Reflection

Choosing my texts was not an easy task. I thought Latino/Chicano American texts would be among the easier to find. I was incorrect and the texts are not as abundant as I expected. The texts I found easily were stereotypical, not written by insiders, or irrelevant to the culture. It is very surprising that so many children's books are written simply to say they include Latino/Chicano American children. Just because the illustrations show a child who is not caucasian does not mean the book is authentic. Including diversity for the sake of saying you are including it does not count.

When texts are genuine and authentic they are meaningful to children. A text that is considered diverse should educate the reader. The child should walk away from reading the book with new knowledge about a culture other than their own. This is much harder to find than I originally thought it would be.

At the same time, most of the texts that are authentic and written by insiders are quite informative. This is important to bring into a classroom and into children's lives. Diverse literature should not be hard to find. It should be prominent on the book shelves and children should want to read about others who are different than them and those who they can identify with.

If someone is willing to do the research to be sure they have a book that is qualified and meets the criteria of an authentic piece of diverse literature then it is not as hard to find books. Searching for books at the book stores, ordering them online and requesting them at the local libraries are all ways to bring books, such as the Latino/Chicano American literature I found, into the eyes of readers all over.