Books at Partners: Diverse Literature in the Early Childhood Classroom

Mary Napoli

mxn130@psu.edu

BSED- Teacher Education

Is it necessary to infuse diverse literature in the early childhood classroom?  Why? And for what purpose?  How can diverse literature be woven throughout the early childhood curriculum?  Diverse literature plays an increasingly significant role in the early childhood classroom, especially as communities become more global and diverse. In today’s early childhood classrooms, educators are faced with increasing demands to match curricular standards to the developmental needs of their learners. The overarching goal of this research project is to assist teachers in integrating high quality diverse literature to support instruction across the curriculum.  A group of early childhood educators and the researcher (Dr. Napoli) will incorporate high-quality selections of literature (across various genres)  to develop children’s understanding of their cultural communities as well as foster cross-cultural understandings. By including diverse literature in the early childhood classroom, teachers can facilitate and co-construct dialogue about differences, diversity, and respect. Through the use of multimodal text sets, or collections of connected books and resources, within the literacy curriculum, young children and their teachers will develop new understandings and respect for others. Considering the power that books hold for children of all cultures, teachers have a responsibility to select high quality books with positive and authentic themes that will facilitate identity development while promoting acceptance and understanding of others.

In order to become culturally competent citizens who value and respect others, every young child must have opportunities to learn about and understand the lives and views of people whose races, ethnicities, nationalities, religions, family structures, immigration status, abilities, communities, genders, and sexual orientations differ from their own. Carefully selected, developmentally appropriate, and culturally accurate diverse literature can provide young children with access to authentic voices that communicate a wide range of emotions, attitudes, and experiences beyond those that are familiar to them. Moreover, diverse literature, when organized in text sets and linked across the curriculum, can open windows into aspects of the world in order to build empathy towards others while supporting interdisciplinary instruction. This research project will be developed into a book (contract received) and will serve as an important resource for teachers. Teachers are often drawn to books that offer simple and direct themes related to topics such anti-bullying, kindness, and making friends. Literature should include representations of different aspects of daily life within a culture, with particular attention given to aspects of setting and racial relevance (Yenika-Agbaw & Napoli, 2011). There needs to be a concerted effort by new and experienced classroom teachers to employ a critical lens as they face the challenge of finding quality books that feature multicultural content and reflect the demographics of their classroom. The children’s literature and resources featured in  this research project  will raise the standard for quality and sophistication in the kinds of stories we share with young children.