Abstract
The purpose of this project is to bring multiculturalism into the classroom to help students create a better understanding of other cultures as well as their own. Multicultural education is especially needed today as schools are becoming more diverse. The literature reviewed reinforces why multicultural education is needed (with a look at bilingual education), ways multicultural education can benefit the student, and barriers and benefits teachers will find with multicultural education. The review of literature also emphasizes how multicultural literature can help students meet that objective of understanding culture. Multicultural literature can increase students’ sensitivity to those from differing cultures and let them view other cultural perspectives. They also help students identify with their own culture, introduce them to other cultures, and provide a safe way to open conversation about diversity (Colby & Lyon, 2004). Simply exposing children to multicultural literature is not enough to help them learn about and appreciate other cultures; thus the handbook was created. The handbook includes supplementary lessons that utilize multicultural literature to address multiculturalism. The books selected for the lessons were chosen by looking at a variety of sources. The lessons in the handbook are categorized by themes that serve as a way to unify cultures. The handbook also provides guidelines that can be used to help determine what books to choose, or teachers can instead refer to the bibliography that was compiled for other multicultural children’s books that teachers can utilize in their classroom.