differences, it
makes those comparisons but also tells the complete story in a condensed multicultural
version of it’s own. It shows that no matter what culture she’s from, what she’s wearing,
or looks like that she’s just as valuable and deserving of fair treatment no matter where
she comes from. It is also the perfect way to introduce younger readers to different
cultures with something they probably already familiar to them. Even older readers can
look at this book and learn something new and see how different yet similar these
cultures are. It’s good multicultural literature because it not only shows you how
different they are but how as people we all are the same when you get down to it.

The Notable Books for a Global Society Honor Books (2)

Stephanie and I discussed all the books and we decided on the two honor books.
One of the books that we have chosen to be honor books would be A long Walk to Water
by Linda Sue Park. The reason we chose A long Walk to Water is that the story moved us,
this book made us appreciate the things that we have right now that others might not
have. This book is a historical fiction that made us aware of the war that happened in
Sudan. Before I read this book, I was not aware that these events actually happened. I
think that this is one of my favorite books now, because there are two stories going on
and the author found a perfect way to tie the stories in the end. This book also exceeds
all the criteria of the Notable Books for a Global Society. This can be used in the
classroom as a way to introduce the history of the war in Sudan, the culture of the
people. It can also be used as a way to introduce conserving water and let students
make a concept map or a web chart of how they can conserve water.

The other book that we have chosen as an honor book is El Deafo by Cece Bell.
We chose this book, because when others think of culture they do not think that it
comes from different countries, but each communities and countries also have different
cultures and practice different tradition, customs, etc. You might not even think that
people with disability have their own culture. But this book especially talks about it. It
is an autobiography, that is formatted as a graphic novel, which we do not see a lot. We
chose this book book, because it exceeds all the criteria of Notable Books for a Global
Society. This can be used in a classroom as a way to introduce a research project. The
students can choose a famous person that they want to talk about in class and research
about. The class will have a “field trip” to the library to give the opportunity for
students to do their own research and find the books that they need. Biographies and
autobiographies are often depicted as boring and plain and this book is a good example
that they are not and that there are different and fun books that are in this genre.

Conclusion
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Payad and Sparks 18

What we learned from this assignment is that there are various books that can
help our students gain knowledge through different cultures and literature. We also
learned more about the Notable Books for a Global Society and multicultural literature.
Before this assignment we learned about different genres, but the multicultural
literature can be part of any particular genre, and can be very limited, so sometimes it is
not introduced in class. If we did this assignment again, we both would have started
earlier on the project, we would have started two weeks earlier, just so we could have
planned ahead and read more thoroughly. As we are both English Language Learners
(ELL) endorsement, it is necessary for us to know about different cultures, because we
will encounter them in our classroom. In our teaching and Learning 301 class, we
learned about the culturally relevant pedagogy, which is an excellent teaching for
students that includes academic success, developing and maintaining cultural
competence and developing a critical consciousness to challenge the status quo
(Woolfolk, 2016, 235-236).

We also learned that multicultural books aren’t only about the cultures clothing,
food, or traditions, culture is a lot about the experiences and events that take place as
well. The books we have read have dealt with different tellings of Cinderella and
specific cultures take on this story, the forcing of Native Americans off their land,
Rodeo life, Chinese traditions and tales passed down, disabilities, Internment camps,
familial values, and refugee camps, which have opened our minds and our eyes to see
all the differences in our lives, and the lives of the people and cultures we read about. It
also let us see though our lives may be different there are things that can be reflected
back to ourselves, and things we can learn from them that can be used in our lives as
well. They also connect well to what we’ve been trying to accomplish in our class. The
point of our class is to basically explore literature and genres and open us up to all the
different books out there and connect readers to books they may be interested in so they
may help students become lifelong readers. That’s what Multicultural books are doing
as well, opening up readers to all different types of cultures and helping them
understand them so they can ultimately become more understanding of other cultures
and more culturally responsive.

Our classroom text Children's literature briefly points out “Xenophobia, the
mistrust or fear of people who are strangers or foreigners, is in part responsible for our
worldwide inability to live together in peace, affording one another equal
opportunities” (Tunnel, et al, 2016, 202) so these books are perfect for combating that.
By exposing readers to these different cultures and letting them recognize that though
they may be different in how they practice, the values, of other cultures are ultimately
similar to their it may open them up and be step towards a more accepting society. It
also points out “literature is one of the most powerful components of a multicultural
education curriculum, the underlying purpose of which is to help make society a more
equitable one.”(Tunnel, et al, 2016, 202) and since the only time we are exposed to
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different cultures in schools is usually black history month, or some other cultural
month, or week, these books will help bring different cultures and representation of
those cultures into the classroom every day of the year.

Bibliography:

Bell, C. (2014). El Deafo. New York, NY: Abrams Books.

Brown, M. (2015). Maya’s Blanket/La Manta de Maya. New York, NY: Lee & Low Books
Inc.

Erdrich, L. (2008). The Porcupine Year. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

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Fleischman, P., & Paschkis, J. (2007). Glass slipper, gold sandal: a worldwide Cinderella. New
York, NY: Henry Holt And Company.

Flood, N. B., & Sonnenmair, J. (2013). Cowboy up!: ride the navajo rodeo. Honesdale, PA:
WordSong An Imprint of Highlights.

Landt, S. (2006). Multicultural literature and young adolescents: a kaleidoscope of opportunity.

Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 49(8), 690-697.
https://learn.wsu.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-1751652-dt-content-rid-
11812942_1/courses/2017-SPRI-PULLM-TCH_LRN-307-2049-LEC/2016-SPRI-PULLM-
TCH_LRN-307-2832-
LEC_ImportedContent_20160111105249/_assoc/Multicultural%20Literature%20and%2
0Young%20Adolescents%20A%20Kaleidoscope%20of%20Opportunity/Multicultural_L
iterature_and_Young_Adole.pdf

Lee-Tai, A. (2006). A place where sunflower grow. San Francisco, CA: Children’s Book
Press.

Lin, G. (2012). Starry River of the Sky. New York, NY: Little, Brown Company.

Park, L. (2010). A Long Walk to Water written. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publishing Company.

Tunnell, M. O., Jacobs, J. S., Young, T. A., & Bryan, G. (2016). Children’s literature briefly.
6th Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Unknown. (n.d.).Notable Books for a Global Society: Selection and Criteria.Children’s

Literature and reading Special Interest Group. Retrieved from
http://clrsig.org/pdfs/nbgsselection.pdf

Woolfolk, A. (2016). Educational Psychology, (13th Edition). Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 235-
236.