Fostering Children’s Cultural Identities: Valuing All Cultures

“In our family, when the sun goes down, our hair goes up”! is the opening line in this delightful book about an African American family where each person has a different way of covering their head before bedtime. The whole family steps in to help when the youngest can’t find her bedtime bonnet so she can’t get to sleep. And in the morning, everyone gets up and fixes their hair for the day.

A young girl and her mother return to Japan to visit with Baachan (grandmother) & the cousins and aunties. Filled with love and laughter, the whole family heads to the big Bath House where clothes are shed, backs are scrubbed, and everyone lies naked in the tubs taking in the warmth and connection. The book is a love story between a child and grandmother who don’t speak the same language.

Cora is the youngest child in a loving Filipino American family who is finally old enough to help Mama cook her favorite food – pancit. A charming (and beautifully illustrated) story about learning to do real tasks that matter to her family. A celebration of Filipino food, family recipes, and a child feeling important. (Recipe for pancit and a glossary of Tagalog words included).

A tiny Euro-American girl describes her relationship with her huge father, made real by the funny, charming, and beautifully painted illustrations. “With my Dad by my side, there’s nothing we can’t do. He helps me, and I help him too” (illustrated with Dad braiding her hair, and the child painting on Dad’s ankle cast!). “He teaches me and I teach him too” (chess and hand shadows). A loving, lovely book with a non-stereotypical Father.

A gorgeously illustrated book showing the great diversity in Native Americans today. A celebration of Fry Bread (including a family recipe, and the idea that it is a special food like birthday cake). A listing (singing!) of the names of Native people’s tribes and nations. All this while following a group of children helping to make fry bread, listening to elders, and celebrating together. One of the best books joyfully & honestly celebrating Native peoples.

A Hawaiian version of Joose’s Inuit “Mama Do You Love Me?” classic. A small girl asks her grandmother to tell her again her naming story when Grandmother named her “Beautiful”. Then she asks if she is still beautiful when she does mischievous things. Each time she asks, she is reassured about how much she is loved and treasured. Many words in Hawaiian with a glossary at the back.

A young Euro-American, low income, girl sees a man sleeping on the streets and is deeply worried about him. How does he stay warm? Who takes care of him? Despite her mother’s worries, she invites him to her Christmas pageant where she will be narrating the children’s play of the nativity. What happens is a “great blessing” indeed. Beautiful illustrations of a family living their values.

In this White urban family, a subway trip to the city results in finding a bird with a broken wing. They bring the bird home and carefully nurse the bird back to health – and then let it go. Told almost entirely with pictures, it is a portrait of a sensitive little boy, his supportive parents, and the treasuring of the natural world in a city environment.

A beautifully illustrated, simple story written by a member of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe and illustrated by a Cree-Metis artist. On their way home from the market, Johnny and his Gram find a wounded pheasant and bring it home to nurse it back to health. To their surprise the pheasant was only knocked out – and flies about the house, out the door, and into the air – leaving one lovely feather behind.

The sounds coming from downstairs awaken two children—and when they tip toe downstairs to investigate, it’s Mama and Papa dancing around the kitchen while they wash the dishes and put them away. A gloriously happy story about a loving, working class, bilingual (Spanish/English) family.

A young girl’s loving father comes home from his work building houses and takes her on a ride about town on his fast, wonderful, motorcycle. The town, the people they see, the shops, the animals, are all beautifully illustrated, celebrating a strong, working class, Latinx community. Conversations in Spanish float over the characters (as in a comic book) although the narrative of the book is in English. Such fun! Such joy! Also available in Spanish!

Saturday is so important for Ava and her mother because Mother works every other day of the week   So, Saturdays are special and splendid! THIS Saturday, however, everything goes wrong. The Library book reading is canceled. After they have gone to the beauty salon their hair gets splashed with water and ruined. The park is crowded and noisy. And worst of all, Mother left the tickets behind for the puppet show. As Ava’s mother breaks down and cries, it is Ava who reassures her. This Saturday IS special – because they spend it together. An African American, single parent family.

It’s Christmas time and Maria, feeling very grown up, happily helps her mother prepare the masa for tamales for dinner. Without asking, she puts on Mother’s diamond ring and proceeds to lose it in the masa! When she realizes the ring is lost, she is very upset and enlists the help of her cousins in eating all the tamales to uncover the ring. Sick from overeating, Maria finally tells her mother and all the relatives gathered for the holiday. There is a surprise ending to this wonderful book, one of the rare stories that depicts a middle class U.S. Latino family.