Thursday, February 07, 2008

Multicultrual Thematic Bibliography

This might count as cheating; I'm just copying it over.

Ajmer, M., & Ivanko, J.D. (2002). Animal Friends: A Global Celebration of Children and Animals. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge Publishing. This board book shows a wide variety of animals being cared for by children around the world. Attention is not drawn to specific cultures, but children are shown in native dress.

Albert, R.E. (1994). Alejandro’s Gift. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books. A grown man in the southern part of North America helps local wildlife by creating a safe watering hole for them. Desert animals are identified in the story, and in an index at the back.

Alakija, P. (2002). Catch That Goat! Cambridge, MA: Barefoot Books. A young girl chases the family goat through a marketplace, where she encounters many family members and friends. This is also a counting book.

Casey, P. (2001). One Day at Wood Green Animal Shelter. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press. The author uses a combination of drawings and collage to illustrate this book about the work done at an animal hospital and rescue center. Although not identified as international, this book exposes children to a portion of the animal-care community they may not be familiar with.

Choi, Y. (1999). New Cat. NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. New Cat belongs to a Korea immigrant in New York City. The story highlights how New Cat was Mr. Kim’s first friend in America.

Geeslin, C. (1998). On Ramón’s Farm: Five Tales of Mexico. NY: Atheneum Books for Young Readers. Ramón takes care of his family’s farm while his mother weaves. Each short story is about a different animal, and each includes several key words in Spanish (with a pronunciation guide for the reader).

George, J. C. (2001). Nutik and Amaroq Play Ball. NY:HarperCollinsPublishers. The reader is exposed to Alaskan wildlife, scenery, and daily life as Amaroq, a boy, and Nutik, his wolf pup, look for their ball.

Harrison, T. (1997). Don’t Dig So Deep, Nicholas! Toranto, ON: Owl Books. Nicholas, a young American boy on a beach trip, digs a hole so deep that animals from Australia come out. They are very disruptive. There is information on each animal in the back of the book.

Lillegard, D. (2002). Tiger, Tiger. NY: G. P. Putnam’s Sons. Pocu, the main character, lives in an unidentified jungle village, probably Indian. While exploring the forest, he discovers a beautiful feather which he uses to create a tiger; he uses it to vanish the tiger before it can get to his village and family.

Mora, P. (2005). The Song of Francis and the Animals. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers. Illustrated in bold, colorful wood cuts, the story of St. Francis of Assisi is presented. Although most of the animals are familiar, there are phrases given in Italian.

Sis, P. (1993). Komodo! NY: Greenwillow Books. A boy, excited to see a Komodo dragon, goes with his family to Bali, then the island of Komodo, where he is disappointed to see so many tourists that he can’t see a dragon. He explores the rest of the island himself, looking for another dragon.

Tan, A. (1994). The Chinese Siamese Cat. NY: Macmillan Publishing Company. The story of why Siamese cats have black accent marks is told by one of them: a corrupt magistrate in China used his cats’ tails to write out his decrees. A kitten fell in the inkpot, blacking her face, paws, tail, and a document the magistrate had written to be posted in the town square. Her marks changed the document, and helped the magistrate learn an important lesson about his people.

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