My Friend Mei Jing

My Friend Mei Jing

Author: Anna McQuinn

Illustrator: Ben Frey

Photography: Irvin Cheung

Grade Level: P-2

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Resources

Summary:
My Friend Mei Jing is a short story that tells the details about a relationship between two young girls, Mei Jung and Monifa. The story opens up with the sentences, "My friend is Chinese. Well actually, she was born here, just like me." Right away this book breaks down some of the stereotypes that people may have about others of a different culture from us. Even though Mei Jing is Chinese, and Monifa is black, they were both born here. The story continues into their friendship and shows these two girls who are physically different, but both share a lot in common. They love the color pink, they love to draw, and play dress up. Through this friendship, they share many similarities but also get to experience each others differences. Monifa spends all of time with Mei Jings family and gets to try exotic new foods, learn about the Chinese culture, and even is taught how to use chop sticks. The story overall just describes the relationship that the two girls have and what they like to do for fun. The story ends with, "That's because were best friends."

Element 2: Respect for Others:
My Friend Mei Jing is a great book for element 2 because the entire story is all about two girls with v very different cultural backgrounds, accepting each other and learning from each other. This story strengthens intercultural competence because not only do the girls just spend time together, but they immerse themselves in each others cultures and traditions. Mei Jings family cooks Monifa traditional Chinese fish balls, and Monifa tries to put Mei Jings hair in cornrows. They are graciously accepting each others different cultures and willing to try new things. Not only are these girls gaining an amazing and valuable friendship, but they are also learning to respect others that may seem different to them.

Classroom Activity: 
An idea for a classroom activity is to pair students up in groups of two. (Depending what type of environment you are in, some classrooms may be more diverse than others). The goal is to print out pictures of each student and have them fill out an "About Me" page. They can describe their culture, where their family is from, what their favorite meal is, what they want to be when they grow up, and series of questions both having to do with culture and also overall. The students can then draw and decorate their pages and then present their partners to the class. Afterwards, the teacher can collect all the pages and make a classroom book. This activity is a great way for students to get to know each other, respect each others differences, appreciate their similarities, and have fun doing an arts and crafts activity in a relaxed environment.

Let's Talk About Race

 

Let's Talk About Race

Author: Julius Lester

Illustrator: Karen Barbour

Grade Level: 1-5

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Summary

This book is about identifying with who you are. The narrative begins with the author talking about himself and his story. He writes, "I am a story. So are you. So is everyone. My story begins the same way yours does: 'I was born on ____.'" Then he goes on to write about himself- about when and where he was born. The next page prompts the reader with the statement, "How does your story begin?" He goes on to explain the various elements that make up a person. He talks about family, hobbies, religion, nationality, and finally race. The story is about both racial, personal identity, and finding out who you are through your various "elements" as Lester describes.

Element 1- Self Love and Knowledge

This book relates to element one because it is centered around the idea of self-knowledge. The book depicts the narrator as an individual that has a deep respect and understanding of his background. He addresses different aspects of his identity including his race, culture, language, religion, and so on. It is a book about addressing both addressing one's own race and inquiring about the race of others as well as other elements that make up a person. 

Classroom Activity

After reading Let's Talk About Race, students can be prompted to think about their own identifies. Together, as a class, they can talk the different things that make up a person and their identity. During this time, the teacher can make a list on the board of all of the different elements that students identify with, including but not limited to, race, gender, ethnicity, language, and so on. This activity could prompt discussion about the various races and ethnicity of the students in the class. The activity could be followed up by a homework assignment for the children to go home and seek out more information from their parents or caregivers about where they come from and the history behind their race, ethnicity, religion, and etc. This could be a very useful tool in encouraging children to self-identify and also to gain a sense of dignity and respect for their background and differences from each other.

A Bad Case of Stripes

Title: A Bad Case of Stripes

Author: David Shannon

Illustrator: David Shannon

Grade Level: K-1

 

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Resources

Summary:
Camilla Cream loves lima beans but does not eat them because she is afraid people will make fun of her. On her first day of school, while getting dressed she is suddenly covered in stripes. After missing the first day, she returns the next day to all of her classmates making fun of her and making her patterns change. After many doctors and specialists, nobody knew how to cure Camilla and her mysterious disease that got worse and worse. But one day a nice old woman tells Camilla to eat lima beans. Although reluctant to eat them because she knows people would make fun of her, it would still be better than having stripes. Once she eats the beans, she is back to normal and eats lima beans whenever she wants.

Element 1:
This book relates to Element 1 because Camilla Cream wants to fit in and knows people will laugh at her for eating lima beans. By denying her love for lima beans, she turns colors and goes through changes. Once she learns to accept herself and her love for lima beans, then she is turned back to normal. Camilla learns to appreciate what makes her different and is able to finally be herself. By being true to herself in the end, she is learning about self-love.

Activity:

After discussing this book and the importance of loving what makes a person unique, I would give the students some time to write down in their journal 5 things that they love about themselves and what they think makes them unique. After they write in their journals, the class would come together and students would tell the class what they wrote. This is an activity aimed to not only help students love themselves and what makes them unique but also teaches them to respect their classmates and their differences.

Chrysanthemum

Title: Chrysanthemum

Author: Kevin Henkes

Illustrated By: Kevin Henkes

Publisher: Inc. SCHOLASTIC

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Summary:
"Chrysanthemum" is the story of a little mouse that loves her name and is about to start school for the first time. It is not until she begins school where she first encounters discrimination by the other students because of her name. Chrysanthemum quickly begins to hate her name and dreads going to school in fear of being teased. Eventually, Chrysanthemum and the other students learn that their favorite art teacher also has a name similar to Chrysanthemum's. The students realize then, that it is not such a bad thing to have a name that is different than their own.

Element I: Self-Love and Knowledge:
This story would go perfectly with element I about self-love and knowledge because it discusses the issue of how one may feel about being different than the group. Chrysanthemum used to love her name until she comes to school where she finds out that it is very different than the names of her other classmates. However, by the end of the story, Chrysanthemum learns that she should not feel sad about having a different name because it is what makes her unique. Everyone is different from one another and everyone may also have similarities with one another. Chrysanthemum's name is what makes her different and loving one's differences is important to do. The story promotes readers to embrace who they are and to not be ashamed.

Follow-Up Activity:
"Chrysanthemum"could be good to read by the teacher on the first day of school. Students can share their names after the story is read and maybe also share where their name comes from or why they were named that name. Students will learn that everyone has their own individual name or maybe they share the same name with someone else. This could be a good activity for the students to get to know one another and feel more comfortable about their own names. The students can then create posters with their names on them to present to the class. Perhaps the students can add other pictures to the poster that also represent their name or what their names means to themselves.

Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes

Title: Chrysanthemum

Author & Illustrator: Kevin Henkes

Grade Level: Kindergarten to 2nd Grade

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Meet the Author

Summary: A bestseller written by Kevin Henkes, Chrysanthemum is a story about a precious little mouse named Chrysanthemum. When she was born, Chrysanthemum's parents decided that she needed a name as perfect as she was so they decided to name her Chrysanthemum. As she grew older, she grew more in love with her name, she believed it was absolutely perfect. When begins school, her classmates started to tease her and she began to think that her name was absolutely dreadful. In the end however, she realizes that her name is unique and absolutely perfect.

Social Justice Element #1 - Self-Love & Knowledge: In this text, Chrysanthemum is a young mouse that absolutely loves everything about herself, especially her name because it is so unique. When she goes to school, her peers poke fun at her name because it is different, making her feel as though her name is not as great as she thought it was. This text shows the importance of feeling great about every aspect of oneself and not letting what others think have a negative toll on your self esteem. It is also a text that tells us that sometimes what others say may get us down but we just need to get right back up and this is shown when Chrysanthemum is reminded of how unique and beautiful her name is after her music teacher says she is considering the name Chrysanthemum for her unborn child, she realizes that nothing anyone else says matters, her name is the best name out there!

How I would use this book: After reading this book, I feel as though it would be great to have a discussion with the class about the differences other people may have, whether it is their name, where they come from or anything else that may set them apart from their peers. This is a great thing to do with younger children especially because it is essential for them to grow up with the knowledge and idea that they may have peers that are different from them and that is perfectly fine. During this discussion, I feel as though it would be a good idea to have the class choose a name of one of their classmates out of a hat and allow them to share something they like about the classmate that they have picked.

The Skin You Live In by Michael Tyler

The Skin You Live In

Author: Michael Tyler

Illustrator: David Lee Csicsko

Grade level: K-2

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Lesson ideas!

Element 1: Self-Love and Knowledge

Summary

The Skin You Live In teaches students in grades K-2 to love themselves in their own unique skin. Throughout this book children learn their skin color does not determine if they are better or worse, richer or poorer, or smarter or dumber. The story shows the importance of self-love of all skin tones by identifying activities we mutually do in our skin such as dreaming, running, playing in rain or snow, and loving our families. The Skin You Live In further explains how imagination and heart makes us all beautiful inside and out.

Element 1: Self-Love and Knowledge

The Skin You Live In provides the opportunity for students to gain knowledge not only about their skin-tones but their peers skin-tones as well. This book shows students that we all have our own unique skin, which should be valued and loved. The book illustrates that in our skin, we all run, jump, love, and swim along with many other activities.

In the Classroom

To help The Skin You Live In come alive through art, I would provide my students with small mirrors where they can view their reflections as the book suggests. I would have my students create an ‘outside-view’ self-portrait using their mirror reflections where they can explore with mixing paint to create their own skin color. Using their mixed skin tone, students can paint their own self-portraits. Once the ‘outside-view’ self-portraits are complete, students would create an ‘inside-view’ self-portrait where they list or draw pictures of who they are in their hearts and imaginations. I would then display student artwork around the classroom or on the bulletin board to show we are all united and love ourselves through our similarities and differences.

Round is a Tortilla: Book of Shapes by: Roseanne Greenfield Thong

Title: Round is a Tortilla: Book of Shapes

Author: Roseanne Greenfield Thong

Illustrator: John Parra

Grade Level: Pre-K-1st

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Summary:

Round is a Tortilla: Book of Shapes by Roseanne Greenfield Thong discusses certain cultural aspects of a young girl's Latina background. She connects shapes to different foods, games, and activities that her and her family do. Each item she mentions, relates to her heritage and things she does on an everyday basis. As she continues, the young girl asks the reader to think of items within their own lives representing each shape. The girl uses Spanish words within the text because that is how she refers to them at home. The illustrations make it simple to figure out what each word means if you are not sure, but the book also provides a glossary of the words in the back. Round, square, rectangle, triangle, oval, and star are the shapes that are used, however, the end of the book asks "how many more shapes do you know?" This represents the idea that these are what she knows and can relate to but other people and cultures may see many different shapes around them. This would make a great book for children to understand the use of shapes in the real world. They can each figure out where they see each shapes in their lives, while also thinking about and understanding their culture.

Element 1: Self-Love and Knowledge:

The girl in Round is a Tortilla knows a lot about her culture. She understands it all through the shapes that she sees. While sharing what she knows, the story also represents her Latina heritage. She is very proud of her life and shows it through her examples of each item. Her expressions of food, music, events, and family are not just shapes, they are a lifestyle. Roseanne Greenfield Thong's book is an excellent representation of Element 1: Self-Love and Knowledge because the girl really does enjoy her life as a Latina and everything that comes with it. She embraces her culture and continues to learn as much as she can about it.

Use in a Classroom:

Round is a Tortilla portrays the way a young girl lives her life and the things she loves most about it. It explains what she sees in her culture in the best way she could represent it. In my classroom, I would like the students to use what they have seen this young do and try to create their own short story. First, each child would think of certain parts of their life/culture that are important to them. Then on a sheet of paper they could each use those moments to consider certain items that can represent them. Since every item has a shape, they can make their own list of shapes and objects that represent their culture. Most of the children will not be able to write many of the objects so pictures will do just as well. This helps them draw out the shapes for further recognition of them. When everyone is finished, they can be presented to the class with explanations about why they chose it. The images can be posted around the room with the child's name so everyone can view them as many different individuals in one cohesive classroom.