Mainstream and Mexican American-Themed Picture Books and Students’

Responses to Them in a First-Grade Dual-Immersion Classroom

A Dissertation

SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

BY

Anne Elise Delbridge

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS

FOR THE DEGREE OF

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Dr. Lori Helman, Adviser

November, 2018

© Anne E. Delbridge, 2018

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Acknowledgements

There are many people whom I need to thank for their support, insights, and love. I am in awe of the great thinkers and wonderful human beings with whom I crossed paths in the doctoral program in literacy at the University of Minnesota. First, thank you to my wonderful advisor, Lori Helman. Lori, I would not have finished this dissertation without your support. Thank you for never wavering in your belief that I would finish, despite two babies and a move across the country. Thank you for holding me accountable, for reading my drafts so carefully, and for supporting me at every level. Your work with young bilingual students was what inspired me to apply to the doctoral program in the first place. I would also like to thank the other members of my committee for their generous guidance and support during the dissertation process and for their inspriring courses in the doctoral program. Cynthia, our conversation about cultural markers and themes was key to the design of my study and it was your course on discourse analysis that opened my mind to thinking about literature discussions and identity more deeply. Thank you for always making time to talk with me about my study despite your many other obligations. David, thank you for your guidance with qualitative research. Thank you also for your questions, which have challenged me to think about the implications of my study in new ways. Carol, thank you for your insights related to Spanish language use in general and Mexican American Spanish in particular. Your perspective enhanced my study significantly. I also wish to thank Lee Galda, whose introduction to the work of Louise Rosenblatt inspired this study initially. Lee, thank you for meeting with me to discuss my study and for offering such strong encouragement and support. Thank you also for letting me use your office to nurse my baby during class and for helping me believe that finishing a dissertation while being a mother was possible. Other professors at the University of Minnesota also influenced my thinking through their excellent teaching in the doctoral program, especially Tim Lensmire and Deborah Dillon. On a personal level, thank you to my parents, Robin and Rick Polse, for your constant support, love, and encouragement. Thank you for always being willing to come take care of the kids in a pinch and for the many babysitting hours that allowed me to collect data and write. To my sister, Lara Fitch-Polse, thank you for always being willing to listen, and for offering empathy, commiseration, encouragement, and laughter. I love you all so much. Lastly, to my husband, Tim Delbridge, thank you for believing in me and for never wavering in your support. Thank you for work time on the weekends, for listening, for

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talking things through with me, and for a myriad of other things. I love you more than words can say.

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Dedication

To the children in my third grade class my first year teaching at Radcliff Elementary School in Watsonville, CA (2004-05), who taught me more than I could ever teach them. And to Louis and Alan, my two sweet boys.

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Abstract

The education system in the United States continues to fail bilingual Mexican

American students in many ways. To counteract the effects of a subtractive schooling

experience (Valenzuela, 1999) for these students, teachers can support the development

of literary identities of belonging (Fránquiz, Martínez-Roldán, & Mercado, 2011). The

purpose of this study was to investigate the ways in which the texts students read may

invite or discourage the development of positive literary identities by contributing to

feelings of belonging or alienation.

The study had two parts. In Part 1, content analysis was used to analyze a set of

18 award winning Mexican American-themed Spanish language children’s picture books

and compare them to a similar number of common, mainstream read aloud texts along

several dimensions, including characteristics of the main character, culturally-important

themes, and cultural values. In Part 2, students in a dual immersion first grade classroom

in California responded to three mainstream and three award winning Mexican American

picture books. Data collected in the classroom included written responses and drawings,

individual discussions, and surveys of children’s book preferences. Four English Home

Language (EHL) students and four Spanish Home Language (SHL) Mexican-origin

students also participated in picture walks and small group discussions.

Findings for Part 1 indicate that the mainstream texts lacked diversity in terms of

main characters’ physical, linguistic, familial, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds.

In addition, the mainstream texts hardly ever provided access to culturally important

Mexican American content themes such as family strength and community, and they

reinforced the culturally incongruent value of individualism. Findings for Part 2 indicate

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that the cultural content of the texts affected students’ oral and written responses in terms

of the students’ willingness or ability to make personal and cultural connections, their

feelings of belonging in the stories, and their engagement during discussions and picture

walks.

Implications from this study are that continual exposure to mainstream books

could easily lead minoritized students to disengage from literary tasks. In addition, the

study highlights the importance of access to culturally relevant texts in the early

elementary grades as a pathway towards the development of positive literary identities in

school.

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Table of Contents

List of Tables ............................................................................................................. viii

Chapter 1: Introduction and Rationale for the Study .................................................. 1

Chapter 2: Literature Review ....................................................................................... 6 Culturally Rich Children’s Literature as Part of a Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy ................... 6 Theoretical Framework ......................................................................................................... 30 The Present Study ................................................................................................................. 31 Purpose and Research Questions ........................................................................................... 32

Chapter 3: Methodology ............................................................................................. 33 Part 1: Textual Content Analysis ........................................................................................... 33 Part 2: Students Interacting with Texts .................................................................................. 48

Chapter 4: Results of Part 1 ........................................................................................ 77 Introduction to the Text Sets ................................................................................................. 77 Main Characters .................................................................................................................... 79 Cultural Markers ................................................................................................................... 85 Cultural Themes ................................................................................................................... 91 Cultural Values ................................................................................................................... 106 Role of School and Literacy ................................................................................................ 114 Summary of Results for Part 1 ............................................................................................ 116

Chapter 5: Results of Part 2 ...................................................................................... 119 Book 1: Alexander y el día terrible, horrible, espantoso, horroroso..................................... 120 Book 2: La señorita Runfio ................................................................................................. 133 Book 3: Un sillón para mi mamá......................................................................................... 142 Book 4: Finding the Music / En pos de la música ................................................................ 151 Book 5: My Very Own Room / Mi propio cuartito ............................................................... 162 Book 6: Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los meros meros remateros .................................... 171 Summary of Results of Part 2 .............................................................................................. 180

Chapter 6: Discussion, Limitations, and Implications ............................................. 205 Discussion of Mainstream and Culturally Rich Texts .......................................................... 205 Discussion of Student Engagement with Texts .................................................................... 211

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Limitations ......................................................................................................................... 220 Implications for Culturally Sustaining Literature Engagement ............................................. 222

References .................................................................................................................. 226

Appendix A. Fields Included in Text Analysis Protocol........................................... 248

Appendix B. Text Analysis Protocol for Additional Coders .................................... 250

Appendix C. Written Response Sheet #1 .................................................................. 253

Appendix D. Written Response Sheet #2 .................................................................. 254

Appendix E. Questions to Ask During Small Group Discussions ............................ 255

Appendix F. Student Interview Protocol .................................................................. 256

Appendix G. Codebook Used in Analysis of Discussion Transcripts and Coded Transcript Excerpt .................................................................................................... 257

Appendix H. Yolanda’s Writing and Drawing in Response to Finding the Music/ En pos de la música .......................................................................................................... 259

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List of Tables

Table 1. Culturally Rich (CR) Text Set ...................................................................... 39

Table 2. Mainstream Text Set ..................................................................................... 41

Table 3. Focal Texts ..................................................................................................... 62

Table 4. Written Connections to Cultural Themes in Focal Texts by Home Language Group ........................................................................................................ 121

Table 5. Number of Personal Connections (and Associated Percentages) Evident in Written Responses by Home Language Group ........................................................ 125

Table 6. Type of Personal Connections in Written Responses by Home Language Group ......................................................................................................................... 126

Table 7. Focal Students’ Affirmative Responses to the Question “Could You Be Part of This Book?” ........................................................................................................... 131

Table 8. Focal Students’ Favorite and Least Favorite Focal Texts ......................... 131

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Chapter 1: Introduction and Rationale for the Study

Latino/Hispanic students make up approximately 25% of the school age

population in the United States, and that number continues to grow (National Center for

Education Statistics [NCES], 2015). In California, over 53% of the total public school

population is Latino, and 83% of the state’s Latinos are of Mexican heritage (Brown &

M. López, 2013). Latino students often struggle in school, as shown by a persistent 25-

point achievement gap in reading that is evident by the fourth grade (Hemphill &

Vanneman, 2011) and a high school dropout rate that is significantly higher than that of

their White, native English-speaking peers (NCES, 2018). Scholars who have

investigated the schooling experiences of Latino students, however, have found that these

differences in achievement are actually the result of an education system that is based

firmly in a White, English-dominant, middle-class ideology. Such a system not only leads

to feelings of rejection and promotes resistance among Latino students, but also

reproduces discrimination and societal inequity (Valenzuela, 1999). This system fails to

recognize or support the development of the cultural and linguistic resources that Latino

students bring to school, and in fact devalues and attempts to strip students of these

resources, an experience that Valenzuela (1999) has termed subtractive schooling.

Approximately 22% of all children under the age of 18 in the United States speak

Spanish as their primary language (Fry & Passel, 2009). However, despite the fact that

the cognitive and social advantages of bilingualism are well documented, laws continue

to be passed that exclude languages other than English from the classroom, to the

detriment of millions of students. About 87% of Spanish speakers in the United States are

enrolled in English-only school settings (August & Shanahan, 2006) where development

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or maintenance of literacy skills in Spanish are usually not considered. Researchers

estimate that Mexican immigrants who arrive in the United States today can expect only

five out of 100 of their great grandchildren to speak fluent Spanish (Rumbaut, Massey, &

Bean, 2006).

Bilingual education is thought to support an additive, rather than subtractive,

approach and to be more culturally relevant than English-only programs because home

languages are validated when used as the language of instruction (Cummins, 1992).

While bilingual education has many forms, two-way or dual-language immersion

programs in which Spanish and English speakers learn side by side are thought to be

most effective in leading to higher levels of both Spanish and English literacy skills (de

Jong, 2002; Lindholm-Leary & Block, 2010; Lindholm-Leary & Hernández, 2011;

Thomas & Collier, 2002). Dual immersion programs also receive more support from

school districts and surrounding communities than traditional bilingual programs (Valdés,

1997), many of which are being shut down (Menken & Solorza, 2012).

However, dual immersion programs are not a panacea. These programs are still

situated within an English-dominant society and subject to district curriculum mandates

and mandatory high-stakes testing. They also cater to a native English-speaking

population. While English speakers in dual immersion programs are generally celebrated

for their acquisition of a new language, Spanish speakers are expected to learn English

and to learn it quickly (Valdés, 1997). Language ideologies of English dominance often

permeate the dual immersion classroom, standardized tests in English make English

instruction a priority, and Latino students quickly learn to privilege English over Spanish

in social interactions (Potowski, 2004). Because of this, Valdés (1997) cautions that

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simply having access to Spanish as the language of instruction is not the determining

factor in whether a Latino student experiences success in school.

Even when schools spout an official philosophy of multiculturalism, sometimes

classroom practices actually encourage cultural assimilation and discourage heritage

language use for Latino students, equating academic success with assimilation into the

dominant culture (Garza & Crawford, 2005). Valenzuela (1999) laments the “systemic

undervaluing of people and things Mexican” in schools as a reason why youth work to

establish identities that distance them from school culture (p. 20). This distancing can

begin at a young age. While several studies of subtractive schooling practices have been

conducted in high schools (e.g. F. López, 2017; Valenzuela, 1999), literacy practices that

fail to build on students’ home literacy experiences often begin early. Purcell-Gates

(2013) found that the early literacy activities in a Head Start preschool program designed

for the children of migrant farmworkers in California completely failed to build on the

children’s home literacy experiences and required them to speak in English. The children

were seen by their teachers as “damaged and empty vessels,” rather than possessors of

cultural and linguistic knowledge (p. 94). According to Delgado Bernal (2002),

“Although students of color are holders and creators of knowledge, they often feel as if

their histories, experiences, cultures, and languages are devalued, misinterpreted, or

omitted within formal educational settings” (p. 106).

Fránquiz, Martínez-Roldán, and Mercado (2011) assert that “…students’ resilient

literacy identities must be nurtured in order to overcome negative experiences” (p. 109).

These researchers stress that whether students are able to form literacy identities of

belonging is crucial to their academic success.

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In my prior work as a teacher and then as a literacy coach in bilingual elementary

schools, while Spanish literacy achievement was prioritized in the early grades, teachers

did not often talk about the cultural content of the books they read to students. Nearly all

of the books I read aloud in my own bilingual classroom were Spanish translations of

popular English books, many of which were the same books that my parents and teachers

read to me as a child and that were published half a century ago. I continued to see this

pattern in classrooms as a literacy coach as well, from Oso pardo, oso pardo, ¿qué ves

ahí? (Brown Bear Brown Bear; Martin & Carle, 1967) in kindergarten to La telaraña de

Carlota (Charlotte’s Web; White & Williams, 1952) in second grade to Charlie y la

fábrica de chocolate (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; Dahl, 1964) in fourth grade.

While many of the “classic” children’s books are wonderful stories, I believe that

when teachers of bilingual Mexican American students do not regularly prioritize or even

consider the cultural content of the texts we read to children, it not only perpetuates a

literary canon that fails to include non-White voices, but promotes the harmful idea that

Mexicanidad (Mexican-ness; Valenzuela, 1999) does not belong in the world of books. It

is unreasonable to expect young students to develop literary identities of belonging in

school when they are continually invisible in their classroom books and when, in fact,

those books may be rooted in a world that is culturally oppressive.

In this dissertation I will analyze the leading Spanish-language Mexican

American children’s literature through the lens of cultural relevance and examine the

ways in which books that are considered culturally rich are qualitatively different from

mainstream texts that are usually included in classrooms. In addition, I will investigate

how English Home Language (EHL) and Spanish Home Language (SHL) students in a

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dual immersion first-grade class engage with Spanish-language texts that are culturally

rich as opposed to those that are mainstream, with the goal of exploring how the cultural

content of children’s picture books might help students see themselves in the texts they

read. I hope that the knowledge gained through this study could ulitmately help teachers

of minoritized students be better prepared to support their students in the construction of

identities of belonging and contribute to a more additive schooling experience for them.

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Chapter 2: Literature Review

Culturally Rich Children’s Literature as Part of a Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy

The fact that White European literature is simply presented as “literature” in

classrooms leads children who do not identify with this literature to feel continually

“othered” in school (Willis-Rivera & Meeker, 2002). According to Ada (2003), “Latino

children have suffered a great deal from the ways in which their culture… has been

rendered invisible by the mass media and within the school curriculum… This silence…

erodes their self-esteem” (p. xiv).

Culturally rich books are those that “depict(ing) experiences that are explicitly

embedded in a particular culture, with setting, plot, and characters inextricably tied to

culture” (Galda & Cullinan, 2002, p. 278). Culturally rich books can also touch on

themes that are considered universal (e.g., going to a new school or hearing a bedtime

story), yet these books are not universal to the degree that they lose their cultural

specificity (Harris, 1997).

Unfortunately, culturally rich books make up an extremely small percentage of

the children’s books published each year, especially when compared to the percentage of

children in the United States who come from these cultures (Galda & Cullinan, 2006).

While about one quarter of students enrolled in U.S. public schools identify as

Hispanic/Latino (Musu-Gillette, McFarland, KewalRamani, Zhang, & Wilkinson-Flicker,

2016), fewer than two percent of books published each year have significant Latino

content (Galda, Sipe, Liang, & Cullinan, 2014). Of these, about 20% fall into the folklore

genre, leaving an immense need for contemporary realistic fiction for children that is

culturally rich (Ada, 2003; Barrera & Cortes, 1997; Bishop, 1997; Galda & Cullinan,

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2006; Mo & Shen, 2003; Yokota, 1993). According to Ada (2003), “Although each genre

has something valuable to offer children, it is in realistic fiction, especially in

contemporary narrative, that they can see themselves, their friends, and their quest

represented” (p. 49).

Culturally rich books are the most important kind to put into children’s hands

(Cai, 2002; Harris, 1997; Sims Bishop 1982). When teachers incorporate culturally rich

literature of the students in their classrooms, it can serve to promote a culturally relevant

pedagogy that counteracts the negative effects of a demeaning schooling experience

(Ladson-Billings, 1995). The idea of cultural relevance aims to move beyond just

including students’ language and culture in school to actually:

using student culture in order to maintain it and to transcend the negative effects of the dominant culture. The negative effects are brought about, for example, by not seeing one’s history, culture, or background represented in the textbook or curriculum or by seeing that history, culture, or background distorted. (Ladson-Billings, 2009, p. 19) Paris (2012) maintains that a culturally sustaining pedagogy is one that aims to

“maintain heritage ways and to value cultural and linguistic sharing across difference, to

sustain and support bi- and multilingualism and bi- and multiculturalism” (p. 95). This

type of pedagogy moves beyond culturally relevant or culturally responsive teaching,

which may use a student’s culture to provide better access to learning the federally

mandated or legitimized curriculum. In dual immersion settings, for example, teachers

may focus on helping their students learn the required curriculum through Spanish but

fail to sustain their students’ cultures in the classroom. When teachers integrate their

students’ cultural and community knowledge into the literacy curriculum, these funds of

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knowledge “can form the bases for an education that far exceeds what working class

(bilingual Latino) students usually receive” (Moll, 1992, p. 21).

Quality in Culturally Rich Children’s Books

Culturally rich books must be both culturally accurate and culturally authentic.

Inaccuracies in cultural details immediately render a book inauthentic and diminish its

overall quality (Yokota, 1993). For readers who are cultural insiders especially, these

inaccuracies are easy to spot. Cultural authenticity is more difficult to pin down and

define. According to Barrera, Liguori, and Salas (1993), “authenticity of content and

images in children’s literature is essential because inauthentic representation subverts the

very cultural awareness and understanding that such literature can build” (p. 212). Some

researchers feel that attempting to assign a set of criteria by which to determine a book’s

authenticity is futile, especially in view of the inherent complexity and dynamic nature of

culture. Short and Fox (2003) point out that an authentic book is one that simply “rings

true”. They quote Howard’s (1991) description of an authentic text:

Readers from the culture will know that it is true, will identify, and be affirmed, and readers from another culture will feel that it is true, will identify, and learn something of value, sometimes merely that there are more similarities than differences among us. (p. 92) Other researchers have attempted to come up with essential criteria for evaluating

the authenticity of culturally rich texts. These include things such as positive character

portrayal, authentic character relationships, appropriate language use and dialogue,

freedom from stereotypes in text and illustration, and attention to cultural issues (e.g.

Bishop, 1997; Hefflin & Barksdale-Ladd, 2001; Yokota, 1993; Sims Bishop, 1982).

Authenticity is also more likely to be achieved when characters are situated within

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families and neighborhoods, when the story is told from the child protagonist’s

perspective, and when the protagonist’s culture is clear (Sims Bishop, 1982). The

illustrations also play an important role in whether a book attains cultural authenticity

(Smolkin & Suina, 2003). Smolkin and Suina (2003) contend that the illustrations of a

culturally rich text must be culturally conscious and not appear too “mainstream.”

However, Mo and Shen (2003) argue that culturally rich picture books should avoid

complete adherence to the traditional artistic style of the root culture. They assert that in

an authentic picture book’s illustrations, “the specific culture is clearly evident in the art

but is so naturally blended into the book as a whole that it is difficult to exactly identify

those elements” (p. 210).

Linguistic errors are a frequent measure of cultural inauthenticity. Barrera et al.

(1993) found that most of the errors made by cultural outsiders writing about Latinos

came from the misuse of Spanish terms. These errors immediately resulted in a feeling of

inauthenticity for the reader who is a cultural insider. Spanish terms were not only

misused, but were given meanings that did not align with cultural values. For example, a

curandera is a respected healer who uses nontraditional medicine, but one book analyzed

by Barrera et al. (1993) treated the curandera as a witch who was feared by the

characters.

While the accuracy of cultural and linguistic details is important in creating

authenticity, a text may be culturally accurate without achieving cultural authenticity (Mo

& Shen, 2003). Mo and Shen (2003) assert that cultural accuracy refers to things like the

daily practices of the characters, while cultural authenticity is based on whether or not

these daily practices signify the culture’s “central code,” or its core values and beliefs.

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Smolkin and Suina (2003) point out that different members of a culture may judge

authenticity differently because of variation in values, beliefs, and customs within a

culture, however, Mo and Shen (2003) argue that, “when an author’s version of a culture

can be accommodated inside the range of values acceptable within that social group, a

measure of authenticity has been achieved” (p. 201).

Perhaps the worst type of inauthenticity in multicultural literature is stereotyping.

While a group’s relative invisibility in children’s literature can be harmful for a child

(Bishop, 1997; Botelho & Rudman, 2009; Hefflin & Barksdale-Ladd, 2001; Naidoo,

2011), misrepresentation and stereotyping are even worse (Barrera & Cortes, 1997;

Barrera et al., 1993; Bishop, 1993; Cai, 2002; Harris, 1999; Nilsson, 2005). Nilsson

(2005) reviewed 21 studies on the portrayal of Hispanic characters in children’s literature

between 1966 and 2003. All of the studies she reviewed reported finding high incidences

of stereotyped Hispanic characters in terms of living situation (ghetto/lower class

neighborhoods), employment (blue collar), and gender (male-dominant/machista

stereotype). In addition, the high level of variation both within and across the cultures

that have been lumped together under the Latino label often goes unrecognized in

children’s literature, resulting in some books that present a virtual “parade” of non-

specific Latino cultural stereotypes (Barrera & Cortes, 1997; T. González, 2009).

According to Cai (2002), “Stereotypes not only injure dominated cultural groups

mentally, but also breed ignorance and prejudice in children of the mainstream culture”

(p. 71). When students see incorrect, inauthentic, negative images of their culture

continually in literature, it can lead them to develop incorrect notions about their heritage,

in addition to low self-esteem (Nieto, 1997). According to Bishop (1993):

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If literature is a mirror that reflects human life, then all children who read or are read to need to see themselves reflected as part of humanity. If they are not, or if their reflections are distorted and ridiculous, there is the danger that they will absorb negative messages about themselves and people like them. Those who see only themselves or who are exposed to errors and misrepresentations are miseducated into a false sense of superiority, and the harm is doubly done. (p. 43) The issue of authenticity is intertwined with the ethnicity and cultural background

of the author. According to Bishop, Harris, and others, the author’s intentions in creating

a text must be taken into consideration when evaluating cultural authenticity. Authors

who write about their own culture often maintain the goal of, “enhancing the self-concept

of children of color, challenging existing stereotypes and dominant culture assumptions,

and passing on the central values and stories of their own cultures to their children”

(Short & Fox, 2003, p. 17). In contrast, authors who write about cultures other than their

own often seek to “build awareness” of other cultures. These different intentions produce

fundamentally different texts for different audiences and affect the level of cultural

authenticity (Short & Fox, 2003). Barrera and Cortes (1997) found that cultural outsiders

writing about Mexican Americans were more likely to emphasize themes that were not

culturally appropriate, such as individualism. However, Barrera et al. (1993) also found a

few texts written by cultural outsiders that they deemed to have authentically and

sensitively represented the experiences of Mexican Americans, specifically in relation to

the theme of immigration.

Cultural insiders are not only able to write with more cultural specificity, but also

tend to more fully represent the dynamic nature of culture with all its complexities, taking

into account issues of gender, class, race, and power relations (Botelho & Rudman,

2009). Many researchers, such as Campoy and Ada (2011), do not choose to include

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work by cultural outsiders in their analyses of culturally rich children’s literature. By

analyzing the body of work by authors writing about their own specific cultures, it is

thought that scholars can develop a better sense of what constitutes cultural authenticity

in this work (Bishop, 2003; Cai, 2002), as well as gain a better understanding of the

broad range of experience within a cultural group (Harris, 1990; Medina & Enciso,

2002). Indeed, “telling our stories” is one of the main functions of Latino children’s

literature (Ada, 2003). Medina (2006) discusses how the background of the author allows

for sharing of powerful personal experiences in Latino-themed novels such as The Circuit

(F. Jiménez, 1997). Such autobiographical and semi-autobiographical texts can also serve

as testimonios, calling “for collective action through the voicing of personal struggles

situated within larger sociopolitical contexts that transcend time, place, and location”

(DeNicolo & M. González, 2015, p. 112).

Themes in Latino and Mexican American Children’s Literature

The study of the children’s literature of a minoritized group represents “the

periphery of the periphery of the periphery” (T. González, 2009, p. 3). Nevertheless, the

studies that have been conducted in this area continue to show the importance of using

literature that reflects the cultural and linguistic backgrounds of Latino students in U.S.

schools to assist Latino students in developing cultural pride and positive cultural

identities (Ada, 2003; Naidoo, 2011; Naidoo & Quiroa, 2016; Smith, Flores, & D.

González, 2016).

Many scholars draw attention to the fact that ideology is embedded in books for

children (e.g. Botelho & Rudman, 2009; Boutte, Hopkins, & Waklatsi, 2008; Hollindale,

1988; Keys & McGillicuddy, 2014; Stephens, 1992; Sutherland, 1985; Yoon, Simpson, &

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Haag, 2010). Boutte et al. (2008) find that even the kindergarten-level children’s texts

they analyzed often promoted hidden ideologies that were obscured by things attractive to

children and teachers such as fantasy, humor, and skill learning. Stephens (1992) asserts

that children’s literature exposes children to ideologies with the purpose of socializing

them to accept certain cultural values. According to Botelho and Rudman (2009), all

children’s literature is, “a historical and cultural product, inscribed with the dominant

ideologies of a particular place and time” (p. 88). If they are not to reject and feel rejected

by texts or internalize harmful ideologies, students from non-mainstream cultures need

“local literatures” that provide “storytelling voices to speak to them- voices which can

speak within an ideology which for them is coherent and complete” (Hollindale, 1988, p.

15). Such a need can be met when children read culturally rich texts that promote

ideologies that are in accord with those held by their home cultures.

Cultural themes represent broader topics of particular importance to a cultural

group. Cultural themes are more likely than universal themes to be the focus of culturally

rich books (Harris, 1997) and serve important functions. Some can be sociopolitical calls

to action (Medina, 2006; Medina & Enciso, 2002) and some serve to preserve and

celebrate Latino cultures (Ada, 2003). While diversity exists in the values held within

Latino cultures, families, and individuals (Irizarry, 2007), scholars have found certain

themes and values to be especially important across Latino children’s literature, such as

the importance of family love (especially intergenerational relationships), respect, and

Spanish language use (Ada, 2003).

Ada (2003) emphasizes the importance of exposing Latino children to books that

tackle issues of bilingualism and linguistic prejudice. Many Spanish-speaking students

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are urged by their parents to learn English and experience shame of their language at

school; however, they also are faced with the possibility of losing their native language

(and the ability to communicate with close friends and relatives) in their effort to

assimilate into the mainstream American culture (Ada, 2003). Authors can choose to use

non-standard Spanish and English in their work, or to mix the two languages, using

language to express identity and “the complex political and personal process of mixing

and inventing languages” (Medina & Enciso, 2002, p. 44). Language use is also often

taken up as a theme by Latino authors to show characters exploring and inventing their

own identities as bicultural (Medina & Enciso, 2002). However, Chappell and Faltis

found that the experience of “maintain(ing) cross-cultural identities, ways of being,

thinking, acting, and using language within their local communities” was mostly absent

in the children’s books portraying bilingual characters that they analyzed (p. 259).

Alamillo and Arenas (2012) make a distinction between important themes in

Latino children’s literature and those in Chicano children’s literature, even though there

is some overlap. Chicano children’s literature is based in the Chicano movement of the

1960’s and emphasizes issues of social justice and identity, including themes of

immigration, language prejudice, and racism. Chicano children’s books also, “affirm and

validate Chicano experiences in the United States… they are unique in the sense that this

experience is more connected to the indigenous mother culture” (Alamillo & Arenas,

2012, p. 54).

Naidoo and Quiroa (2016) discuss the importance of reading books that tackle

issues of citizenship and immigration to Mexican American students whose families have

recently immigrated. Discussion of these books can help students to understand “what it

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means to be U.S. American and allows opportunities for students to discuss how

deportation influences their lives or the lives of peers” (p. 55). Books about border

crossing and visiting family in Mexico can be especially important for transnational

children, and can even serve as bibliotherapy when students have experienced traumatic

migration (Sánchez & Landa, 2016).

Migrant farm work is another important theme in Mexican American children’s

literature (Beck, 2009; Campoy & Ada, 2011). The vast majority of migrant farmworkers

in the United States are Mexican, and the children of migrant farmworkers are often

failed by a school system that is not set up to support them (Beck, 2009). According to

Beck (2009), “one of the most important reasons for the persistence of inadequate

education for migrants is that their world is not frequently nor honestly depicted in our

popular culture,” including our children’s books (p. 99). He goes on to propose that

seeing the migrant farmworker experience represented in children’s books can help to

engage migrant children in school and encourage non-migrant students to understand

how their own lives are influenced by migrant workers (Beck, 2009).

Cultural themes that have been identified as important in Mexican American and

Chicano children’s literature specifically include immigration and border crossing,

poverty, intergenerationalism (grandparent/child relationships), viewing Mexico as home,

community strength, migrant farmwork, cultural pride, and language issues including

language maintenance and translation (Ada, 2003; Botelho & Rudman, 2009; Campoy &

Ada, 2011; T. González, 2009; Medina & Enciso, 2002; Naidoo & Quiroa, 2016;

Sánchez & Landa, 2016).

16

Smolen & Ortiz-Castro (2000) recommend the use of Latino folklore with

Spanish-speaking and English-speaking children. They assert that folklore, “affirms

Latino children’s heritage by providing them with opportunities to see the world of their

ancestors represented in books. It thereby empowers them with a strong sense of self-

identity and pride in their culture” (p. 566). However, other researchers are wary of using

Latino folklore in classrooms, asserting that the wave of multicultural literature has

tended to rely too heavily on this type of story, creating the impression that Latino culture

only existed in the past. In their study, Nathenson-Mejía and Escamilla (2003) were

careful to seek out and select bilingual books that represented contemporary Latino

experiences and protagonists, rather than relying on folkloric stories. Medina and Enciso

(2002) also excluded Latino books that represented traditional folktales, children with

grandparents, or traditional foods and celebrations from their review. They feel that it is

more important for teachers to include books in their classrooms that “address the

experience of living fully, with difficulty and with joy, in relation to a larger community

and society that is neither homogeneous nor equitable” (p. 36). They argue that it is this

type of book that will help students develop positive Latino identities in a world that

pushes for linguistic and cultural assimilation.

Naidoo and Quiroa (2016) recognize the importance of reading books about

culturally important traditions and themes such as language use, citizenship, and

immigration, however, they also emphasize the need for stories about Latino characters

simply experiencing everyday life. “Students can make candy calaveras to celebrate Día

de los muertos [The Day of the Dead], but they also need opportunities to see Latinos

engaging in daily activities and facing common problems that bilingual youth encounter”

17

(p. 53). Terrones (2018) emphasizes the importance of using picture books in the

classroom that showcase “how Chicanx families do life” (p. 51), reflecting daily life in

families and neighborhoods.

There are three well-respected children’s literature awards that honor books that

positively represent and affirm Latino cultures and experiences (Naidoo, Battle, & Garza

de Cortés, 2011; Smith, Flores, & D. González, 2016). They are the Américas Award, the

Pura Belpré Award, and the Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award.

The Américas Award was created in 1993 and recognizes authors and illustrators who

authentically portray Latin America, the Caribbean, or Latinos in the United States. This

award is given annually by the Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs

(CLASP) in the categories of winner, honorable mention, and commended titles that are

recommended for classroom use. The Pura Belpré Award is sponsored by the American

Library Association (ALA) and recognizes Latino writers and illustrators annually whose

work for children “best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience”

(ALA website, 2018). This award was established in 1996 and honors one winner and

several honor books in the categories of narrative (usually young adult titles) and

illustration (picture books) each year. The Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s

Book Award was developed in 1995 by the Texas State University College of Education

to honor authors and illustrators whose work for children and young adults specifically

portrays the Mexican American experience. It awards one or two books each year.

Children’s Literature in Spanish

Ada (2003) details the history of Spanish-language literature for children in the

United States, from the creation of a need for such materials based on the increase in

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bilingual programs in the 1970s, to the “little boom” in publications of the 1990s that

came with the rise of “whole language” approaches emphasizing the use of children’s

literature in the classroom. Despite increased demand and the existence of several smaller

publishing houses that focus on Spanish-language titles, however, high quality Spanish-

language literature for children is still relatively scarce, especially when compared to the

proportion of students who are native Spanish speakers (Ada, 2003; Naidoo, 2011; Pucci,

1994). Even the books that are recipients of the three Latino children’s book awards

previously mentioned are not always available in Spanish language editions.

Most of the Spanish books in bilingual classrooms are translations of mainstream

texts published in the United States such as Clifford va a la escuela (Clifford Goes to

School; Bridwell, 2010) and Caperucita roja (Little Red Riding Hood) that are not

culturally conscious (Alamillo & Arenas, 2012; Barrera & Cortes, 1997). Literacy

scholars who study the experiences of bilingual Latino students in elementary schools

have noted that,

culturally relevant texts in both Spanish and English are still relatively invisible in literacy programs serving Latino students. It is folly to think that exclusion of such user-friendly content does not have affective and cognitive consequences for children in the short and long run! (Jiménez, Moll, Rodríguez-Brown, & Barrera, 1999, p. 225)

Alamillo and Arenas (2012) found that the bilingual classroom teachers in their

study relied on the Spanish texts from their scripted reading programs, which used

standard Castilian Spanish and were not written by authors of Mexican descent; these

texts did not reflect the Mexican American students’ home language or culture.

Books as Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors (Bishop, 1990)

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The metaphor of texts as mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors has been taken

up by researchers repeatedly in the field of multicultural children’s literature research.

Books that authentically reflect a student’s language and culture have been called

“mirror” books, while those that give the reader a view of another culture are “windows”

(Bishop, 1990). Some window texts can become mirrors, much as we begin to see our

own reflection in a darkening window (Bishop, 1990). In addition, some texts can

function like sliding glass doors, where a reader steps through a window text and into the

story world (Bishop, 1990). Recently, Johnson, Koss, and Martinez (2018) called for

teachers to empower their students to step through sliding glass doors into other worlds as

a way to inspire them towards social action. However, it is easy to see how students

might become disillusioned with continual reading of window texts and disengage; or, to

continue the metaphor, draw the curtains.

Smith, Flores, and D. González (2016) argue that Latino children can connect

with culturally rich texts “in a way not possible through Eurocentric texts” (p. 27). When

students can see themselves represented in texts, they are able to draw on their cultural

knowledge and experience to engage with the texts and make meaning (Athanases, 1998;

Broughton, 2002; Galda, 1998; Thein, 2009). This idea was explored by Athanases

(1998), who found that the students in his study reported connecting more strongly with

books in which they could identify culturally with the characters or situations portrayed.

Lohfink and Loya (2010) also found that the textual elements that bilingual Latino third

grade students chose to connect with in their responses were relevant to the children’s

lived cultural experiences. They concluded that because the children saw their culture

reflected in the stories, they were able to make better sense of the books. McGinley &

20

Kamberelis (1996) found that reading and writing about culturally relevant texts allowed

the African American students in their study to envision new roles for themselves, helped

them negotiate relationships with their families and peers, and enabled them to digest

social issues. The children used reading and writing about culturally relevant themes to

express and affirm their cultural identities.

Students have the ability to draw on their cultural resources to help them make

sense of texts that are unfamiliar. Rosenblatt (1994) says that in order to evoke a poem, or

a meaningful transaction with a text, “the reader draws on his own internalized culture in

order to elicit from the text this world which may differ from his own in many respects”

(p. 56). Broughton (2002) found evidence of her students virtually experiencing the

events of the novel by putting themselves into the characters’ shoes. They were able to do

this by “filling gaps” with their own cultural knowledge and events from their own lives.

Drawing on their prior knowledge enabled them to broaden their own experiences by

virtually living in the story world.

When readers approach texts with certain cultural expectations or ideas, they may

also resist texts that do not conform to their cultural models (Beach, 1995; Rice, 2005;

Thein, Beach & Parks, 2007). Thein (2009) found that an adolescent case study student

used her cultural models from her life outside of school to make sense of her assigned

reading. She was better able to connect with texts that portrayed characters acting in ways

that adhered to her own lived experiences, but resisted engaging with texts in which the

characters’ actions did not coincide with her expectations. Similarly, Möller and Allen

(2000) found that the students in their study critiqued the actions of the characters as a

way to express resistance to the text. These students did not wish to engage with the text

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when they felt that the characters behaved in ways with which they did not want to

identify. Sutherland (2005) found that the adolescent girls in her study constantly had to

negotiate negative cultural identities imposed on them about what it means to be an

African American woman when reading. These young women wrestled with prevalent

negative stereotypes as they struggled to identify with characters.

Distancing oneself from a text is what Soter (1997) calls “aesthetic restriction.”

Soter found that students may “shut down” when reading something that is so completely

foreign that they can find no entry point for engagement. Aesthetic restriction was shown

in Rice’s (2005) study by the derogatory comments the students made about the

characters, such as “Man, these people are weird” (p. 354). This distancing made it

impossible for the students to engage with the realistic fiction as such. They were unable

to enjoy the stories and became confused and off-task. It also resulted in frequent

misinterpretations of the story, even though the children were accomplished readers.

When Latino students are always asked to engage with texts that are culturally

unfamiliar, it is easy to see how they might find themselves in an almost permanent state

of aesthetic restriction in which it is nearly impossible to make meaning.

Engaging Bilingual Students in Discussions of Latino Children’s Literature

A large part of helping Mexican American students to develop a literate identity is

using high quality native language children’s literature, as opposed to the “highly

prescribed, watered-down curriculum programs” that children are often subjected to in

bilingual programs (Flores-Dueñas, 2005, p. 238). Martínez-Roldán and López-

Robertson have been at the forefront of the study of what happens when primary-grade

Spanish speakers engage in discussions of bilingual multicultural children’s literature.

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These researchers conducted a series of studies revolving around the implementation of

dialogic bilingual literature circles in López-Robertson’s first and second grade bilingual

classrooms. The impetus for the first study, Martínez-Roldán and López-Robertson

(1999), came from a survey conducted by the first author in which many bilingual

elementary school teachers reported that their students were “too young” to have critical

discussions about literature and that they needed to learn to decode first. The survey

results left the general impression of very low expectations for bilingual students,

especially when it came to reading literature. The researchers initiated bilingual literature

circles with the students in López-Robertson’s first grade classroom with the expectation

that students would engage in critical discussions and in-depth dialogue about the books.

They purposefully selected books in which they hoped the children could see themselves.

The students’ discussions included complex issues such as illegal immigration,

deportation, and racial difference. They also paid close attention to the illustrations as

well as the text, using the pictures to validate their opinions or to prompt a new topic of

discussion. The students connected strongly with the texts, telling personal stories to

explain themselves and make meaning collectively.

Another study from this project grew from the fact that, at that time, Martínez-

Roldán could find no existing studies focusing on literature discussions and response to

literature in bilingual contexts, and these studies continue to be scarce. For example,

Lohfink and Loya (2010) conducted a study that is similar to mine in certain ways. The

researchers read culturally relevant Mexican American themed picture books to bilingual

third graders, led whole-class discussions, and asked the students to respond to writing

prompts that elicited personal connections. However, in this study, the bilingual books

23

were read aloud in English and English was the primary language of instruction and

discussion in the classroom, although students could ask for clarification of words or

concepts in Spanish if they wished. Martínez-Roldán (2003) emphasizes the importance

of access to the native language as a means of learning and the development of a positive

bilingual identity. She asserts that Latino students are often held back from receiving

meaningful instruction until they attain proficiency in English and that this type of

limiting instruction,

rarely considers different ways of knowing and making meaning, such as the use of oral narratives, or the use of quality children’s literature as important aspects of classroom instruction, which may have implications for Latino/a students’ access to learning and participation in schools. (Martínez-Roldán, 2003, p. 492) In her 2003 study, Martínez-Roldán focuses on how one bilingual second-grade

student used oral personal narratives during literature discussions to take on various

identities and engage in a meaning-making process that allowed her to position herself as

both a skilled student and a recent immigrant who was still deeply tied to her country of

origin. These oral personal narratives represented an important meaning-making tool for

this student, yet she only engaged in this practice when participating in a group with other

Spanish-dominant students. Although only seven years old, the bilingual literature

discussions in this study were also a forum in which the students discussed issues of

racial and linguistic discrimination such as what it means to “stand up for your rights.”

Later, López-Robertson (2012) conducted another study in which she explored four

bilingual second-grade girls’ personal stories during bilingual literature discussions. She

emphasizes the importance of storytelling as a way for bilingual students to make sense

of classroom texts while also making sense of their own lives and experiences.

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Goldstein (1995) also used Spanish-language Latino literature to implement a

critical pedagogy framework with Spanish-speaking first and second graders placed in a

special class for students with learning disabilities. She read the books aloud to the

students and encouraged them to respond orally, and then in writing. Goldstein felt that

the books she chose were what prompted the students to open up and share their stories,

and helped them to engage fully in the classroom. The students responded to one page of

Family Pictures/ Cuadros de familia (Lomas Garza, 1990) by eagerly sharing stories of

picking and cooking nopales; these stories ultimately resulted in a class book of recipes.

Another page of the story, depicting a sick woman in bed and the curandera (healing

woman), elicited a more powerful conversation about why so few of the students and

their families had ever been to see an “American” doctor. Other texts opened the door to

discussions of immigration, racism and name-calling, how children can contribute to their

families’ welfare, and community projects. These conversations were sometimes

difficult, as students came to understand that their communities would not always care for

them, and that the school curriculum would not always provide them with answers to

difficult problems. However, taking a critical literacy approach and learning to “read the

world” as well as the word (Freire & Macedo, 1987) empowered these students to bring

their lived experiences into the classroom. Spanish-language Latino children’s literature

was, for this group of marginalized students, the gateway to more meaningful literacy

learning.

In a more recent study, Quiroa (2011) implemented dialogic Spanish-language

read alouds of books with Mexican-American themes with a group of six Mexican-

American first graders. Her findings emphasize the importance of seeing oneself

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represented in stories and the enjoyment and connection this experience can bring. The

book Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los meros meros remateros (Herrera & De Lucio-

Brock, 2002) prompted the students to make spontaneous personal connections to their

daily lives and elicited delight in seeing familiar scenes and characters portrayed.

Students also demonstrated performative responses (Sipe, 2008) in which they inserted

themselves into the story and acted things out physically and wrote responses that drew

on personal experiences and elements from the text’s illustrations. Quiroa discusses the

importance of not only using books that represent important social issues, but also those

that elicit a sense of connection and familiarity, joy and laughter.

Working with older elementary students who were recent immigrants to the

United States from Mexico and El Salvador, Medina (2010) investigated how the

students collectively and discursively produced their identities across multiple spaces in

their responses to bilingual literature about border crossing, and how they identified with

these texts. The literature discussions evolved into storytelling sessions in which the

students shared stories in a dynamic, collective, and creative manner, responding to each

other and making intertextual connections. However, students could not find a place for

their stories within their English-dominant classroom. They felt that their stories would

be neither welcomed nor understood, and that the concept of “English” represented not

only the language of instruction and interaction in the classroom, but also the tone and

content of ideas and curriculum there. When exposed to stories that did not subscribe to

an “English” linguistic or cultural point of view, the students were free to not only

connect with the literature, but also to incorporate their own lived experiences into a

literacy event. Medina (2010) concludes with a call for a “reading across communities”

26

pedagogy in which acceptable responses to literature are not constrained and it is

recognized that “students’ identities, histories, and imaginations are at the core of how

they understand literary events” (p. 58).

Most recently, Osorio (2018) implemented literature discussion groups which she

called “culture circles” in place of the regular basal reading program in an effort to

implement a more humanizing pedagogy (Freire, 1970) in her bilingual second grade

classrooom. In small groups, students read and discussed a set of culturally relevant

books with generative Mexican American themes, including familism and bilingualism.

Osorio found that students began to connect personally with their reading in a way that

enabled them to move beyond reading the word to reading the world (Freire, 1970). In

this study, the dialogic discussions and the texts themselves played key roles in the

implementation of humanizing pedagogy that allowed students to connect with

characters, share personal stories, explore and problematize sociopolitical issues

important to their community, and read critically to challenge cultural stereotypes.

Multicultural Literature for White Students

Nieto (2004) emphasizes that multicultural education is for all students, not only

those of color or those from underrepresented groups. Incorporating the literature of

minoritized groups into the curriculum has long been considered an important aspect of

the multicultural education movement, whose aims include “promoting appreciation and

respect for diversity, giving rise to critical inquiry, and ultimately developing a

commitment to the democratic ideals of equity and social justice” (Bishop, 2007, p. xiv).

Reading a multicultural book can be like looking through a darkening window. At

first, you look through the window to another world, but gradually, as the light changes,

27

you begin to see yourself (Bishop, 1990; Galda & Cullinan, 2002). Despite the many

claims that White students can develop empathy and an appreciation for diversity through

exposure to characters who come from different cultures, however, there is still a need for

more evidence as to whether and how this actually happens (Louie, 2005). It can be

unproductive for White students to believe that they can relate and apply any experience

they encounter in a book to their own life in order to understand it (Lewis, 2000). To

illustrate this, Thein, Beach, and Parks (2007) give the example of a White student

believing that he can fully understand a character’s experience of surviving slavery

because he experienced playground bullying.

In addition, White students may resist engaging with multicultural literature when

it pushes them to acknowledge other perspectives, especially regarding racist histories

and minority groups’ experiences of oppression (Thein, Beach, & Parks, 2007). Dressel

(2003) found that exposing eighth graders to multicultural literature did not prompt them

to question their cultural values or to see issues from the perspectives of the culturally

diverse characters. Louie (2005) found that some White high school students in her study

showed evidence of empathy along several dimensions after reading a Chinese-themed

novel while other students did not. The context in which a multicultural book is read,

including how the book is introduced, what sort of background information the students

have about the culture they are reading about, and what kinds of discussions and

reflection the students engage in can all affect the level of connection students feel with

the characters, as well as their willingness to question their own values and beliefs.

Most of the studies that have been conducted in this area have not taken place in

the primary or lower elementary grades. However, Quintero (2004) asserts that using

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multicultural literature in the early elementary or preschool classroom combined with a

“problem posing” curriculum facilitates the early development of critical literacy skills

(Quintero, 2004). It may be that students are more open to understanding other

perspectives and beliefs at a young age, pointing to the value of exposing children to

multicultural literature at a young age.

Reading and Cultural Identities

McCarthey and Moje (2002) describe a reader’s identity as multiple, and as

occurring within particular spaces and situations. Using language, we constantly build

and enact our identities in the “here and now,” and those identities shift according to what

roles we take on and how we position ourselves in relation to others (Gee, 1999, p. 18).

Students can construct and explore their identities in relation to story worlds when

reading, and they can construct and explore them in social situations when they discuss

those texts with their peers (Broughton, 2002). Enciso (1994) found that fifth grade

students were constantly performing and enacting their cultural identities in relation to

each other and to the characters in the book during their discussions of a text with racial

content. In addition, McCarthey (1998) found that readers positioned themselves in

different ways in different literacy situations, thereby showing that identities are shifting

and context-based. However, she found that certain identities that are more familiar may

be taken on more often and therefore seem to be stable or non-fluctuating.

Mexican American children often form identities that locate them in a space

known as borderlands, and this ideology also informs the writing of Latino authors and

illustrators (Alamillo & Arenas, 2012; Medina & Martínez-Roldán, 2011). The concept

of Borderlands was developed by Anzaldúa (1987) in a work that is considered

29

foundational in Latina feminist studies; it represents both a place and a feeling of being

neither completely from here nor there. The borderlands are the place between two

places, whether geographic, psychological, linguistic, or cultural. The idea is similar to

that of Nepantla (Mora, 1993), which is a Nuahatl word meaning an “in-between space.”

For Latino students, literature can provide a space to explore the ways in which their

identities are multiple and hybrid, and a chance to see bicultural identities represented in

a positive light (Alamillo & Arenas, 2012; Campoy & Ada, 2011). Alamillo and Arenas

(2012) assert that dual identities for Chicano children are not usually validated in schools,

but that authentic Chicano children’s literature can “provide that pathway by which

Chicano children will be able to search and authenticate their own identity” (p. 61).

According to Fránquiz, Martínez-Roldán, and Mercado (2011), using such literature in

the classroom can also help Latino students (and teachers) develop literary identities of

belonging.

Ferdman (1990) defines cultural identity as “an image of the behaviors, beliefs,

values, and norms… appropriate to members of the ethnic group(s) to which we belong”

(p. 182). However, not all members of a certain ethnic group construct their cultural

identities in similar ways and culturally similar students can have very different responses

to literature. Brooks (2006) found many different ways of responding to culturally

familiar texts among her ethnically similar participants. While one student felt that the

texts made him proud of his cultural heritage, another was repulsed by the victimization

portrayed. In addition, Quiroa (2004) found that culturally similar Mexican American

students in her study responded differently to the culturally relevant books she read,

based on their personal backgrounds and experiences.

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Theoretical Framework

This study is grounded in sociocultural theory wherein literacy learning is socially

and culturally mediated and students can author themselves by constructing cultural and

literate identities (Enciso & Ryan, 2011; Vygotsky, 1978). For young children, this type

of learning occurs especially through oral interactions with peers and teachers (Sipe,

2008; Vygotsky, 1978). However, these constructions of literacy and identity are

influenced by pervading ideologies of unequal power and life opportunities (Luke, 1991)

and larger politics of oppression (Freire & Macedo, 1987). Lewis, Enciso, and Moje

(2007) argue for a reframing of sociocultural literacy research to “better address the

issues of power, identity, and agency” (p. 2). According to Gutierrez and Larson (1994),

sociocultural critical pedagogy studies must examine larger hegemonic structures in

schools, but also how these processes influence everyday interactions and activities

among individuals in classrooms.

Rosenblatt's (1978/1994) transactional theory of reading also informs this study.

Rosenblatt aimed to redirect attention towards the important role of the reader in his

transaction with text. In order to have a meaningful transaction with text, or what

Rosenblatt refers to as “evoking a poem,” she tells us that the reader brings to the text her

personality and all of her past experiences. She brings her creativity, her interests and

preoccupations, and her sense of self as it exists at that particular place and time. It is

implied that this includes the readers’ identity as a cultural being, though Rosenblatt does

not delve into the role of culture or ethnicity in great depth. She does say that, “the reader

always approaches the text with a set of culturally acquired assumptions, values and

ideas” (Rosenblatt, 1994, p. 171). The texts in turn also influence and shape the reader’s

31

sense of self and her imagined possibilities, offering both guidance and control as readers

participate in literary events and work to make meaning (Rosenblatt, 1994). Rosenblatt

offers the analogy of the text as a mesh bag, capable of changing shape to accommodate

different interpretations but nevertheless providing a boundary or outline of possible

realms of response. Within a reading event, readers can adopt participatory or spectator

attitudes, either identifying with characters or stepping back to observe, or switching back

and forth between the two (Rosenblatt, 1994). Readers can more easily take on a

participatory attitude and identify with characters when they fit “our preconceptions, our

needs, our own conscious or unconscious potentialities” (Rosenblatt, 1994, p. 67).

According to Sipe (2008), “We have a great deal to learn about how culture, race,

ethnicity, and socioeconomic status both enable and constrain response to literature, and

thus shape literary understanding” (p. 241). Brooks and Browne (2012) argue that a

culturally-situated theory of reader response is needed in order to “examine the ways

literary interpretations are influenced by readers’ ethnic backgrounds as well as the

cultural milieu embedded in the stories they read” (p. 76). These researchers assert that

readers assume certain culturally-grounded positions when reading and responding to

culturally relevant texts, and that the cultural content of the texts themselves affects

which positions readers assume.

The Present Study

While a small number of studies have examined the benefits of engaging bilingual

Latino students with culturally relevant literature in the early elementary grades, no

studies have compared how the same students experience the mainstream texts that they

read every day. In so doing, I wanted to help develop a deeper understanding of how the

32

cultural content of texts contributes to or constrains the construction of positive cultural

and academic identities for minoritized students. In addition, I could not find any studies

that explored students’ responses to culturally rich literature in a dual immersion setting,

which provides the opportunity to explore and compare how students from different

cultural and linguistic backgrounds respond to the texts.

Purpose and Research Questions

The purpose of this study was to understand more fully the ways in which English

Home Language (EHL) students and Spanish Home Language (SHL) students engage

with culturally rich (CR) and mainstream children’s picture books in a dual-language

first-grade classroom in California. It is my hope that insights gained from this study

have the potential to counteract the subtractive tendency of American schooling for

Mexican American children (Valenzuela, 1999). My guiding research questions are as

follows:

1. In what ways are culturally rich Mexican American children’s books

qualitatively the same and different from mainstream texts commonly

read aloud in dual language classrooms?

2. How does the cultural content of a text affect students’ reading

responses, if at all?

In order to answer these two questions, I designed a two-part study, with Part 1

focusing on textual content analysis and Part 2 investigating student responses to the texts

in oral and written form. In the next chapter I describe these two parts in detail.

33

Chapter 3: Methodology

Part 1: Textual Content Analysis

Content analysis “is a conceptual approach to understanding what a text is about”

(Beach et al., 2009, p. 130). In literacy research, content analysis can be used to lead a

researcher to understand the meaning behind a text as well as patterns located within a

text or a group of texts (Hoffman, Wilson, Martínez, & Sailors, 2009). In this part of the

study, I used content analysis to highlight the ways in which a set of award winning,

culturally rich children’s books differs from a similar set of mainstream texts along

certain dimensions.

Researcher Background

Literary content analysis is necessarily subjective in that my own background

experiences color my view of the world and therefore my perceptions of these texts.

Hoffman et al. (2009) remind us that “texts have no qualities without a reader” (p. 40).

As such, and especially as a cultural outsider, I think some description of my background

characteristics and potential biases is called for.

Professional. I currently work part-time as a lecturer at a state university where I

teach courses in literacy foundations and literacy methods for diverse populations. I am a

former teacher and literacy coach in bilingual classrooms in California and Minnesota

where nearly all the students were either Mexican American or White. It was through

these experiences that I gained empathy for the bilingual learners in my classrooms,

especially those who struggled in reading. I became aware of how some students had, by

third grade, already developed a resistance to school. These students, however, could be

34

moved by stories they heard read aloud. At the same time, I slowly began to feel that

perhaps the stories that I loved were not exactly what they needed.

Cultural. I am a middle-class White female with Scottish, English, and Russian

Jewish ancestors who immigrated to this country many generations ago. I am married to a

man and we have two young children. Because of these traits, I am considered a member

of the mainstream culture in this country. I am conscious of the many privileges I have

been afforded both because of my whiteness and my socioeconomic status.

I cannot consider myself part of the Mexican American community. While I have

visited Mexico as a tourist (visiting a friend who was teaching at the American School

there), I have never lived there, nor do I have close friends or family members who are

Mexican American. My experience with the Mexican American community has always

been as an elementary school teacher of Mexican American children in the United States.

Linguistic. I grew up speaking only English and began learning Spanish as a

second language in high school. Because of an inspiring teacher who pointed out the

benefits of bilingualism, I went on to major in Spanish Literature in college and studied

abroad for one year in Spain. After college, I earned a bilingual cross-cultural language in

academic development (BCLAD) teaching credential and Master’s degree from the

University of California and went on to teach in bilingual classrooms (both transitional

bilingual and dual-immersion program models). I subsequently lived and worked for two

years in rural Paraguay as a Peace Corps Volunteer where I was immersed in a mix of

Spanish and Guaraní but spoke almost entirely Spanish. As a graduate student, I worked

to develop and revise early literacy assessments in Spanish. I consider my Spanish

language abilities to be strong, but I also have language weaknesses; these include a non-

35

native accent, slower-than-native speed, and a lack of familiarity with some Mexican

colloquialisms.

According to Neuendorf (2002), quality content analysis research must make

explicit the variables to be focused on for analysis, the sampling procedure for text

selection, the methods used to identify a coding scheme, and a second coder to increase

reliability. I will now address each of these issues.

Variables for Analysis

I selected the variables for analysis in this study in order to better understand the

cultural content embedded in the texts read to young children, with the understanding that

this content has important consequences for students. With the goal of answering RQ 1, I

analyzed a group of culturally rich award winning Mexican American children’s books

and a similar number of Spanish-language mainstream texts commonly found in dual-

language classrooms with attention to their cultural content in the form of cultural

markers, themes, and values. In an effort to better understand the possible constraints of

the selected texts, in other words, their “mesh bags,” (Rosenblatt, 1994) I operationalized

RQ 1 (In what ways are culturally rich Mexican American children’s books qualitatively

the same and different from mainstream texts commonly read aloud in dual language

classrooms?) in the following way:

A. How do the main characters compare across the two text sets (one culturally

rich and one mainstream) with respect to age, gender, ethnicity, family

structure, location, and socioeconomic status (SES)?

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B. Which Mexican American cultural markers, cultural themes, and cultural

values identified in the research literature are represented in the culturally rich

books, and to what degree?

C. Are these same elements present in the mainstream books, and if so, to what

degree?

Text Selection

In this section I describe the criteria by which I selected the books to analyze

within each text set (culturally rich and mainstream).

Culturally rich (CR) text set. Researchers recommend that teachers who feel

hesitant about judging cultural authenticity should turn to culturally specific children’s

book awards as reliable resources for finding CR books for their classrooms (Galda et al.,

2014; Landt, 2006). I began my search for CR books by compiling a list commended by

the award committees of the three most prestigious awards for Latino children’s literature

published in the United States: the Américas Award, the Pura Belpré Award, and the

Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award. Because of my focus on

lower elementary grades, I chose to only include picture books in my analysis, though

each award also honors young adult titles. I compiled a database of all award winning,

honor, or commended picture books for all three awards, published between 1996 and

2016. This preliminary list contained approximately 240 books. I then narrowed down the

list to include only books that fit with the following three selection criteria.

First, the texts had to be available for purchase in bilingual or Spanish-language

editions. My study focuses on students in bilingual learning environments where

emphasis is placed on native language literacy for Spanish speakers. The school where

37

the study took place adheres to a 90/10 dual language immersion model in which core

literacy instruction in first grade occurs solely in Spanish, so I needed to find books

available in Spanish-language editions. Disappointingly, about half of the 240 books

were only available in English.

The second selection criterion related to genre. I chose to focus on realistic fiction

books featuring child protagonists because this is the genre that most easily allows

children to identify with characters and the stories may closely mimic students’ lived

experiences (Galda et al., 2014). Galda et al. (2014) define the realistic fiction genre as

“plausible stories (are) about people and events that could actually happen” (p. 221). Ada

(2003) states that family fiction stories are the most needed for Latino children and also

the least available. This scarcity was confirmed in my text selection process because only

about 50 books fit the realistic fiction genre. Historical fiction/biography, folktale, and

poetry were the other most common genres represented.

The third selection criterion was that the protagonist of the texts be Mexican

American. This was to ensure that the books contained significant Mexican-American

cultural content so that the students in this study would be more likely to identify with the

characters in the stories. This also ensured cultural specificity. Historically, some

children’s books have tended to lump many distinct Latino cultures together, making for

stories and characters that feel inauthentic to cultural insiders (Barrera & Cortes, 1997). I

did not require that the authors and illustrators of the texts identify themselves as

Mexican American to be included in my analysis, although the Pura Belpré award is only

given to Latino/a authors and illustrators and the majority of the award recipients do have

38

Mexican cultural roots, according to their professional bios online and on the book

jackets.

A total of 18 award-winning Mexican-American CR books fit all three selection

criteria. That is, out of 240 award winning, honor, or commended Latino picture books,

only 18 (seven percent) were realistic fiction books featuring a Mexican-American

protagonist available in Spanish-language or bilingual editions. Of those, only five of the

books actually won an award or honor; the rest were commended titles recommended for

classroom use by the Américas Award. Table 1 shows the 18 books in the CR text set.

Mainstream text set. In order to answer RQ1, I also needed to select a

comparable number of mainstream texts for analysis. I wanted the mainstream text set to

represent the texts bilingual children would typically encounter during classroom read-

aloud sessions in the early elementary grades. In order to determine popular classroom

read-aloud texts, I combed through books lists such as the Caldecott Award winners and

honor books, National Book Awards, School Library Journal’s (SLJ) Top 100 Picture

Books (2012), Children’s Book Council Children’s Choice Book Awards, Horn Book

Award Winners, Reading Rainbow booklist, National Education Association (NEA,

2007) Teachers’ Top 100 Books for Children, Scholastic Teacher’s Top 25 Picture Books

(nd; the most recent book listed was published in 2015), and Amazon book

recommendations, checking for texts available in Spanish language editions. I also

looked through my own Spanish picture book collection as a former teacher and literacy

coach in bilingual classrooms.

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Table 1. Culturally Rich (CR) Text Set

Book Title (Author & Illustrator, Year of Publication) Latino Children's Book Award(s) Received

Abuelita Full of Life/ Abuelita llena de vida (Costales & Avilés, 2007) Américas Award Commended

The Birthday Swap (¡Qué sorpresa de cumpleaños!; López, 1997) Américas Award Commended

Braids/ Trencitas (Contreras & Lindmark, 2009) Américas Award Commended

Carlos and the Skunk/ Carlos y el zorrillo (Stevens & Arnold, 1997) Américas Award Commended

Chave’s Memories/ Los recuerdos de Chave (Delgado & Symank, 1996) Américas Award Commended

The Christmas Gift/ El regalo de Navidad (Jiménez & Cotts, 2000) Américas Award Commended

Finding the Music/ En pos de la música (Torres & Alarcao, 2015) Américas Award Commended

First Day in Grapes (Primer día en las uvas; Perez & Casilla, 2002) Pura Belpré Illustrator Honor Book

From North to South/ Del norte al sur (Colato-Laínez & Cepeda, 2010) Américas Award Commended

Grandma and Me at the Flea/ Los meros meros remateros (Herrera & De Lucio-Brock, 2002) Américas Award Commended

Hip, Hip, Hooray, It’s Monsoon Day!/ ¡Ajúa, ya llegó el chubasco! (Rivera-Ashford & Johnsen, 2007) Américas Award Commended

I love Saturdays y domingos (Me encantan los Saturdays y los domingos; Ada & Savadier, 2002) Américas Award Commended

Icy Watermelon/ Sandía fría (Galindo & Howard, 2001) Américas Award Commended

Lucha libre: The Man in the Silver Mask (Garza, 2005) Américas Award Commended

My Diary From Here to There/ Mi diario de aquí hasta allá (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2002) Américas Award Commended, Pura Belpré Author

Honor Book

My Tata’s Remedies/ Los remedios de mi Tata (Rivera-Ashford & Castro L., 2015) Pura Belpré Illustrator Honor Book, Américas Award

My Very Own Room/ Mi propio cuartito (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2000) Américas Award Honorable Mention, Tomás Rivera

Mexican American Children's Book Award Winner

Nana’s Big Surprise/ Nana, ¡qué sorpresa! (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2007) Américas Award Commended

40

While I had originally planned to select only award-winning mainstream texts, in

the end I decided that it was more authentic to compare the CR books with those the

children in my study would actually encounter in their classroom. To that end, I asked the

classroom teacher for a list of books that she frequently reads aloud to her class. She

directed me to her “read aloud” bookshelf, and from there I gathered a list of Spanish-

language fiction texts. There were 25 books on the shelf, two of which were nonfiction

and two that were not available in Spanish editions. There were also two books on the

shelf that have been commended by a Latino book award, (although none that were

realistic fiction or featured a Mexican American protagonist). Three others related to a

program on healthy living. I decided to include books featuring animals as the characters

as these are representative of the texts typically read in the lower grades. In fact,

according to the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, about half the picture books

published in 2015 depicted non-human characters. This left 16 Spanish-language

mainstream fiction read aloud texts to be used for analysis. They included four Caldecott

Medal and Honor books, five ALA Notable Books, seven NEA Teachers’ Top 100 Books

for Children, two Scholastic Teacher’s Top 25 Picture Books, and seven that were

included in the SLJ’s Top 100 Picture Books list. The books in the mainstream text set

are listed in Table 2.

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Table 2. Mainstream Text Set

Title of English Edition (Date of Publication) / Title of Spanish Edition (Date of Publication) Author & Illustrator Awards and Lists

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (1972) / Alexander y el día terrible, horrible, espantoso, horroroso (1989)

Judith Viorst & Ray Cruz ALA Notable; NEA Top 100; SLJ Top 100

A Chair for My Mother (1982) / Un sillón para mi mamá (1994) Vera B. Williams ALA Notable; Caldecott Honor Chrysanthemum (1991) / Crisantemo (1993) Kevin Henkes ALA Notable; NEA Top 100; SLJ Top 100 Clark the Shark (2013) / Simón el tiburón (2014) Bruce Hale & Guy Francis The Cow That Went OINK (1990) / La vaca que decía OINK (1994) Bernard Most Duck on a Bike (2002) / Pato va en bici (2002) David Shannon ALA Notable; SLJ Top 100 First Day Jitters (2000) / ¡Qué nervios! El primer día de escuela (2006) Julie Danneberg & Judy Love Frog and Toad are Friends (1970) / Sapo y sepo son amigos (2001) Arnold Lobel ALA Notable; Caldecott Honor; NEA Top 100;

SLJ Top 100 The Giving Tree (1964) / El árbol generoso (1988) Shel Silverstein NEA Top 100; Scholastic Top 25; SLJ Top 100 How Do Dinosaurs Go to School? (2007) / ¿Cómo van a la escuela los

dinosaurios? (2007) Jane Yolen & Mark Teague

Kiss Good Night (2001) / ¡Un beso de buenas noches! (2001) Amy Hest & Anita Jeram The Kissing Hand (1993) / Un beso en mi mano (2002) Audrey Penn & Ruth E. Harper NEA Top 100; SLJ Top 100 The Little Red Hen (1985) / La gallinita roja (1987) Lucinda McQueen Miss Rumphius (1982) / La señorita Runfio (1996) Barbara Cooney National Book Award; NEA Top 100; SLJ Top

100 Swimmy (1963) / Nadarín (1969) Leo Lionni Caldecott Honor; NEA Top 100 Syvester and the Magic Pebble (1969) / Silvestre y la piedrecita mágica

(1990) William Steig Caldecott Medal; Scholastic Top 25; SLJ Top

100

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Data Analysis

Based on the research questions, I created a protocol for analysis with the goal of

describing each group of texts in more detail (see Appendix A for categories included in

the Text Analysis Protocol). The protocol was designed with attention to the following

variables of interest: characteristics of the main character, cultural markers, cultural

themes, and cultural values.

I began with analysis of the CR text set; however, I used the same protocol to

analyze the books in the mainstream text set (RQ1C). Boutte et al. (2008) looked for

evidence of aspects of African American culture in district required reading lists and

found that the books mostly lacked any connection to students’ cultural values. In relation

to my study, the presence of Mexican American cultural themes and values such as

intergenerationalism and community strength in the mainstream texts could represent a

possible way for students to connect with texts that may not appear to be culturally

relevant at first glance, whereas a lack of these themes and values could present what

Boutte and colleagues (2008) termed “invasive literature” (p. 955).

Preliminary reading. I first conducted a preliminary reading of each book where

I read the books closely in English and Spanish. At this point I wrote a short summary of

each text, referring to the text often, and took notes about my general impressions of the

book. These notes were written from my personal perspective as a teacher considering

texts to read in a bilingual classroom; they tended towards noting anything that could be

potentially problematic. For example, I often pointed out differences between the Spanish

and English versions of the texts. I also noted the publishing and language information

for each book, including when the English and Spanish editions were printed. After the

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initial readings, I returned to the texts to look for characteristics of the main character,

cultural markers, cultural themes, and cultural values.

Characteristics of the main character. Section 1 of the protocol was devoted to

characteristics of the main character. For each book, I noted the main character’s

ethnicity, immigrant status/generation, skin tone and hair color, gender, family structure,

location, and SES (RQ1A). These are important because they affect the likelihood that

children will identify with a character or “see themselves” in the story.

While not a characteristic of the main character per se, in this section I also noted

each text’s narrative style or point of view. When a text is narrated from the point of view

of the main character, it becomes easier for the reader to see the world through his or her

eyes (Stephens, 1992). In addition, stories that are autobiographical or semi-

autobiographical, “telling one’s personal story,” hold an especially important place in

Latino children’s literature (Ada, 2003, p. 47). I noted whether the books were written as

first, second, or third person narratives and whether there was any indication that the text

was autobiographical.

Cultural markers. Cultural markers are salient cultural details that are of

significance to the reader who is a cultural insider and surface repeatedly in a culture’s

literature base (Sims, 1982). These markers are important because they serve to create a

cultural world for the reader. I looked for cultural markers in the text or illustrations in

seven categories: traditional Mexican food, traditional Mexican clothing, Mexican décor,

terms of address, Mexican music/entertainment, traditional medicine, and Mexican

cultural celebrations. While it is important to note that there can be a tendency to rely on

a “cultural parade” of cultural markers to the exclusion of a realistic portrayal of

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authentic characters in Latino children’s literature (Barrera & Cortes, 1997), Ada (2003)

and others note the importance of “celebrating and transmitting the richness of the

culture” as a function of said literature (p. 53). Because the texts selected for analysis had

passed rigorous inspection by the award committees, I trusted that the cultural markers in

these texts were placed there for the reason given by Ada and not simply to ‘add flavor.’ I

rated each text as either having or not having each cultural marker from the protocol

(RQ1B).

Cultural themes. I also looked for evidence of eight cultural themes, as identified

in the research literature (RQ1B). Cultural themes represent broader topics of particular

importance to a cultural group. Salient cultural themes in Mexican American children’s

literature included in my protocol were drawn from the research literature and included:

immigration, poverty, intergenerationalism (grandparent/child relationships), Mexico as

home, community strength, migrant work, cultural pride, and language issues, (Ada,

2003; Botelho & Rudman, 2009; Campoy & Ada, 2011; T. González, 2009; Medina &

Enciso, 2002; Naidoo & Quiroa, 2016; Sánchez & Landa, 2016). These themes I rated on

a three-point scale as either not evident (0), somewhat evident (1), or a primary content

theme of the text (2). In addition, because of the literacy focus of this study, I noted the

role (if any) of education and literacy in the texts.

Cultural values. My protocol included the same three-point scale for two cultural

values. Cultural values are part of a culture’s “central code” (Mo & Shen, 2003, p. 203).

While not stagnant, cultural values make up a perspective or worldview that is acceptable

to a cultural group (Mo & Shen, 2003). Stephens (1992) asserts that children’s literature

is one way that children are socialized to accept certain cultural values, therefore it is

45

important to closely examine the cultural values embedded in the texts read to children

(RQ1B).

The two values included in the protocol were identified by Knight et al. (2010) as

key values linked to Mexican American and mainstream American cultures according to

multiple Mexican American focus groups across the country. First, I looked for evidence

of familism, which is a primary value in Mexican American culture (Caldera, Velez-

Gomez, & Lindsey, 2015; Knight et al., 2010). Familism includes using the family as a

source of emotional support, feeling obligation to family, and using the family as a

referent (Knight et al., 2010), as well as a source of joy (Riojas Cortez & Cataldo, 2016).

“Family connection, interdependence, and closeness are integral parts of the Mexican

American culture influencing individuals’ beliefs and actions through their importance”

(Caldera, Velez-Gomez, & Lindsey, 2015, p. 9).

Second, individualism was included in the protocol as a mainstream value (not

Mexican American). According to Caldera et al. (2015), “American value orientation is

generally characterized as individualistic, and Mexican Americans’ value orientation is

characterized as being collectivistic” (p. 9). Individualism includes the valuing of gaining

independence, prioritizing the achievement of personal success, and valuing competition

(Knight et al., 2010). Mexican American families generally prioritize the maintenance of

family relationships over children acquiring independence (Caldera et al., 2015).

After evaluating each text using the protocol, I then examined each set of books

(mainstream and CR) according to each dimension of the protocol. This allowed me to

describe each set of texts in depth and to look for similarities and differences between the

two types of books in each area.

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Second Coder

Content analysis can never be a completely objective process, despite my best

efforts to be descriptive. Because I bring my own background to all my reading

experiences (Rosenblatt, 1994), and especially because I am not a Mexican American

cultural insider, I sought to establish higher credibility through a member check (Patton,

2002). I sent an email out to a list of recent graduates from the bilingual teacher

credential program at the local university asking for volunteers to analyze two award-

winning bilingual children’s books that they could then keep for their classrooms. I hoped

to include results from three additional coders (six books) and I met with and gave books

to three volunteers; however, only one person actually completed the analysis.

The additional coder, Itzel (all names are pseudonyms), is a native Spanish

speaker who was born in Los Angeles, California to parents who immigrated from

Mexico as young adults. She was a first-year teacher in a bilingual fifth-grade classroom

in California at the time of the study. Itzel and I met to discuss the project and I gave her

the two books to analyze and keep for her classroom. She completed her analysis

independently and mailed her protocol sheets back to me; we then corresponded once

more via email regarding any areas where her responses differed from mine. See

Appendix B for the second coder’s text analysis protocol.

Itzel’s analysis of the books Finding the Music / En pos de la música (Torres &

Alarcão, 2015) and Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los meros meros remateros (Herrera

& De Lucio-Brock, 2002) corresponded exactly with mine except for a few points which

I will mention here. First, Itzel marked that immigration was evident as a secondary

theme in both books because the families are immigrant families. Similarly, she felt that

47

“Mexico as home” was evident as a secondary theme in both stories because the

characters are of Mexican descent. However, we agreed that neither of these themes were

evident as primary content themes in either text. While I had been looking for explicit

mention of immigration or border crossing, or character dialog about traveling to Mexico,

missing Mexico, or moving from Mexico as was evident in other texts in the CR text set,

Itzel’s response redirected my attention to the fact that CR texts can bring to the forefront

the themes of immigration and feeling that Mexico is home even without taking those

themes up as plot events in the storyline; this will be discussed in the Results section.

Additionally, Itzel felt that individualism in the form of gaining independence was valued

in both books because the child characters wandered through the neighborhood and the

flea market without adult supervision. However, she marked “no” for the two other

aspects of individualism as a value (valuing competition and personal achievement, and

valuing material success over other things). I interpreted this wandering as showing that

the main characters were cared for by the community members, but I can see how it

could also be considered a display of independence, and the EHL students in the study

commented on it as well. I have included this in the Results section and I also looked

back through the other CR texts for instances of children doing activities unsupervised by

adults that I may have missed in my initial analysis but I did not find any other examples

of this.

I greatly appreciated Itzel’s insider perspective on the texts she analyzed. On her

discussion protocol, she also noted several ways in which the two texts reminded her of

her own childhood and her family members. During our initial conversation, she

lamented the scarcity of CR texts in her own education. When I asked her to list some of

48

her favorite books as a child, she noted The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Carle, 1969) and

Corduroy (Freeman, 1968), but added, To be honest… I didn’t read much in the upper

grades. Itzel felt that the two CR books would be greatly enjoyed by her bilingual fifth-

grade students and she was excited to share the books in her classroom.

I was also excited to share the books with students. In the next section, I outline

the design and methodology for Part 2 of the study, which took place in a first-grade

dual-immersion classroom.

Part 2: Students Interacting with Texts

In order to answer RQ 2 (How does the cultural content of a text affect students’

reading responses, if at all?), I sought to understand how students in a first-grade dual-

language classroom responded to three mainstream and three CR books read aloud. All

students in the classroom responded to each book on paper through drawing and writing,

and eight focal students participated in small-group picture walks and oral discussions

that I facilitated. I operationalized RQ 2 in the following way:

a) Which aspects of the texts do students choose to write about and discuss?

b) What personal connections and connections to cultural content are evident in

the students’ responses? What evidence is there of distancing or resistance?

c) Do students prefer texts that are culturally relevant?

d) How do students construct their cultural or school identities during

discussions of the texts?

Site Selection and Entry

Cesar Chávez (C.C.) Elementary School (all names are pseudonyms) is the only

dual-language public school in the small school district in California where this study

49

took place. I approached the school via an email to the school principal and met with him

to discuss my dissertation project in the spring of 2016. At the time, the school was in its

first year of transitioning from a 50/50 immersion model to a 90/10 program model,

meaning that kindergarten was the only grade to have literacy instruction not segregated

by home language. I wanted both Spanish and English-speakers to participate in my

study, so the principal recommended that I work with a first-grade class the following

fall. He connected me with a teacher who he felt would be a good fit for the study; she

had been serving as the school’s literacy coach for the past two years but was returning to

the classroom in the fall and was seen as an instructional leader at the school.

I met with the teacher, Ms. Diaz, shortly thereafter to discuss the project and how

it might fit with her regular literacy instruction. She agreed to allow me to conduct the

study in her classroom. We met once more when school started in the fall of 2016 to

establish a schedule. She wanted to protect the students’ regular guided reading group

time and felt it would be best for me to come to the classroom on Friday mornings during

a time that she regularly had set aside for “catch up” in reader’s or writer’s workshop.

Permission slips were sent home with the students in English and Spanish that described

the project and all students returned their permission slips.

Description of Community, District, and School

The study took place in a mid-sized college town in California. According to the

Census Bureau estimates for 2015, the town’s population is approximately 46,000 with

85% identifying as White and about 13% Mexican origin (16% total Hispanic/Latino).

The town is surrounded by a large amount of agricultural production which necessitates

manual labor in the fields year-round, but workers in agriculture mostly live in

50

surrounding communities in the southern part of the county, rather than in town. Because

of its location between mountains and ocean, the town is a beautiful place to live but also

very difficult to afford; median home price is double that of the nation.

The school district serves 7,600 students and includes ten elementary schools,

seven of which are located in the town itself. Thirty-seven percent of students in the

district receive free or reduced-price meals and 13% are designated English Learners.

Approximately 60% of district students are White and 25% are Hispanic/Latino.

C.C. Elementary is housed in an old building located near the university campus

and a large public park, and not too far from downtown. It enrolls 550 students; 57%

identified themselves as Hispanic/Latino and 38% White. According to the school’s

accountability report card, 46% of the students at C.C. are economically disadvantaged

and 44% are classified as English Learners. Sixty percent of students in grades 3-6 met or

exceeded standards on the state test (CAASP) in English Language Arts in 2015-2016.

However, in grade three only 25% of Hispanic/Latino students met or exceeded ELA

standards while 94% of White students did so, and this trend continued throughout the

upper elementary grades.

The non-White majority population at C.C. is a rarity in a town where cultural

diversity is not plentiful, making the school a magnet for those who are interested in an

experience of cultural diversity for their children, as well as those invested in

bilingualism. Admission to C.C. Elementary is determined strictly through a lottery

process. The lottery is divided by home language, with the goal of admitting an equal

number of native Spanish and English speakers in kindergarten each year. Since the

school is the only option for dual language education in the district, and because of the

51

growing popularity of language immersion programs, every year there is a long waitlist

of English speakers who are not admitted. Many students (both English and Spanish

speakers) travel from neighboring communities to attend.

The school recently adopted Lucy Calkin’s Units of Study in reading as their core

literacy program (Heinemann, 2015), along with the rest of the school district. This

curriculum follows a reader’s and writer’s workshop format and relies on core mentor

texts and a model of learning as apprenticeship wherein students learn to view themselves

as readers and writers. C.C. school employs an instructional coach as well as a reading

intervention teacher, demonstrating that they prioritize literacy education.

Description of Classroom and Teacher’s Role

Ms. Diaz’s classroom is one of four first-grade classrooms at C.C. Elementary.

Though it was early in the year when my study was conducted, the walls were already

covered in student artwork and writing. Anchor charts were posted around the room,

reminding students how to be “super lectores” (super readers) as well as “super

ciudadanos” (super citizens). The students had personal book boxes containing books in

Spanish at their reading levels that they used during independent reading time, when they

would often read with a partner as well. Students had easy access to supplies for writing

and drawing and were free to make their own artistic creations after they finished their

work.

Ms. Diaz was supportive of the study but did not participate as a researcher. She

usually sat with the students and listened during the read aloud sessions and she

facilitated the writing and drawing sessions by keeping the students on-task while I met

with the discussion groups. She also collected the students’ writing as they finished and

52

asked them to tell her about what they had written. As they talked, she jotted notes for me

on sticky notes. Ms. Diaz discussed the focal students with me on one occasion when we

were alone in the classroom because of a different schedule, but usually she resumed

teaching when I finished my sessions, meaning that we did not have frequent

conversations.

The read-aloud portion of my study was conducted in the classroom meeting area,

where I sat in the teacher’s chair and the children sat in rows on the rug in front of me.

They moved to their desks for writing and drawing, which were arranged in clusters of

six or seven. I met with two small groups of four focal students at a kidney-shaped table

at the back of the room for the discussion groups.

Ms. Diaz remained true to the 90/10 language immersion model and consistently

used only Spanish with the students during my time in the classroom. I never asked the

students to use one language or the other, yet they were aware of the language

expectations in the classroom and usually remained in Spanish. The English-speaking

students were obviously proud of their Spanish language skills and Spanish was

privileged as the language of the classroom. During one of my classroom sessions, Ms.

Diaz was conducting assessments in another room and there was a substitute teacher who

only spoke English in the classroom. Even then, the English-speakers decided that they

wanted to speak Spanish at the discussion table. Throughout the study they helped each

other by providing words in Spanish and monitored each other’s language use, sometimes

severely (a student once told another that he was going to be “in trouble” for writing in

English).

Identification of Focal Students

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Ms. Diaz’s class contained 22 students, 11 boys and 11 girls. Thirteen students

were English dominant and nine were Spanish dominant, but only six Spanish-dominant

students were identified as English Learners by the school. Before beginning data

collection, I asked Ms. Diaz to identify eight focal students for the study. I requested four

students who were English dominant and White, and four who were Spanish dominant

and Mexican American. I also asked for students who would be likely to understand the

Spanish read aloud and who would be comfortable talking to me and to each other. I

wanted both male and female students. At that time, however, only 11 students had

returned their permission slips to participate in the study so Ms. Diaz simply chose eight

students from the 11 who fit my criteria as closely as possible.

Description of Focal Students

There were two boys and two girls in each group of four students. Six of the eight

focal students were six years old at the beginning of the study, one turned seven before its

completion, and one was already seven years old when we began. As previously

mentioned, the school adhered to a program model in which core literacy instruction

occurred solely in Spanish in the primary grades. Therefore, all reading instruction and

reading assessments given in first grade were in Spanish and students’ reading levels and

guided reading groups given here refer to reading abilities and activities in Spanish unless

otherwise noted. The teachers used the Spanish Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark

Assessment System (Sistema de evaluación de la lectura; Heinemann, 2014) to determine

the students’ reading levels. Although the English speakers were read to by their parents

at home in English, Ms. Diaz did not think that any of the students could read in English

independently yet.

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Spanish Home Language (SHL) focal student group. All students in the SHL

group were born in the United States to parents who immigrated to this country from

Mexico, except for one student whose father was from Mexico but whose mother was

born in the United States.

Yolanda. Yolanda is a lively and intelligent little girl with an expressive face and

two silver teeth in front. She turned six years old four months before the study took place.

At the time of the study, she lived in a neighboring community with her parents, her

younger sister, three older brothers, and her uncle who had recently arrived from Mexico.

Ms. Diaz told me that Yolanda’s two oldest brothers (ages 12 and 13) had only recently

been reunited with the family from Mexico. Yolanda’s mother worked at a hotel in

housekeeping and her father worked as a cook in two different restaurants. Yolanda said

that she would like to work in a hotel when she grows up, like her mother. Yolanda had

been to Mexico twice to visit family and had once crossed the border into Guatemala. She

had watched her brothers and her uncle as they acclimated to their new lives in the United

States.

Yolanda reported that she liked to read and that she read at home to her younger

sister who was four years old. She said that her favorite book was The Three Little Pigs,

but I do not know to which version she was referring; she said that she did not have the

book at home but that she read it in class in kindergarten. Ms. Diaz placed Yolanda in the

highest guided reading group, based on her Spanish reading assessment. Ms. Diaz told

me that Yolanda’s parents were very committed to their children’s education and that

they were very responsive. She stated that even though Yolanda’s English language skills

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were on the lower side, she was not worried about her educational achievement in the

long run because she has such supportive parents.

Verónica. Verónica is an outgoing and vivacious girl who was almost seven at the

time of the study. She often dressed in flashy outfits that included accessories such as

faux fur collars and arm warmers, feather boas and cowboy boots. Ms. Diaz reported that

Verónica often “tested” adults and that she had been known to make up stories about her

home life. At the beginning of the study she had some trouble staying on-task during

discussions. Verónica’s father was from Mexico originally but her mother was born in the

United States. According to Ms. Diaz, the family often spoke English at home and,

although Verónica is bilingual, she was often resistant to speaking Spanish in the

classroom. Verónica’s father occasionally filled in as a substitute teacher at the school

and Verónica stated that she would like to be a teacher when she grows up. She had been

to Mexico once to visit her paternal grandparents. She said that if she could travel

anywhere in the world, she would like to go to India.

Verónica reported that she liked to read and that her mother read to her at home in

English. Her Spanish reading instructional level was “E”, which was approaching

expectations for her grade level, and she was part of a middle-level guided reading group.

Ms. Diaz reported that she had lower fluency and accuracy levels but excellent

comprehension.

Javier. Javier, a six-and-a-half-year-old boy, had a bounce in his step, a

mischievous grin, and was eager to please. He always came to school impeccably dressed

and with his hair styled. Both of Javier’s parents are from Mexico. At the time of the

study, his father worked for a car insurance company and his mother did childcare. He

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was very excited during our interview to tell me that his family would be taking a trip to

Mexico over the winter vacation and that he was going to bring toys “for the poor

children.” Javier stated that he would like to be a soldier when he grows up. He was part

of an after-school soccer team and sometimes worried that soccer practice would be

cancelled when it rained.

Ms. Diaz told me that Javier’s father frequently came to the classroom as a parent

volunteer to help with various tasks (filing, cutting, laminating, etc.). Javier stated that he

liked to read and that his parents often told him to read at home. He said that his favorite

book was Gingerbread Pirates (Kladstrup & Tavares, 2009); this book is not available in

Spanish. Javier was in the second-highest Spanish guided reading group, reading on level

for his grade or slightly above.

Rafael. Rafael had shoulder-length curly hair that he twirled while he talked. He

often went off on long unrelated tangents during our discussions, on one occasion

describing how much he loved when it rained because he could jump in the puddles with

his rain boots and catch raindrops on his tongue. When asked what he would like to be

when he grows up, he rattled off the following pursuits: designer, doctor, dog trainer,

work at Jamba Juice, and performer; this last occupation was, “so I can make lots of

money.” Rafael’s mother worked in housekeeping at a hotel in town and she was taking

an English class at the local community college. Rafael took the school bus home and

“watched his tablet” until his mom arrived home from work. His father was not living

with them at the time of the study, and Rafael alternated between talking a lot about his

father and saying that he didn’t have a father. He said that he had never traveled to

Mexico or anywhere else.

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Rafael reported that he liked to read but that he did not have books at his house;

Ms. Diaz sent books home from school for him to read. Ms. Diaz assessed Rafael’s

instructional reading level at B, which, according to the Fountas and Pinnell grade level

expectations, means that he was a full grade level behind. He was part of the lowest

guided reading group and was not yet able to write independently at the time of the study.

English Home Language (EHL) focal student group. The EHL group was

composed of White native English speakers who were born in the United States to non-

immigrant parents, except for Brianna who was not White. Ms. Diaz placed Brianna in

this group because she was a native English speaker and not culturally Mexican

American.

Ava. Ava is tall with fair skin, blue eyes and long blond hair. At the time of the

study she lived in town with her parents, her younger brother, two cats, one dog, and four

chickens. Her mother was a faculty member at the local university and her father was a

teacher in a neighboring community. Her parents were born in California and Oregon.

After school, Ava sometimes went to drumming class or to soccer practice and she liked

to have play dates on the weekends. Ava had been to Hawaii, Oregon (for river rafting),

San Diego, and Montana on vacation with her family. She had never been to Mexico.

Ava reported that when she grows up, she would like to be a scientist.

Ava was the least talkative of the focal students and seemed to feel the least

confident in her oral Spanish abilities. She was also on the quieter side when speaking in

English. She reported that she liked her parents to read to her in English at home and that

her favorite book was Frog and Toad (Lobel). Ava was part of the middle-level guided

reading group, along with Verónica and Oliver.

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Oliver. Oliver is short, blond and wears glasses that he was always pushing back

up his nose. He has a sweet and calm disposition. At the time of the study, he lived with

his parents and one younger brother in a neighboring community. Both of his parents are

from California originally and met at the local university. Like Javier and Ava, Oliver

played soccer after school. He said that when he grows up he would like to be a doctor so

that he can earn lots of money and talk to people who speak Spanish and English. He had

travelled to Oregon, Hawaii, and San Francisco with his family. He said that he would

like to travel to Mexico, but he was not sure if they speak Spanish or English there.

Oliver was the only focal student who replied that he did not like to read, saying

that it was “too hard” and that he “can only read a little bit.” However, he then proceeded

to talk about how much he liked a book that his friend had given him because it was

funny and a chapter book. He also said that his mom really liked to read and that she read

to him at home. Oliver was part of the middle-level guided reading group.

Brianna. Brianna turned seven years old during the time of the study. She was

placed in the English-speaking group because of her home language but she does not

appear White. Her father was adopted by Americans from Brazil as a child and Brianna’s

physical appearance indicates that she has both Black and White parents. She was born in

the southern Midwest and reported that she had been back to visit her grandparents and

cousins. Her parents were recently separated at the time of the study and she and her

younger brother spent time living with each of them. Brianna enjoyed doing gymnastics

and horseback riding after school and she said that she would like to be a horseback

trainer when she grows up. Her parents both worked in restaurants.

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Brianna was reading at grade level in Spanish and was part of the second-highest

guided reading group, along with Javier. She reported that she did not have a favorite

book but that she read with her parents in English.

Ian. Ian is a confident, well-mannered, and articulate boy who often wore a

baseball hat. He was the oldest student in the focal groups, turning seven the spring

before the study. At the time of the study, Ian lived with his parents and older sister about

30 miles from C.C. elementary. His mother was a school music teacher and his father

worked in a music store. Ian said that he would like to be a musician and fix guitars like

his dad when he grows up. He had traveled to the East Coast to visit family and had been

to Legoland and Disneyland on vacation. He also played soccer and baseball after school,

depending on the season. He enjoyed having pancakes with his family every Sunday,

playing in the neighborhood, gardening, guitars, and music. If he could travel anywhere

in the world, he would go to Jamaica, where his parents recently vacationed.

Ian was reading above grade level in Spanish, placing him in the highest guided

reading group, along with Yolanda. He told me that he enjoyed reading in Spanish and

that he could read “a little” in English, but that his parents bought him books in both

Spanish and English. His favorite book was Super Fly (Doodler, 2015) in English. Ian

was the most articulate in Spanish of the English speakers and always had something to

say during our discussions; he would at times dominate the conversation, but was not

pushy. From what I observed, Ian was the star of the classroom. In one instance, Ms.

Diaz used his math homework as an example to the class of going above and beyond the

assignment. His name was always in the highest column on the behavior chart, and I

observed that he was often instructed to “give himself points” on the chart.

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Selection of Focal Texts for Read Aloud and Response

From the 34 books I analyzed in Part 1 of the study, I chose three focal CR texts

and three focal mainstream texts for use in Part 2. The three focal CR books I selected for

use in the classroom were Finding the Music / En pos de la música (Torres & Alarcão,

2015), My Very Own Room / Mi propio cuartito (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2000), and Grandma

and Me at the Flea / Los meros meros remateros (Herrera & De Lucio-Brock, 2002). I

chose these books because they represent characters to whom I hoped the children could

relate. I looked for Mexican American child protagonists who seemed to have been born

in the United States or to have come as children, and who lived in California. I looked for

some variety in terms of protagonists’ gender and SES. Most importantly, I wanted

stories and illustrations that would be engaging for a first-grade audience. While the texts

selected were on the longer side, I felt that their beautiful illustrations and engaging plots

would be sufficient to hold the interest of the students. Finding the Music / En pos de la

música (Torres & Alarcão, 2015) was commended by the Américas Award. My Very

Own Room / Mi propio cuartito (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2000) won the Tomás Rivera

Mexican American Children’s Book Award and received an Honorable Mention from the

Américas Award. Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los meros meros remateros (Herrera &

De Lucio-Brock, 2002) was also commended by the Américas Award. Two of these

books had been used in similar studies previously. Quiroa (2011) found that the bilingual

students in her study saw themselves and their families reflected in Grandma and Me at

the Flea / Los meros meros remateros (Herrera & De Lucio-Brock, 2002) and that this

text inspired joy, and Lohfink and Loya (2010) found that the Mexican American third

graders in their study were able to connect personally to many aspects of My Very Own

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Room / Mi propio cuartito (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2000). These three texts were available

only in bilingual editions (Spanish and English within the same volume).

For the three focal mainstream texts, I chose to read the Spanish language editions

of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (Viorst & Cruz, 1972),

Miss Rumphius (Cooney & Porter, 1982), and A Chair for My Mother (Williams, 1982). I

chose these texts mostly because they are children’s classics that are often read aloud in

classrooms and they feature human children as main characters. Alexander and the

Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (Viorst & Cruz, 1972) has sold more than

seven million copies and was an ALA Notable Book. It is also on the NEA’s Top 100

Teacher’s Choice list and the SLJ Top 100 Picture Books list. Miss Rumphius (Cooney &

Porter, 1982) was the winner of the National Book Award and was also on the NEA’s

Top 100 Teacher’s Choice list and the SLJ Top 100 Picture Books list. Lastly, A Chair

for My Mother (Williams, 1982) was an ALA Notable Book and a Caldecott Honor

Book. These three texts are readily available and easily affordable in Spanish-language

editions, making them often part of the text collections in bilingual classrooms. They are

realistic-fiction texts, approximately the same length as the CR focal books, and contain

stories and pictures that are appropriate for a first-grade audience. The six focal texts

used in the classroom portion of the study are listed in Table 3.

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Table 3. Focal Texts

Order Title Awards and Lists

Book 1 Alexander y el día terrible,

horrible, espantoso, horroroso

ALA Notable; NEA Top 100; SLJ Top 100

Book 2 La señorita Runfio National Book Award; NEA Top 100; SLJ Top 100

Book 3 Un sillón para mi mamá ALA Notable; Caldecott Honor

Book 4 Finding the Music/ En pos de la

música

Américas Award Commended

Book 5 My Very Own Room/ Mi propio

cuartito

Américas Award Honorable Mention, Tomás Rivera

Mexican American Children's Book Award Winner

Book 6 Grandma and Me at the Flea/ Los

meros meros remateros

Américas Award Commended

Data Collection During Classroom Sessions

My first meeting in the classroom was in September of 2016. At that time, I

conducted a practice session (Session 1) with the goals of introducing myself and getting

to know the students as well as testing the effectiveness of the audio and video

technology in the classroom. In the practice session, I explained to the students that I was

interested in learning about what they thought about various story books and that I would

be reading books aloud to them each week and asking them to write and draw about

them. On this first day, I read Me encantan los Saturdays y los domingos (I love

Saturdays y domingos; Ada & Savadier, 2002) to the class. In this story, a young girl

spends Saturdays with her English-speaking set of grandparents and Sundays with her

Spanish-speaking set. After reading the text aloud, I asked the students to draw

themselves in either the grandparents’ or the abuelos’ house (wherever they felt they

belonged) and to write about why. I then met with the two groups of focal students and

discussed why they chose to draw themselves in one house over the other, or in between.

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While I was doing this, the teacher walked around and asked the other students about

their drawings and wrote down their words for me on sticky notes. She did this

spontaneously, but I asked her to continue to do it throughout the study as it was very

helpful when deciphering the students’ writing.

I collected data for seven weeks following the practice session (Sessions 2-8),

focusing on a different picture book each week for six weeks and asking the children to

choose their favorite and least favorite books in the last session. During the six picture

book sessions, I collected student response data using picture walks, writing and drawing,

and small group and individual discussions. I also wrote memos and conducted one

interview with each of the eight focal students.

Picture walks. Each week, I first met with each group of focal students so that

they could engage in a short picture walk of that day’s read-aloud book. I added the

picture walk to my study design because I wanted the focal students’ unhampered first

impressions of each text. It also allowed them to engage with the pictures in the text and

to have an idea of what the story was about before the read aloud. During the picture

walks, I read the title of the book to the students and then gave each pair a copy of the

book and asked them to look at the pictures and discuss whatever they saw happening in

the pictures. Although I did not instruct them to do so, most of the time the students took

turns describing what was happening on each page. They did not read the words of the

text during this time. I sat with them as they looked through the books and took notes. I

also answered questions when asked and occasionally asked them clarifying questions

about what they were discussing. I video-recorded the picture walks using an iPad and

audio-recorded them with a small microphone resting on the table. Because it was

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difficult to capture the audio clearly from each pair of students when they were having

two separate discussions concurrently, I placed the video microphone in front of one pair

of students and a digital audio recorder in front of the second pair. This made it easier to

transcribe each pair’s discussion, but I could see both pairs of students captured in the

video. I transcribed all of the picture walks after the conclusion of the study.

Read aloud sessions. Each day after each focal group participated in a picture

walk, the class gathered on the rug to hear me read the picture book aloud. I sat in the

“teacher chair” and read the book to the whole class, reading as clearly and with as much

expression as possible. I would occasionally stop to clarify a particularly difficult

vocabulary word or ask them to do an open-ended “turn and talk” if I could see that their

attention was wandering, but I tried to read the books without many interruptions. The

read aloud sessions lasted around 20 minutes. In sessions 2-4 I read mainstream texts and

in sessions 5-7 I read CR books.

Writing and drawing. Each week after the read aloud, I gave directions for the

students to write and draw about whatever the book made them think about. I passed out

paper showing a thought bubble with lines inside for writing (Appendix C) and space for

drawing on the back. As the study progressed, the directions were always the same but I

encouraged the students to add to and embellish their work. After the first session, I

reminded the students to label their drawings so that I could tell who the people in their

pictures were. After the second session, it became clear that all the students were writing

about their favorite part, even though I had not asked them specifically to do this. I

clarified that they could write about whatever the book made them think about, but that if

they wanted to write about their favorite part, they should also explain why they liked

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that part. After the first two weeks I had to add more lines to the paper because the

students began to write more and needed more space (Appendix D).

The students had about 30 minutes for writing and drawing while I met with the

discussion groups. While the discussion groups were meeting, Ms. Diaz walked around

the room and supervised the other students while they wrote and drew about that day’s

book. She asked the students to tell her about what they had written and drawn when they

turned in their papers and she jotted down their words for me on sticky notes.

Each week, I copied each student’s writing and dictation, along with a brief

description of the drawing, into a spreadsheet that organized the students by home

language group. A few times the students’ writing was illegible; in these cases, I could

only use the dictations to Ms. Diaz.

Small group discussions. After sending the students off to write and draw at their

desks, I met immediately with one of the two focal groups. Having time to write and

draw before discussing the books potentially altered the direction of the small group

discussions, but due to time constraints I was not able to meet with both groups after the

writing and drawing period, therefore I alternated which group I met with first each week.

The discussion groups lasted 10-15 minutes each. After meeting with the first group, I

would send them off to write and draw while I met with the second group. The second

group would share their writing and drawings with me and then we would begin our

discussion.

During the focal group meetings, I led the students in a discussion about the read-

aloud book. I always opened the conversation by asking the students what they thought

about the book (¿Qué pensaron de este libro?). I also had a set of questions that I asked

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the students each time, within the context of the discussion (see Appendix E). These

questions were either answered naturally as part of the spontaneous conversation, or were

used as prompts after the open-ended discussion had run its course. The protocol included

asking what they liked and disliked about the book and whether they felt that they or

someone in their family could be a part of the story. During the discussion groups, I acted

as a facilitator, but tried to keep my personal comments to a minimum. I tried to elicit

elaboration and clarification from students about their comments, and I encouraged

quieter students to participate by asking them what they thought about whatever topic

was being discussed if I felt that someone was dominating the conversation. The

conversation topics frequently wandered and I felt that this was a valid part of the

students’ response, but I redirected the discussion back to the book when I felt we had

gotten too far off-track. I recorded the discussion groups in the same manner as the

picture walks, using the iPad video camera and the audio recorder. I transcribed the group

discussions each week, using the audio and video.

Individual discussions. When time allowed, after meeting with both groups, I

also walked around the room and tried to talk with as many children as possible about

their writing as they were finishing up and transitioning to independent reading. These

discussions were audio recorded (I carried the recorder with me as I moved around the

room) and notes about these conversations were added to the spreadsheet of written

responses each week.

Voting. The last classroom session of the study was dedicated to finding out

which of the focal texts each student liked and disliked the most. I sat at the kidney table

with all six books spread out for the students to peruse and a “voting” sheet where each

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child could circle a photograph of the book they liked the most and wanted to take home

to keep. I also asked them to cross out the book they liked the least. The students came to

the table in pairs to make their choices. I video-recorded the voting sessions and collected

their voting sheets.

Memos. I was not able to take many notes while in the classroom, but after each

session I wrote a memo detailing the events of the day and questions and thoughts I had

about the study so far. These memos were my way of reflecting on each session in the

classroom, and they helped me see ways I could refine the way I led discussions. In the

memos I also tried to clarify my thoughts, reflect on my impressions of the students’

responses to and understanding of the books, and note things that stood out about the

discussions, writing, and drawing (Miles & Huberman, 1994).

Interviews. I also conducted one interview with each of the focal students and

one informal conversation with Ms. Diaz in order to gain more information about the

students’ cultural backgrounds and home lives. The student interviews were conducted in

a separate room and the students chose which language they wanted to speak. In the

interviews, I asked the students basic information about their families and about their

interests, both in reading and outside of school (see Appendix F for interview protocol).

Ms. Diaz provided more information about the students and their lives outside of school,

but since it was so early in the year she did not know all the parents personally. She also

shared the students’ reading levels with me.

Closure. My last day in the classroom was early in December. During this

concluding session, I thanked the children for participating in the study. Each child

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received a copy of the book he or she had chosen to take home as well a rubber “I Love

to Read” bracelet.

Analysis of Classroom Data

Because “thick, rich description provides the foundation for qualitative analysis

and reporting” (Patton, 2002, p. 437), my first goal was to create as thorough an account

as possible of how the students in the classroom responded to each of the focal texts,

using all available data sources. I used a nested case study approach for reporting my

data, incorporating several levels of analysis (Patton, 2002). At the finest-grained level, I

analyzed individual students’ responses to the texts. This involved looking at each data

source for each book for a particular student (e.g., Yolanda’s written response to a

particular text), then including all available data sources for an individual on a particular

book (e.g., Yolanda’s writing, picture walk, voting, and discussion of a book), and lastly

looking at individual students’ responses to the two larger categories of text (e.g.,

Yolanda’s response to CR texts). At the next level, I examined group data (e.g., SHL

students’ responses to a particular text). At the broadest level, I collapsed the previous

information to make assertions about how the language groups of students in the

classroom responded to the two larger categories of text (e.g., SHL students responding

to CR texts).

I engaged in this analysis in several stages that occurred both during data

collection and in the months following. In the first stage of data analysis, I treated each

children’s book as its own event, or unit of analysis, with each language group in the

classroom as a separate unit, and the focal groups of students as smaller units within,

while also tracking individual students within the focal groups. This stage began during

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the data collection period, where I transcribed the written responses and group discussion

data immediately following the classroom sessions and began coding the written

responses each week. The second stage of analysis occurred after the conclusion of data

collection. In the second stage, I looked for patterns evident between the two types of

text, collapsing the three books in each category into two larger categories (mainstream

and CR), but still considering each focal group of students as separate units within these

larger categories. In the third stage of analysis, which occurred last, I returned to the

micro-level, examining individual focal students’ responses across the entire study in

more depth. At each stage, I engaged in content analysis of my data sources, using the

sensitizing concepts (Patton, 2002) of personal connection, connection to cultural

content, and identity, which will be discussed further shortly.

As I engaged in data analysis, to increase credibility I used triangulation of data

sources, both using different methods of data collection and drawing on all available data

sources when looking for patterns (Patton, 2002). In addition, I sought to ensure a higher

level of validity by looking for alternate explanations and disconfirming evidence

whenever possible (Patton, 2002). The four main data sources I analyzed for the

classroom portion of the study were the students’ written responses and drawings,

transcripts of the small group discussions, transcripts of the picture walks, and the

students’ votes for favorite and least favorite books. I did all my own transcriptions, using

the transcribing process as an “opportunity to get immersed in the data” (Patton, 2002, p.

441).

Analysis of written responses and drawings. As stated, I began analyzing the

students’ written responses during the data collection period. Each week, after

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transcribing the students’ written responses, drawings, and dictations, I began examining

them for personal connections. I defined personal connections as any time the students

wrote, drew, or talked to the teacher about themselves, their experiences, or their families

in relation to events or characters in the text. After my first coding sessions, I noticed that

there were two distinct types of personal connections evident in the students’ writing, and

I began coding them separately: personal connections to experiences and preferences

(e.g., I liked the part about the new shoes because I like new shoes), and personal

connections in the form of hypothetically imagining oneself in the world of the story

(e.g., If I were Reyna, I wouldn’t break the guitar). I continued coding the written

responses in this manner each week.

After the data collection period, I examined the quantity of personal connections

made by each home language group, as well as the type of personal connection. I also

considered each student’s personal connections over the course of the study, with the goal

to determine whether individual students in each home language group were more likely

to make personal connections to the mainstream or the CR texts. I wanted to be sure to

notice whether certain students were simply more likely to make personal connections

than others regardless of text type. For the focal students, I compared their written

responses to the comments they offered during our oral discussions, looking for

continuities and discontinuities.

I also coded the written responses for evidence of connection to the cultural

themes identified in the text analysis protocol for each book. This occurred in the months

following the conclusion of the data collection period. For example, I identified

community as a primary theme in Finding the Music / En pos de la música (Torres &

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Alarcão, 2015), so I examined the students’ written responses for connection to the theme

of community. I defined connection to a cultural theme as any mention of an event in the

story that exemplified that theme. For example, when Reyna asks the guitar shop owner

to help her, it exemplifies the theme of community members helping each other, so I

would code any response that mentioned this part of the text as a connection to the

community theme (e.g., I liked when Reyna brought her guitar to the guitar shop to ask

for help). Sometimes the same responses also included personal experiences, in which

case I coded them as both personal experiences and connection to the cultural theme

(e.g., I liked when they fixed the guitar because I like fixing things).

I was also interested in which aspects of the texts the students chose to write

about, so I re-read each student’s written responses for each book and noted patterns in

writing topics. Using this information, I compared the topics chosen by each home

language group.

Finally, using the raw case data for each book, including personal connections,

connections to cultural themes, and writing topics, I composed a narrative description of

the students’ written responses to each text by home language group (Patton, 2002). I

highlighted the focal students’ responses in the narrative descriptions whenever possible

so as to give the reader a more comprehensive view of the focal students.

Analysis of small group discussions. While I transcribed the small group

discussions each week as they occurred during data collection, I did not begin analysis of

the discussion data until the conclusion of the study. I analyzed the discussion data by

each book separately at first. For each book, I watched the video of the discussion while

reading the discussion transcript several times, so as to gain context when using the

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transcript alone subsequently. While watching the video, I added notes about the context

or non-verbal occurrences to the transcript. I then separated the transcripts into discussion

units, inserting a space wherever a new topic of conversation was taken up.

I began analysis of the transcripts by writing notes summarizing each of the topics

covered during each discussion and how each focal student responded to the questions

from the discussion protocol that were asked. These questions usually included asking

students which parts of the book they liked and disliked and whether they felt that they or

someone in their family could be part of the story. I used this information to compose a

narrative summary of each small group discussion for each focal text.

Next, I reviewed the transcript for each text, using the sensitizing concepts of

personal connection and connection to cultural content. With these concepts in mind, I

developed several additional codes upon reviewing the transcripts. In looking for

personal connections, I coded connections that were made spontaneously but also noted

connections that were made based on specific prompting from me. I also coded personal

stories told by the students that did not seem to be connected to the focal book in any

way, as these seemed salient when thinking about how the students were bringing their

own identities and personal stories into the conversations. In looking for cultural

connections, I coded any time Mexico was brought up, including references to culturally

specific Mexican items, traditions, or people, whether in the text or in the children’s lives.

I also coded spontaneous cultural connections even when there was no mention of

Mexico in the focal text (during mainstream text discussions).

Continuing on, I also coded comments the students made about the text that did

not contain evidence of personal connection, as I felt that these comments could also shed

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light on how the students experienced the texts. These codes included times when the

students appreciated or evaluated the text, times when they simply restated something

that happened in the text, and times when they added to or embellished the text. After the

initial round of coding, however, I discarded the “restating” category, as it seemed that

the students frequently restated events from the text because they liked or disliked

something. Restating was collapsed into the “appreciate or evaluate” code.

Lastly, I looked for evidence of identification with the characters in the text, or a

sense of belonging in the stories, as well as the opposite: evidence of resistance or

alienation. In looking for evidence of identification with the characters, I relied on the

students’ responses to my questions such as, “Could you be in this book?” and “Did you

feel like you could be a part of this story?” and “Could what happens in this story happen

to you?” I charted each focal student’s response to these questions for each book. While

there were also comments that indicated that the students were stepping into a character’s

shoes even if they did not state that they felt that they could be part of a text, these were

coded as personal connections. In looking for evidence of resistance, I coded times when

the students were hesitant or refused to answer my questions, times when they blatantly

changed the topic to something unrelated, and times when they were obviously off-task.

There were times when it was difficult to tell if a student felt resistant or was simply

distracted; these instances were coded as possible resistance. My codebook can be found

in Appendix G, along with an example of a page of coded transcript. After coding the

transcripts, I noted each student’s comments in each code category in a spreadsheet

divided by focal text. For example, under “Personal Connections to Text” for My Very

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Own Room / Mi propio cuartito (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2000) for Javier, I have entered

“father snores.”

Using this collection on information, I wrote a detailed description of each book

discussion, including salient episodes from the transcripts that illustrated the personal and

cultural connections made by the focal students. In the final stage of analysis, I compared

the discussions of the two language-based groups for each book, and subsequently for

each text type (mainstream and CR), looking for similarities and differences with regards

to cultural and personal connections.

Analysis of picture walks. I added the picture walks to the study design primarily

to allow the students a chance to interact with the texts and become somewhat familiar

with the stories in a more intimate setting before the read aloud session. However,

because pictures are such an important part of creating a cultural story world (Smolkin &

Suina, 2003), the picture walk data proved to be very useful in providing a window into

the students’ recognition of the cultural content of the CR focal texts, so I decided to

transcribe and analyze them.

I transcribed the picture walks at the conclusion of the study, using both the video

and audio recordings for each. I included non-verbal occurrences whenever possible;

these included actions such as page turns, pointing to a particular item in an illustration,

facial expressions, gestures, and grabbing the book or sliding it away. I then combed

through the transcripts, looking for evidence of personal connections as well as

connections to cultural content in the form of cultural markers in the illustrations. I also

noted which aspects of the text the students talked about the most, whether the students

were able to follow the storyline, if there was any evidence of confusion, and students’

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general level of engagement during each picture walk. I then wrote a description of each

picture walk, choosing key interactions that I felt showcased how the students interacted

with each other around each of the books during the picture walks. Together with the oral

discussion and written response data, the picture walks provided another piece of the

puzzle in my interpretation of how the students experienced each text.

Analysis of voting sheets. I used the video recordings of the voting sessions to

note any discussion that occurred among the students that I had not noticed during the

sessions. I used the voting sheets themselves to tally the total number of votes each book

received for favorite and least favorite, and then I separated the votes by home language

group. I also examined each of the focal student’s votes for favorite and least favorite

book, and compared this information with their written responses and oral discussion

comments for each book.

Creating the mini-case studies. I felt that my final analysis could be

strengthened by looking at individual students in more depth. I was drawn to examine the

cases of Yolanda and Ian, both leading participants in the oral discussion groups, because

both were vocal and articulate during the discussions, and both seemed to have a strong

sense of identity in addition to strong literacy skills. Yolanda was very vocal about her

Mexican heritage and, although she was born in California, was the most closely tied to

Mexico of the SHL focal group because her two brothers had only recently moved to the

United States.

In creating the case studies, I attempted to synthesize the students’ written and

oral responses to each text in the study, including their willingness or ability to identify

with the characters in the books and see themselves in the stories, their feelings of

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belonging in the story, as well as their text preferences. In this part of the analysis, I

examined how the students’ participation in academic literacy tasks included or excluded

their cultural and personal backgrounds and experiences.

In this chapter I have described my research design and methods for data

collection and analysis for each part of the study. In the next chapter, I present the results

for Part 1, followed by the results for Part 2 in the following chapter.

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Chapter 4: Results of Part 1

Using the protocol described in Chapter 3, I analyzed two sets of texts based on

several variables of interest related to cultural content. My goal was to answer RQ1: In

what ways are culturally rich Mexican American children’s books qualitatively the same

and different from mainstream texts commonly read aloud in dual language classrooms?

In this section, I share the results of this textual content analysis.

Introduction to the Text Sets

Eighteen culturally-rich books formed the Mexican American Award (CR) text

set. As per the selection criteria, these were family fiction picture books with Mexican

American child protagonists available in Spanish and published between 1996 and 2016.

The CR books were recognized as award-winning, honorable mention, or commended by

the Américas Award, the Pura Belpré Award, and/or the Tomás Rivera Mexican

American Children’s Book Award.

The second set of texts was composed of 16 popular mainstream fictional picture

books pulled from the Spanish read-aloud shelf in the dual-immersion classroom where

this study took place. Ten of the mainstream books were recognized by the Caldecott

Medal, the American Library Association (ALA), the National Book Award, and/or were

included in the NEA’s Teachers’ Top 100 Books for Children, Scholastic’s Teacher’s

Choice Top 25 Picture Books, or the New York Times’ #1 Bestseller list. The remaining

six texts were not recognized by an award.

Publishing and Language

The books in the CR text set were published in the United States by nine different

publishers, many of which were imprints or divisions of larger publishing houses. The

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most common publisher of CR books was Lee & Low Books or their imprint, Children’s

Book Press, accounting for nearly half of the CR titles. Fifteen of the CR books were

published in bilingual editions (Spanish and English within the same volume) while just

three were available in Spanish-only editions.

All the mainstream texts were originally written in English and subsequently

translated into Spanish-language editions. The Spanish editions of the mainstream texts

were published between 1969 and 2015 by 11 different publishing houses, the most

common of which was Scholastic or its former imprint Lectorum. Five of the books were

published internationally in Spain, Mexico, or Venezuela. In the case of the older books,

the Spanish editions were often not published until a decade or more after the English

editions. There were no bilingual editions available among the mainstream texts.

Point of View

The majority of the CR books were written as first-person narratives (n = 11),

while seven were narrated in the third person. In addition, six of the CR books were

autobiographical in nature, four of which were also written in the first person. Three of

the autobiographical texts were written by Amada Irma Pérez and illustrated by Maya

Christina Gonzalez; these texts could be read as a series of story vignettes in the author’s

life.

In contrast, only three of the mainstream books were narrated in the first person

while twelve were narrated in the third person. One mainstream text, How Do Dinosaurs

Go to School? (¿Cómo van a la escuela los dinosaurios?; Yolen & Teague, 2007), was

written in the second person. None of the mainstream books showed evidence of being

autobiographical.

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Main Characters

Because children should have the opportunity to see themselves reflected in the

texts they read, and this often happens when they can identify with the main character of

a story, the first section of my text analysis protocol was dedicated to an analysis of main

character characteristics. This analysis was designed to answer RQ1A: How do the main

characters compare across two text sets (one culturally-rich and one mainstream) with

respect to age, gender, ethnicity, family structure, location, and socioeconomic status

(SES)?

Age

In the CR book set, all the main characters were human children. Specific ages

were not usually specified, but eleven main characters appeared to be in the primary

grades (K-3), or five to nine years old. Only First Day in Grapes (Primer día en las uvas;

King Pérez & Casilla, 2004) gave a specific age for the main character by stating that he

was in third grade in school. Two other books gave clues as to age via the number of

birthday candles depicted (one child turned six and another turned seven years old). In six

other CR texts, the main characters seemed to be about ten years old. In Carlos and the

Skunk / Carlos y el zorrillo (Romero Stevens & Arnold, 1997), the main character was

slightly older.

In the mainstream text set, eleven main characters were animals and just five were

people. Five of the animal protagonists were child-aged. Four of these appeared to be just

entering school, or 4-6 years old, and one was slightly older, but still under ten years old.

There were two instances in the mainstream text set where human main characters were

children at the beginning but grew into adults during the story: The Giving Tree (El árbol

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generoso; Silverstein 1964/1988) and Miss Rumphius (La Srta. Runfio; Cooney & Porter,

1982/1996). Only two human protagonists were children throughout the stories, and both

appeared to be about eight years old. These were Alexander in Alexander and the

Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (Alexander y el día terrible, horrible,

espantoso, horroroso; Viorst & Cruz, 1972/1989) and Rosa in A Chair for My Mother

(Un sillón para mi mamá; Williams, 1982/1994). Lastly, in First Day Jitters (¡Qué

nervios! El primer día de escuela; Danneberg & Love, 2000/2006), the main character

was actually an adult but this was not revealed until the surprise ending.

Gender

The CR books portrayed an equal number of male and female child protagonists.

Of the 18 books I analyzed in this text set, nine featured male protagonists, eight featured

females, and Icy Watermelon / Sandía fría (Galindo & Rodriguez Howard, 2001) featured

a group of three siblings equally (two sisters and a brother). There were no CR books that

portrayed nontraditional genders and no texts that notably departed from gender

stereotypes. For example, women were often shown in the kitchen wearing aprons, while

no men were shown cooking or preparing food in the kitchen. However, a few women in

the CR books worked outside the home: one in a restaurant, one as a farm laborer, and

one in a factory.

In the mainstream text set, there were ten main characters who were male and six

who were female. Among the human protagonists, two were male and three were female.

There were no representations of nontraditional genders in the mainstream text set and,

once again, the characters generally behaved in ways stereotypically associated with their

genders. There was one instance where a male character offered toast and packed a lunch

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to his wife in First Day Jitters (¡Qué nervios! El primer día de escuela; Danneberg &

Love, 2000/2006). Aside from this, the men in the mainstream text set were not shown

cooking. Women working outside the home were more common in the mainstream text

set, though the women worked in stereotypically female professions (waitress, librarian,

and teachers). Another exception to the usual gender roles was that in Miss Rumphius (La

señorita Runfio; Cooney & Porter, 1982/1996), the main character, who is female, grew

old without any mention of falling in love, getting married, or having children. In this

same text, the narrator, a young girl, was depicted with short hair, which I did not find in

any other texts.

Ethnicity

All protagonists in the CR text set were Mexican American, as this was one of the

selection criteria. Nearly all the main characters appeared to have been born in the United

States (or immigrated when they were very young). An exception was the main character

in Amada Irma Pérez’s three books who immigrated as an older child and vividly

remembered living in Mexico. All the main characters’ parents in the CR text set were of

Mexican heritage, except for one parent who was White: the father in I love Saturdays y

domingos (Me encantan los Saturdays y los domingos; Ada & Savadier, 2002). In most of

the CR books (n = 12), the protagonists’ parents appeared to be immigrants1, making the

main characters first-generation Americans. In four of the CR books, the families seemed

to have been established in the United States for a longer period of time. In three of these,

the main character’s grandparents lived in ranch houses in the Southwestern United

1 I counted the parent characters as immigrants if their parents were still living in Mexico or if they were employed as migrant farmworkers.

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States, indicating that the main characters themselves were second-generation Americans

whose parents were born in the United States or came when they were very young.

In terms of physical appearance, all the main characters in the CR text set were

shown in the illustrations with dark brown or black hair. Skin tones used by the

illustrators ranged from pale pink to dark brown. Seven protagonists were light-skinned

(pinkish or orange-hued) and 11 were darker (olive or brown).

None of the human main characters in the mainstream text set had a specific

ethnic background indicated in the text, but all appeared to be White Americans2. All

human protagonists had light skin; two had red hair, one had light brown hair, and one

had dark hair. There was no indication in the mainstream texts of the main characters,

their parents, or their grandparents having been born in another country.

Family Structure

Family structure in the CR books generally adhered to the traditional two-parent

nuclear family model. All CR books featured families with two parents (one male and

one female) except for two. In Finding the Music / En pos de la música (Torres &

Alarcão, 2015), there was no mention of the child’s father. However, this story took place

on a weekend morning in a restaurant; it could have been that the father was simply at

home or at work. Similarly, in Lucha Libre: The Man in the Silver Mask. A Bilingual

Cuento (Garza, 2005), the main character’s mother was not mentioned, but there was no

2 In a recent article in The New York Times following Vera B. Williams’ death, the main character in A Chair for My Mother, Rosa, was said to be Hispanic. I assume this is because of her name and her dark hair, however, I do not see any indication of Latino culture in the text. Rosa’s mother’s name is Sally and her mother’s sister’s name is Ida, which would be very atypical names for a Latino family, and Rosa has not always been an unusual name in the English-speaking world.)

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indication that she was actually absent from the child’s life. Nine CR books featured

families with three to six children, two featured families with two children, and seven

featured children without siblings. In two CR books, Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los

meros meros remateros (Herrera & De Lucio-Brock, 2002) and Abuelita, Full of Life /

Abuelita, llena de vida (Costales & Avilés, 2007), a grandmother lived permanently in

the home. In Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los meros meros remateros (Herrera & De

Lucio-Brock, 2002), the grandmother was the primary caretaker while the main

character’s parents traveled north to work picking fruit.

In the mainstream text set, half the books did not feature a family at all. Of the

eight families shown, only three were composed of a mother, father, and children. Four

books in the mainstream text set featured mothers but no fathers. Only two of the children

portrayed in the mainstream texts had any siblings and no families were shown with more

than three children. A Chair for My Mother (Un sillón para mi mamá; Williams,

1982/1994) was the only text to show a grandmother living in the home, and no

grandparents were primary caregivers for children.

Location

All main characters in the CR text set resided in the United States, except for one

who immigrated from Mexico during the story. Eleven main characters lived in specific

states or regions of the country (six in California and five in the Southwestern United

States) and three lived in specific cities or towns in California (San Diego, Los Angeles,

and Corcoran); only three were set in the “general” United States. In addition, five of the

CR books took place partly in Mexico. Three of these featured a child crossing the border

from the United States into Mexico for a special event: a shopping trip for birthday party

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supplies in The Birthday Swap (¡Qué sorpresa de cumpleaños!; López, 1997), to visit

extended family in The Birthday Swap (¡Qué sorpresa de cumpleaños!; López, 1997) and

Chave’s Memories / Los recuerdos de Chave (Delgado & Symank, 1996), and to see a

Mexican wrestling match in Lucha Libre: The Man in the Silver Mask. A Bilingual

Cuento (Garza, 2005). Two other CR books involved crossing the border under more

serious conditions. In From North to South / Del norte al sur (Colato Laínez & Cepeda,

2010), a child and his father drove from San Diego to Tijuana because his mother had

been deported. In My Diary from Here to There / Mi diario de aquí hasta allá (Pérez &

Gonzalez, 2002), a child immigrated to the United States with her family; this text

described the family’s home town in Juárez, their stay in Mexicali, the border crossing at

Tijuana, and their eventual arrival in El Monte, California.

None of the mainstream books provided a specific location for the characters.

Many characters lived in the general United States, while other books that featured

animal characters took place in a generic forest, farmyard, or ocean setting. None of the

characters in the mainstream text set crossed a border into another country.

Socio-Economic Status (SES)

Ten CR books featured families where poverty was not an issue. In these books,

the families lived in nice homes, had cars, cooked meals, and purchased items such as

party supplies without money being mentioned. In the other eight CR books, the families

struggled with poverty to various degrees. Most of these families could be classified as

working poor, where parents worked in fields or factories to make ends meet. Two books,

however, featured extreme poverty in migrant farmworker families.

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In the mainstream text set, four of the five books representing human characters

portrayed upper- and middle-class families who could afford to travel, bought homes,

went to the dentist for a checkup, and bought new clothes and shoes without mention of

money. A Chair for My Mother (Un sillón para mi mamá; Williams, 1982/1994) was the

only mainstream text that portrayed a working-class family. No families were shown

living in extreme poverty. In the five books featuring animals behaving as humans, the

characters wore nice clothes and lived in picturesque neighborhoods; lack of money did

not surface as an issue.

Sections two, three, and four of the text analysis protocol were dedicated to

answering RQ1B: Which Mexican American cultural markers, cultural themes, and

cultural values identified in the research literature are represented in the culturally-rich

books, and to what degree? and RQ1C: Are these same elements present in the

mainstream books, and if so, to what degree?

Cultural Markers

Section two of the text analysis protocol was concerned with cultural markers.

Cultural markers are clues included in the words or illustrations of a text that give readers

information about the story’s cultural milieu. The seven categories of Mexican American

cultural markers I looked for in the texts were: traditional Mexican food, traditional

Mexican clothing, Mexican décor, terms of address, Mexican music and entertainment,

traditional medicine, and Mexican cultural celebrations. The CR texts were rich in

cultural markers, in both texts and illustrations.

Traditional Mexican Food

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All but four of the 18 CR books featured traditional Mexican food. Traditional

foods held a special place in the CR story narratives as well as in the illustrations. The

most common traditional prepared foods featured in the texts or illustrations in the CR

text set included homemade tortillas (featured in seven books, or n = 7), hot chocolate

with cinnamon (n = 5), pan dulce (Mexican sweet breads; n = 4), salsa (n = 3), and

tamales (n = 3). Other traditional foods that appeared only once in the CR text set were

guacamole, corn on the cob with chile, mango popsicles, enchiladas, tacos, churros,

huevos rancheros, eggs with nopalitos, papaya juice, horchata, jamaica drink,

empanadas, chimichangas, and chicken mole.

Besides characters eating traditional Mexican foods at meals, traditional food also

appeared in other ways in the CR texts. Three books featured a Mexican-style open air

market where fruits and vegetables such as jalapeños, mangos, and papayas could be

purchased. Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los meros meros remateros (Herrera & De

Lucio-Brock, 2002) described the different types of chiles and their uses in different

foods (pasilla for mole, colorado for enchiladas, etc.). Three other CR texts featured

families who grew vegetables in a garden, such as corn, chiles, beans, pumpkins, and

tomatoes. In The Birthday Swap (¡Qué sorpresa de cumpleaños!; López, 1997), the main

character’s older sister was shown eating a tomato like an apple.

Ten of the CR books lovingly featured a mother, grandmother, or aunt cooking

traditional Mexican food for the family. This cooking of traditional foods nourished

families physically, but also emotionally. For example, in From North to South / Del

norte al sur (Colato Laínez & Cepeda, 2010), the main character expressed how much he

missed his mother by telling her that his father’s tortillas were not as good as hers, letting

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her know that her absence had left a large hole in his life. The main character in Braids /

Trencitas (Contreras & Lindmark, 2009) bonded with her grandmother through songs and

stories while her grandmother was teaching her to make homemade tortillas and salsa.

The loving relationship between the main character, Juanito, and his grandmother in

Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los meros meros remateros (Herrera & De Lucio-Brock,

2002) was established in the opening scene when he woke up early on a Sunday morning

to the delicious smells of his grandmother cooking breakfast for him. In addition, two CR

texts featured female relatives who cooked traditional and celebratory food for a living.

The mother in Finding the Music / En pos de la música (Torres & Alarcão, 2015) cooked

in a Mexican restaurant in California and the main character’s aunt in The Birthday Swap

(¡Qué sorpresa de cumpleaños!; López, 1997) baked and sold cakes for special occasions

in Mexico.

There were only two instances where prepared foods that would not be considered

traditional Mexican foods appeared in the CR text set. In The Birthday Swap (¡Qué

sorpresa de cumpleaños!; López, 1997), bacon, eggs, and Cheerios were shown at

breakfast time and in I love Saturdays y domingos (Me encantan los Saturdays y los

domingos; Ada & Savadier, 2002), the main character ate pancakes for breakfast at her

English-speaking grandparents’ house. However, this was shown in contrast to the

huevos rancheros she ate with her abuelos (Spanish-speaking grandparents), so it was

positioned as a mainstream, or not Mexican American food.

No traditional Mexican foods were portrayed or mentioned in the mainstream

texts. Food items featured in the mainstream books included chocolate chip cookies, tea,

apples, oranges, toast, macaroni and cheese with ketchup, sandwiches, cake, and juice

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boxes. In addition, although the characters were sometimes shown eating meals, none of

the characters were shown cooking in the kitchen.

Traditional Mexican Clothing

All but three of the CR books featured one or more characters depicted in some

item of traditional Mexican clothing. The main characters, however, wore mainstream

clothes, probably because Mexican American children are less likely to wear traditional

Mexican clothing than their parents and grandparents. Traditional Mexican clothing

shown included rebozos (Mexican shawls) and Mexican aprons, as well as more

elaborate mariachi and lucha libre (Mexican wrestling) costumes.

No traditional Mexican clothing was shown in the mainstream books.

Mexican Décor

Two thirds of the CR books showed homes with traditional Mexican décor such

as Mexican tiles and Mexican cooking apparatuses like the molcajete (mortar). The

kitchen in Braids / Trencitas (Contreras & Lindmark, 2009) included cast iron skillets

hanging from the wall alongside a bunch of dried chiles and a decorative parrot sitting on

a perch. Seven books included traditional Mexican religious items in the homes, such as

altars to honor deceased loved ones, Day of the Dead skeletons, Virgin Mary icons, and

rosary beads. When the grandmother in Abuelita, Full of Life / Abuelita, llena de vida

(Costales & Avilés, 2007) moved in with her grandson José, he had to “move his

dinosaurs over to make room for her candles.” Even before the arrival of his grandmother

from Mexico, however, José’s room included lucha libre dolls and a lucha libre poster,

cowboy boots, and a soccer ball, in addition to the more traditional American mainstream

dinosaur toys and baseball bat.

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There were no traditional Mexican items of décor represented in the mainstream

texts. Homes were decorated in classic American fashion. In Alexander and the Terrible,

Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (Alexander y el día terrible, horrible, espantoso,

horroroso; Viorst & Cruz, 1972/1989), Alexander’s messy room included a skateboard, a

toy train, a snare drum, and a football. The house in First Day Jitters (¡Qué nervios! El

primer día de escuela; Danneberg & Love, 2000/2006) included floral wallpaper,

hardwood floors, and traditional antique wooden molding. There was no evidence of

religious items in the homes in the mainstream text set.

Terms of Address

All but three of the CR books used traditional Mexican terms of address. Parents

often addressed their children as mijo/a or mijito/a (my son or daughter) or querido/a

(dear) and children addressed their parents as Mamá (Mom) and Papá (Dad). In addition,

children often addressed their grandparents as Tata and Nana (informal names for

grandfather and grandmother) in addition to Abuelo/a (Grandfather/Grandmother) and

Abuelito/a (Grandpa/Grandma). Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los meros meros

remateros (Herrera & De Lucio-Brock, 2002) also included a nickname that the main

character’s friends called him: Pelón (Baldy).

In the mainstream text set, on the other hand, only three books featured any terms

of address: dear (querida) and sweetie (cariño) in First Day Jitters (¡Qué nervios! El

primer día de escuela; Danneberg & Love, 2000/2006), beautiful (linda) in A Chair for

My Mother (Un sillón para mi mamá; Williams, 1982/1994), and Mommy (Mami) in The

Kissing Hand (Un beso en mi mano; Penn, Harper, & Leak, 1993). In Kiss Good Night

(¡Un beso de buenas noches!; Hest & Jeram, 2001), terms of address were noticeably

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absent. In this text the mother was attempting to soothe her son while putting him to bed,

yet she always called him by his name, Sam, when addressing him.

Mexican Music and Entertainment

Traditional Mexican music or entertainment were featured in the majority of the

CR books (n = 12). The most frequent reference in this category was to mariachi music,

which was mentioned in three texts. Other references included salsa music, dancing

pasodoble, telenovelas (Mexican soap operas), lotería (Mexican bingo), traditional

Mexican songs, the Mexican comedian Cantinflas, and lucha libre.

None of the mainstream books mentioned traditional Mexican music or

entertainment.

Traditional Medicine

Only two CR books referred to traditional Mexican medicinal practices, including

the use of specific herbs to cure headaches, fever, and burns. These were Grandma and

Me at the Flea / Los meros meros remateros (Herrera & De Lucio-Brock, 2002) and My

Tata’s Remedies / Los remedios de mi tata (Rivera-Ashford & Castro L., 2015). Passing

down traditional medicinal healing practices from one generation to the next is the

primary theme of My Tata’s Remedies / Los remedios de mi tata (Rivera-Ashford &

Castro L., 2015).

None of the mainstream texts contained reference to traditional medicinal

practices.

Mexican Cultural Celebrations

Eight of the CR books referred to Mexican cultural celebrations. These included

Christmas in The Christmas Gift / El regalo de Navidad (Jiménez & Cotts, 2000), San

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Juan’s Day in Hip, Hip, Hooray, It’s Monsoon Day! / ¡Ajúa, ya llegó el chubasco!

(Rivera-Ashford & Johnsen, 2007), two references to quinceañeras in Grandma and Me

at the Flea / Los meros meros remateros (Herrera & De Lucio-Brock, 2002) and My

Tata’s Remedies / Los remedios de mi tata (Rivera-Ashford & Castro L., 2015), Day of

the Dead decorations in Finding the Music / En pos de la música (Torres & Alarcão,

2015), and three birthday celebrations that included traditional cultural elements in The

Birthday Swap (¡Qué sorpresa de cumpleaños!; López, 1997), Braids / Trencitas

(Contreras & Lindmark, 2009), and I love Saturdays y domingos (Me encantan los

Saturdays y los domingos; Ada & Savadier, 2002). Two of the birthday celebrations

included the breaking of a piñata and two included the words to the traditional birthday

song Las Mañanitas.

There were no representations of Mexican cultural celebrations in the mainstream

text set.

Cultural Themes

Section three of my text analysis protocol was dedicated to looking for evidence

of eight cultural themes identified as important in Latino children’s literature research:

immigration, poverty, intergenerationalism, Mexico as home, community strength,

migrant farmworkers, cultural pride, and language issues. I rated each theme as either

primary, secondary, or not evident in the text.

Immigration

Immigration was referenced or implied in nearly every CR text because it was

part of the families’ histories. In some texts, the characters were recent immigrants; in

others, their parents or grandparents had immigrated. However, the immigration process

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itself was a primary content theme in just two of the CR books. My Diary from Here to

There / Mi diario de aquí hasta allá (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2002) told the story of a young

girl’s immigration journey through her eyes. This text actively rejected the classic

American Dream ideology so often portrayed in books and media representations of

immigration (Chappell & Faltis, 2007). The main character loved her life in Mexico and

missed her friends and relatives dearly when she had to move. In addition, although she

successfully and legally immigrated to the United States, the immigration process was

fraught with tension. Her father, who was a U.S. citizen, had to go across the border

ahead of the rest of the family to secure green cards for them. This took longer than

expected and the mother and six children had to stay with relatives, moving on whenever

they felt they had overstayed their welcome. The main character worried that they might

not be able to reunite with her father, in addition to worrying about adapting to life in a

new country. Crossing the border itself was also anxiety-inducing as the main character

feared that she would be separated from her brothers if she did not hold on to their hands.

At the end of the book, she found ways to adapt to her new life in the United States, but

she was happiest to discover ways to keep Mexico alive in her heart and to maintain

relationships with those she left behind.

Immigration was also a primary, but unhappy, content theme in From North to

South / Del norte al sur (Colato Laínez & Cepeda, 2010). This book highlighted the

constant uncertainty and lack of power that comes with being an undocumented

immigrant. In the story, a young boy’s mother failed to come home from work one day

because she had been deported. The boy and his father had to visit her at a shelter in

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Tijuana. It was unclear even at the end of the book when, if ever, she would be able to

return to her family in San Diego.

Although immigration was not the primary content theme, one text in which

immigration was an important secondary theme bears mentioning as well. In My Very

Own Room / Mi propio cuartito (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2000), as in many of the texts in the

CR text set, immigration was present in the story because it continued to affect the lives

of the characters even months or years after they had immigrated themselves. This text

also included the immigration process itself by featuring relatives and friends who would

stay with the family while they looked for places to work and live in the United States

after crossing the border.

Immigration was not a theme in any of the mainstream texts and did not affect the

character’s lives. The only time immigration was mentioned at all in the mainstream text

set was in Miss Rumphius (La señorita Runfio; Cooney & Porter, 1982/1996) when the

narrator said that her great aunt’s grandfather came to America in a large ship a long time

ago.

Poverty

Poverty was a primary theme in three of the CR books, two of which told the

story of migrant farmworker families. In these two families, poverty was extreme. The

main character in First Day in Grapes (Primer día en las uvas; King Pérez & Casilla,

2004) dreamed of having a house with hot water and separate rooms for cooking, bathing,

and sleeping. All seven members of the family in The Christmas Gift / El regalo de

Navidad (Jiménez & Cotts, 2000) slept on one mattress. For several years, the main

character had been hoping for a ball for Christmas, but his parents could not afford to get

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him one. My Very Own Room / Mi propio cuartito (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2000) was the

third CR book in which poverty was a primary theme. This text, which did not depict a

migrant farmworker family but rather a family that was newly established in the United

States, told the story of a girl who shared a bedroom with her five brothers and longed for

a space of her own. The family uses coupon stamps they have saved up to purchase a new

lamp for her makeshift “room,” which is a corner of the house sheltered by flour sacks.

Six other books in the CR text set also took up poverty as a theme, though it was

secondary. The theme of poverty surfaced in various ways in these texts, including

having to pay for things little by little in Finding the Music / En pos de la música (Torres

& Alarcão, 2015) and valuing previously used toys and other items, or the idea that “old

can be new” in Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los meros meros remateros (Herrera & De

Lucio-Brock, 2002).

Poverty was largely absent from the mainstream texts but it was a theme in one. A

Chair for My Mother (Un sillón para mi mamá; Williams, 1982/1994) portrayed a

working-class home with a single mother who supported herself, her daughter, and her

mother on a waitress salary. When their home burned down in a fire, they relied largely

on the generosity of their neighbors to outfit their new apartment. In this book, the plot

revolved around saving coins in a jar to buy a new armchair. Slowly but surely, they were

able to save enough extra money to buy a brand-new chair from the furniture store, and

they did not pay in installments. This type of optimistic working-class poverty contrasted

sharply with the poverty shown in the CR text set where the most extreme case involved

characters who were forced to look for food in the supermarket dumpsters.

Intergenerationalism

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Eight CR books featured intergenerationalism in the form of grandparent-

grandchild relationships as a primary theme, making it one of the most common primary

themes in this text set. Three books in which intergenerationalism was a primary theme

centered around a grandmother visiting from Mexico. The grandmother characters in

these texts were portrayed as beloved and respected elders who had an important cultural

influence on the grandchildren. They also took on the role of friend, confidante, and

source of emotional support. The grandmothers showered their grandchildren with love;

they played and danced with them, braided their hair, and cooked delicious meals for

them. In Abuelita, Full of Life / Abuelita, llena de vida (Costales & Avilés, 2007), the

grandmother introduced her grandson to traditional Mexican food, songs, and customs, as

well as the Spanish language. She essentially brought the Mexican culture into a

somewhat Americanized home. However, not all her activities were geared towards

cultural transmission; she was also shown sitting on the floor playing an American board

game and taking the main character to the park for ice cream cones. Similarly, in Braids /

Trencitas (Contreras & Lindmark, 2009), the grandmother brought traditional Mexican

cooking, traditional Mexican songs, the traditional Mexican game lotería, and the

tradition of oral storytelling to her granddaughter. She also cultivated an emotional

closeness with her granddaughter and made her proud of her capacities as a writer. Braids

/ Trencitas (Contreras & Lindmark, 2009), and Nana’s Big Surprise / Nana, ¡qué

sorpresa! (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2007) showed emotional closeness between a grandmother

and her granddaughter and how, even across long distances, a grandparent’s love could

be a source of comfort, personal validation, and support.

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Juanito’s grandmother also provided this type of support for him in Grandma and

Me at the Flea / Los meros meros remateros (Herrera & De Lucio-Brock, 2002), though

as his primary caregiver rather than a visitor from Mexico. She assured him that he was

loved and cared for even when his parents were not able to live at home.

In Icy Watermelon / Sandía fría (Galindo & Rodriguez Howard, 2001), the mutual

joy felt by the children and the grandparents that came from spending time together was

the primary theme. In this text, the grandparents lived close by (presumably in the United

States) and visited their grandchildren every weekend. The entire family (three

generations) sat on the porch and told family stories and jokes. In I love Saturdays y

domingos (Me encantan los Saturdays y los domingos; Ada & Savadier, 2002), the main

character’s joy in spending time with her grandparents was clear, as was the element of

cultural transmission.

In My Tata’s Remedies / Los remedios de mi tata (Rivera-Ashford & Castro L.,

2015) and Hip, Hip, Hooray, It’s Monsoon Day! / ¡Ajúa, ya llegó el chubasco! (Rivera-

Ashford & Johnsen, 2007), intergenerationalism was once again a primary theme, though

the focus was on cultural transmission in the grandparent-grandchild relationship. In both

of these texts, grandfathers passed down important Mexican cultural beliefs and traditions

to their grandchildren. These grandparents lived permanently in the southwestern United

States.

Three other CR books included intergenerationalism as a secondary theme,

meaning that only seven books did not feature a grandparent’s relationship with a

grandchild. Chave’s Memories / Los recuerdos de Chave (Delgado & Symank, 1996) is a

book dedicated to relating the story of a young girl who went to visit her grandparents’

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ranch in Mexico and enjoyed participating in the activities of daily life there. Even

though the main character’s emotional relationship with her grandmother was not the

focus of this text, visiting her grandparents’ ranch was a formative experience. The

grandfather’s role in Finding the Music / En pos de la música (Torres & Alarcão, 2015)

also played an important role in the story, although he was no longer living. The mother

in this book treasured the memories she had of her father and missed him very much. Her

daughter understood the importance of these memories, as evidenced by her panic when

she accidentally broke the grandfather’s vihuela (Spanish guitar). Finally, in My Diary

from Here to There / Mi diario de aquí hasta allá (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2002),

intergenerationalism played an important role in the story when the grandmother urged

the main character not to forget her cultural and linguistic heritage when she moved to

the United States.

In the mainstream text set, none of the books centered on a child’s relationship

with a grandparent. Only two books featured intergenerationalism, and it was as a

secondary theme. In Miss Rumphius (La señorita Runfio; Cooney & Porter, 1982/1996),

the young protagonist sat on her grandfather’s knee at the beginning of the story and

heard stories about his past. He planted the seed for what would turn into Miss

Rumphius’ life plan, but he was not a focus of the book or even a primary character; in

fact, he only appeared on two pages. Secondly, in A Chair for My Mother (Un sillón para

mi mamá; Williams, 1982/1994), the main character’s grandmother lived with the family,

but the girl’s emotional relationship with her grandmother was not part of the storyline.

Mexico as Home

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I rated “Mexico as home” as a primary theme for two texts in the CR text set. The

two texts in which it was a primary theme were both semi-autobiographical stories

written by Amada Irma Pérez. In My Diary from Here to There / Mi diario de aquí hasta

allá (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2002), the main character was firmly attached to her home in

Juárez and did not want to leave Mexico to come to the United States. At the end of the

story, she was forced to come to terms with the fact that she had to adjust to a new life in

a new country, but Mexico still felt like home; she refused to forget her former friends,

her Spanish language, or her life there. The main character in Nana’s Big Surprise /

Nana, ¡qué sorpresa! (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2007), who represents the same girl a few

years later, reminisced about Mexico nostalgically, longing to see the Mexican market

and remembering her grandfather who recently passed away. Despite the fact that she had

lived in the United States for longer, Mexico still seemed to feel like home. When her

grandmother came to visit from Mexico, it was as if she brought “home” to her

granddaughter because she embodied the memories she had of her former life in Mexico.

Mexico as home surfaced as a secondary theme in seven CR books. In The

Christmas Gift / El regalo de Navidad (Jiménez & Cotts, 2000), the father referred to a

visitor as paisano (fellow countryman), acknowledging a shared home country, and in My

Very Own Room / Mi propio cuartito (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2000), the United States was

referred to as “this new country,” a relatively new home. In The Birthday Swap (¡Qué

sorpresa de cumpleaños!; López, 1997), the main character seemed to feel equally at

home in the United States and Mexico. She lived very close to the border with family on

either side and was able to easily travel back and forth between the countries without

fear, which is unfortunately not a reality for most children today.

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Although most of the main characters in the CR books appeared to have lived in

the United States for as long as they could remember, there was still evidence in several

texts of strong ties to Mexico, especially when relatives were still living there. Several

characters lamented the distances between themselves and their loved ones in Mexico and

sought to keep their cultural ties to Mexico alive by engaging in activities such as writing

letters and singing traditional Mexican songs.

Two books in the CR text set, however, pushed back on the idea of Mexico as

home. The main character in First Day in Grapes (Primer día en las uvas; King Pérez &

Casilla, 2004) stated that he felt proud to say the Pledge of Allegiance at school and

proud to be norteamericano (North American). In From North to South / Del norte al sur

(Colato Laínez & Cepeda, 2010), the main character felt that Mexico was not home when

his mother was sent there without him and against her will. For him, home was San

Diego.

Not surprisingly, none of the mainstream texts showed any evidence of characters

feeling that Mexico was home. The characters in the mainstream texts did not struggle to

feel at home in the United States. They did not feel conflicted about where home was,

and they did not have relatives living in Mexico (or any other countries).

Community Strength

Community strength was the primary theme in three CR books and a secondary

theme in three others. In the texts where community strength was a primary theme,

characters went from one community member to the next, giving or receiving help of

some kind. In Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los meros meros remateros (Herrera & De

Lucio-Brock, 2002), the vendors at the flea market all knew each other and each had

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something to offer the other, be it a recipe, a blanket, or healing herbs. The children ran

freely from booth to booth, playing and doing errands for the grown-ups. The flea market

was a space of tight-knit community where its members found friendship and support. In

Finding the Music / En pos de la música (Torres & Alarcão, 2015), the main character

traveled through her neighborhood while trying to find someone to help fix her deceased

grandfather’s vihuela. The community members with whom she came in contact had

known her grandfather, and they offered her assistance as well as gifts: a beautiful

sombrero, an old photograph of her grandfather, and a recording of his mariachi band.

She not only felt comfortable in her neighborhood, but saw its community members as a

network of support that was always available to her. In My Tata’s Remedies / Los

remedios de mi tata (Rivera-Ashford & Castro L., 2015), a constant stream of relatives

and neighbors showed up at the grandfather’s door with various maladies needing

attention. The grandfather was a community healer. He not only cured his patients using

ancient medicinal practices, his wife then invited them to stay for a snack of empanadas

and hot chocolate. This was another example of a text that showcased community

members taking care of each other.

In the three CR books where community strength was a secondary theme,

characters drew strength and friendship from people around them, though it was not the

main focus of the plot. For example, in From North to South / Del norte al sur (Colato

Laínez & Cepeda, 2010), the mother introduced her son to the other people living in the

deportation shelter as her friends, though they had only met recently. The women and

children at the shelter planted flowers together and gave and received support from each

other during an extremely difficult time. In The Christmas Gift / El regalo de Navidad

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(Jiménez & Cotts, 2000), the father helped a fellow worker who asked for assistance,

even when he could barely afford to feed his family. In each of these texts, the characters

turned to the people around them in times of need.

Community strength surfaced only once in the mainstream text set, and it was as a

secondary theme. In A Chair for My Mother (Un sillón para mi mamá; Williams,

1982/1994), most of the neighborhood showed up when the characters moved into their

new apartment after their old home had burned down. They brought pizza, furniture,

curtains, and other items in a show of community strength and neighborly generosity.

However, none of the community members were individually identified as characters in

the text; they were not named nor did they have dialogue. The man who contributed a bed

to the new home was simply referred to as “the old man next door” (el señor mayor que

vivía al lado), whereas nearly all the community members in the CR texts had names. For

example, the owner of the music store in Finding the Music / En pos de la música (Torres

& Alarcão, 2015) was Don Antonio, the man who worked at the hardware booth in

Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los meros meros remateros (Herrera & De Lucio-Brock,

2002) was Señor Raya, and the women at the deportation shelter in From North to South /

Del norte al sur (Colato Laínez & Cepeda, 2010) were Doña María and Josefa. These

characters came to life in the CR texts as important pieces of the story, and were not

simply a backdrop for the main characters.

Migrant Farmworkers

Migrant farm labor was a primary theme of two CR books. The Christmas Gift /

El regalo de Navidad (Jiménez & Cotts, 2000) was originally part of Jiménez’s (1997)

memoir The Circuit: Stories From the Life of a Migrant Child. The second text, First

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Day in Grapes (Primer día en las uvas; King Pérez & Casilla, 2004), was based on the

childhood experiences of the author’s husband. As mentioned, both books portrayed

extreme poverty and highlighted some of the difficulties that children of migrant

farmworkers face. Both main characters felt some sadness and isolation, while at the

same time feeling proud of their parents and a strong love for their families.

Migrant farmworkers were present in two additional texts in the CR text set,

although they were not a primary theme. In Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los meros

meros remateros (Herrera & De Lucio-Brock, 2002), the main character’s parents

traveled north to pick fruit, though he remained at home with his grandmother. And in

My Diary from Here to There / Mi diario de aquí hasta allá (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2002),

the main character’s father worked picking grapes and strawberries in Delano, California

while he waited to obtain green cards for the rest of his family. In a letter to his daughter

he wrote about César Chávez and the fight for farmworker’s rights. Once the rest of the

family arrived in the United States, however, the father found a job in a factory and no

longer worked in farm labor.

Migrant farmworkers were not represented in the mainstream text set in any way.

Cultural Pride

Cultural pride was a primary theme for five books in the CR text set and a

secondary theme in ten additional books. The only books that I did not rate cultural pride

as a theme were those that did not showcase many cultural markers. I rated cultural pride

as a primary theme when a main part of the story seemed to be to transmit pride in the

Mexican culture to the reader, which Ada (2003) states is an important function of Latino

children’s literature. In Hip, Hip, Hooray, It’s Monsoon Day! / ¡Ajúa, ya llegó el

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chubasco! (Rivera-Ashford & Johnsen, 2007), for example, the plot of the story revolved

around the grandfather relating the cultural traditions associated with San Juan’s Day to

his grandchildren, who were an eager audience. Similarly, in My Tata’s Remedies / Los

remedios de mi tata (Rivera-Ashford & Castro L., 2015), by the same author, a young

boy asks his grandfather to teach him traditional herbal healing methods, with the hope

that he could continue the family tradition by becoming a healer. Both books aimed to

fulfill the goal of transmitting pride and knowledge about Mexican American culture in

the Southwest to the reader. In Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los meros meros

remateros (Herrera & De Lucio-Brock, 2002), cultural pride pervaded the book, though

the goal of teaching the reader about the culture was not as explicit. Cultural markers in

this text abounded, and the characters were happy and proud of their way of life and

cultural heritage.

I rated cultural pride as a secondary theme when cultural markers in the text were

plentiful and were given a positive role in the story. For example, in Abuelita, Full of Life

/ Abuelita, llena de vida (Costales & Avilés, 2007), the tangible elements of Mexican

culture that the grandmother brought into the main character’s home were portrayed as

improvements, even gifts, to the family, but the primary theme of the story was the boy’s

relationship with his grandmother.

I did not find evidence of cultural pride in the mainstream text set. There were

also no books that aimed to teach the reader about cultural traditions or depicted cultural

knowledge being passed down from one generation to the next.

Language Issues

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Language issues were present in six of the CR texts but were only a primary

theme in I love Saturdays y domingos (Me encantan los Saturdays y los domingos; Ada &

Savadier, 2002). This story took up the issue of childhood bilingualism directly. The

protagonist spoke Spanish with her abuelos and English with her grandparents, and she

loved them both. Her bilingualism represented two distinct cultural sides of her life that

were both important parts of her identity and cultural heritage.

In the five CR texts where I rated language issues as a secondary theme, the

complexities of bilingualism surfaced in various ways. In three texts, the English

language was portrayed as an obstacle for the characters to surmount. Access to English

in these texts was viewed as a necessary step towards success in the United States. For

example, in From North to South / Del norte al sur (Colato Laínez & Cepeda, 2010), the

main character’s mother had been taking English classes before she was deported. In

Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los meros meros remateros (Herrera & De Lucio-Brock,

2002), one of the vendors at the flea market needed to obtain a letter in English to give to

his landlord so that he would fix the roof.

Although these texts positioned English as the language of power, the importance

of maintaining the home language (Spanish) was also present in the CR text set,

sometimes within the same story. For example, the main character in My Diary from

Here to There / Mi diario de aquí hasta allá (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2002) worried that she

would not be allowed to speak Spanish at school and that other children would make fun

of her accent if she tried to speak English. In this same text, however, during the main

character’s sentimental goodbye with her grandmother, the grandmother made her

promise never to forget her home language. Maintaining the ability to speak Spanish was

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clearly part of maintaining a connection with extended family and her own cultural

heritage as Mexican. In Abuelita, Full of Life / Abuelita, llena de vida (Costales & Avilés,

2007), the grandmother spoke only Spanish to her grandson even though she could

communicate in English when she had to. In this text, speaking Spanish was again part of

maintaining a cultural identity, even when it was not strictly needed for daily

communication with extended family. Another text recognized the conflicting pressure to

assimilate into mainstream culture by speaking only English. In First Day in Grapes

(Primer día en las uvas; King Pérez & Casilla, 2004), the main character worried that he

would be bullied at school because he “spoke Spanish sometimes.”

Within the language theme I also looked for evidence of fluidity in language use

in the form of translanguaging or language mixing within the texts themselves. More

specifically, I looked for the presence of Spanish words in the English texts and English

words in the Spanish versions. Including Spanish words in a thoughtful way in an English

edition has been found to lend cultural authenticity and specificity to a text (Barrera &

Quiroa, 2003). I found that all 18 CR books included at least one Spanish word in the

English versions, and often many words. However, only five CR books contained English

words in the Spanish versions, and they were few (sometimes just one word). I love

Saturdays y domingos (Me encantan los Saturdays y los domingos; Ada & Savadier,

2002) was the only book to use translanguaging consistently in both versions. This text

was not published in a bilingual edition, but it portrayed a bilingual child who used

English with one set of grandparents and Spanish with the other. In order to make this

text authentic, both languages were used in the text. Some English words were even used

in the Spanish edition without translation, making it clear that the book was intended for

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a bilingual audience. I did not find this type of translanguaging in any of the other CR

books.

None of the human characters in the mainstream text set spoke a language other

than English, and so they did not wrestle with language issues. They did not try to learn

new languages and they did not feel that their native language was in jeopardy in any

way.

Language issues in general surfaced in the mainstream text set in one book that

featured animal characters: The Cow That Went OINK (La vaca que decía OINK; Most,

1990/1994). In this story, a cow who could only say “oink” and a pig who could only say

“moo” were ostracized and laughed at by the animals who made the usual sounds. The

two outcasts eventually became friends and taught each other to make the target sounds;

essentially, to become bilingual. Although the end of this book states that the bilingual

animals had the last laugh because they were the only ones who could speak two

languages, the happy ending fell flat for me. Throughout the book the two animals who

made the incorrect sounds were depicted alone and in tears. Even the roosters and horses,

who presumably could not moo or oink themselves, laughed at the animals simply

because they spoke differently. This text seemed to send the message that speaking a

different language is funny, wrong, and isolating. It had unsettling cultural implications

as well as none of the cows welcomed the pig who said “moo.”

Cultural Values

Section four of the text analysis protocol focused on the examination of two

contrasting values generally assumed to be held by Latino cultures and mainstream

culture, respectively: familism and individualism.

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Familism

Valuing love of family has repeatedly been found to be an important theme in

Latino children’s literature, but familism itself as a value is also embedded in many of

these texts even when it is not an overt theme. The importance and strength of family

love was a primary content theme for 13 of the CR books I analyzed, as well as a

secondary theme for four more, meaning that only one book did not take up family

strength and love as a plot theme, and all of the books in the CR text set showed evidence

of familism as a cultural value. Knight et al. (2010) have worked with Mexican American

focus groups across the country to further define cultural values of this population. They

have defined familism as a Mexican American value that includes three components:

valuing the family as a source of emotional support (close relationships), valuing

obligation to family including the importance of caregiving, and relying on the family to

define oneself. I analyzed the books in each text set for evidence of each component of

familism.

Familism in the form of valuing the family as a source of emotional support was

prevalent in the CR text set. Every book in this set showed a family where close

emotional relationships were evident. The children who found themselves in difficult

situations turned to family members for support and encouragement, and family members

brought each other joy. For example, in My Very Own Room / Mi propio cuartito (Pérez

& Gonzalez, 2000), the main character turned to her mother when she felt discontent. At

her mother’s instigation, the whole family worked together to make her a room of her

own, despite the limited space in their home and limited financial resources. They moved

furniture, painted walls, borrowed a bed from an uncle, and cashed in coupons in order to

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make her space cozy and beautiful. The grandmother in Grandma and Me at the Flea /

Los meros meros remateros (Herrera & De Lucio-Brock, 2002) kept her grandson happy

while his parents were away by providing not just physical care, but love. She treasured

his poetry, taught him songs, and helped him become part of a rich community of people

who cared about him. Even in the direst of circumstances, such as in The Christmas Gift /

El regalo de Navidad (Jiménez & Cotts, 2000), the families in the CR text set took care

of each other emotionally. Even though the parents in this book could not afford to give

the main character, Panchito, what he wanted for Christmas, Panchito realized that his

parents were doing the best they could and that having a close-knit family was more

important than material possessions. Rather than show his disappointment upon opening

his gift, he hugged his parents and thanked them for the small bag of candy, realizing that

it was an offering of love.

Obligation to family, including the importance of caretaking, was also evident in

the CR texts, though to a lesser degree. The clearest example of this form of familism

was the main character in First Day in Grapes (Primer día en las uvas; King Pérez &

Casilla, 2004), who felt a strong obligation to his family. His mother made it clear that

his job was to go to school, and his obligation to do well in order to honor his family was

evident throughout the story. Obligation to family in the form of caretaking was also

evident in two texts in the CR text set when one grandmother moved in with the family

and another cared for her grandchild while the parents were away.

Familism in the form of using family members to define oneself was also clearly

evident in the CR text set. As they learned about their culture from their grandparents, the

main characters were able to form a clearer picture of who they were. In Braids /

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Trencitas (Contreras & Lindmark, 2009) and Nana’s Big Surprise / Nana, ¡qué sorpresa!

(Pérez & Gonzalez, 2007), the main characters learned to further define themselves by

identifying with their grandmothers. On the final page of Braids / Trencitas (Contreras &

Lindmark, 2009), the main character wrote her grandmother a letter that said, “We are

two of a kind. Just like our braids and ribbons! Our stories, like our braids, bind us

forever” (Somos tal para cual, así como las trenzas y las cintas. Nuestras historias, como

nuestras trenzas, nos unen para siempre). The main character in I love Saturdays y

domingos (Me encantan los Saturdays y los domingos; Ada & Savadier, 2002) was very

young; even so, she was beginning to develop a cultural identity, based on the cultural

experiences she had with each set of grandparents each weekend.

In the mainstream text set, familism was weaker and often completely absent.

Only half the books featured a family at all, only two included grandparents, and only

two featured a child who had siblings. Family strength and love was a primary theme in

three books in the mainstream text set, however, and it was evident as a value in six. In

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (Silvestre y la piedrecita mágica; Steig, 1969/1990),

familism was apparent when the main character’s parents were devastated by his

disappearance. It was evident that their family shared a close emotional bond and that

they relied on each other for emotional support. In two other books in the mainstream text

set, Kiss Good Night (¡Un beso de buenas noches!; Hest & Jeram, 2001) and The Kissing

Hand (Un beso en mi mano; Penn et al., 1993/2002), the primary theme was a mother’s

reassurance of her love for her child. These books both conveyed valuing the family as a

source of emotional support by portraying mothers who reassured their children (one bear

and one raccoon) when they were nervous or having trouble falling asleep.

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In Chrysanthemum (Crisantemo; Henkes, 1991/1993), familism was not a

primary content theme but it was evident when Chrysanthemum’s parents provided

ample emotional support. They constantly reassured her that she was perfect, despite

what her classmates told her at school. However, Chrysanthemum was not content with

her family’s high opinion; she needed her classmates’ acceptance as well in order to be

happy. In other texts in the mainstream text set, such as Frog and Toad Are Friends

(Sapo y Sepo son amigos; Lobel, 1970/2001), the main characters relied on friends for

emotional support, caretaking, and companionship, rather than family members.

Obligation to family was evident in the mainstream text set in Miss Rumphius (La

señorita Runfio; Cooney & Porter, 1982/1996) when the main character made a promise

to her grandfather that she would make the world more beautiful and felt compelled to

carry out her promise. In addition, in A Chair for My Mother (Un sillón para mi mamá;

Williams, 1982/1994), the grandmother lived with her daughter’s family. This was the

only text in the mainstream text set to show caretaking of an extended family member.

The only evidence of valuing the family as a referent in the mainstream text set

was in Miss Rumphius (La señorita Runfio; Cooney & Porter, 1982/1996) when the main

character used her grandfather as a referent when she planned her life to follow in his

footsteps. The other characters in this text set did not seem to define themselves based on

their families.

In some books in the mainstream text set, familism as a value was noticeably

absent. For example, in Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

(Alexander y el día terrible, horrible, espantoso, horroroso; Viorst & Cruz, 1972/1989),

the main character’s family did not provide emotional support when he was having a bad

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day. In this book, Alexander did not find emotional support from his brothers; they

fought physically and called each other names. He did not find emotional support from

his mother, either. Whereas the main character’s mother in My Very Own Room / Mi

propio cuartito (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2000) worked hard to rearrange things for her

daughter when she was unhappy, Alexander’s mother simply told him that, “some days

are like that” (alugnos días son así). While the mother in My Very Own Room / Mi propio

cuartito (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2000) was depicted lovingly embracing her daughter, no

physical affection was portrayed in the illustrations in Alexander and the Terrible,

Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (Alexander y el día terrible, horrible, espantoso,

horroroso; Viorst & Cruz, 1972/1989). Throughout the text, his mother’s facial

expressions in the illustrations were either angry, frustrated, or oblivious to her son’s

difficulties.

Individualism

Individualism was felt to be a mainstream value (not Mexican American) by the

Mexican American focus groups in Knight et al.’s (2010) study, and this was reflected in

the CR text set. Individualism includes a desire to separate oneself from others through

competition and personal achievement, valuing gaining independence, and valuing

material success over other things like personal relationships (Knight et al., 2010).

Valuing competition and personal achievement was evident in just two CR texts.

In First Day in Grapes (Primer día en las uvas; King Pérez & Casilla, 2004), the main

character hoped to win a math competition at school and tried to do well so that his

teacher would like him. However, the motivation to do well in school also came from the

main character’s desire to honor his family. In Carlos and the Skunk / Carlos y el zorrillo

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(Romero Stevens & Arnold, 1997), the main character wanted his female friend to notice

“how brave and smart he was becoming” (lo valiente e inteligente que se estaba

haciendo), representing a desire to separate himself from other possible suitors. I did not

find any other evidence of valuing competition and personal achievement in the CR text

set.

In Carlos and the Skunk / Carlos y el zorrillo (Romero Stevens & Arnold, 1997),

Carlos also seemed to value gaining independence, in that he was eager to show that he

could catch a skunk by himself. In addition, in Finding the Music / En pos de la música

(Torres & Alarcão, 2015), the main character takes it upon herself to go out into the

neighborhood to try and fix the vihuela on her own and in Grandma and Me at the Flea /

Los meros meros remateros (Herrera & De Lucio-Brock, 2002), the children run around

the flea market by themselves. However, this wandering could also be interpreted as a

portrayal of the strength of community in that the children feel cared for by their

neighbors, rather than as an assertion of childhood independence. In other CR texts, the

characters seemed not to value independence. For example, in My Very Own Room / Mi

propio cuartito (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2000), it would be easy to assume that the main

character wanted independence from her family; however, all she really wanted was a

little elbow room. Once she had her own physical space, she immediately invited her

brothers in to hear a story. Another example was in My Tata’s Remedies / Los remedios

de mi tata (Rivera-Ashford & Castro L., 2015); the main character was eager to learn a

skill from his grandfather but did not express any hurry to become independent from him.

The families in the CR text set also did not value material success over more

important things like family relationships, even though they struggled with poverty.

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There were no instances where characters compromised their families in order to earn

more money, though they worked in difficult conditions in order to provide for them.

Individualism was much more evident in the mainstream text set, especially in the

form of valuing personal achievement and competition. The main character in Clark the

Shark (Simón el tiburón; Hale & Francis, 2013/2014) was described right off the bat as

“the biggest and the fastest” (el más grande y fuerte) and Swimmy only survived because

he could swim faster than his brothers and sisters in Swimmy (Nadarín; Lionni,

1963/1969). Alexander spent much of his day comparing what he had to what his

brothers had in Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

(Alexander y el día terrible, horrible, espantoso, horroroso; Viorst & Cruz, 1972/1989)

and Chrysanthemum laughed when her classmate forgot her lines in the school play in

Chrysanthemum (Crisantemo; Henkes, 1991/1993). The duck in Duck on a Bike (Pato va

en bici; Shannon, 2002) showed off his cycling skills to all his neighbors, and the hen in

The Little Red Hen (La gallinita roja; McQueen, 1985/1987) triumphantly ate the bread

she made in front of her friends without sharing.

The importance of gaining independence was also evident in the mainstream text

set. For example, in Miss Rumphius (La señorita Runfio; Cooney & Porter, 1982/1996),

the main character set off alone to see the world as soon as she was able, without mention

of her family. The main character Swimmy (Nadarín; Lionni, 1963/1969) was the only

survivor after a larger fish ate the rest of his school. He quickly accepted that he was

alone and began to enjoy the wonderful sights and adventures that the sea had to offer.

Material success in the form of prioritizing earning money over other things like

personal relationships was evident in one mainstream text. In The Giving Tree (El árbol

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generoso; Silverstein, 1964/1988), the main character exploited his best (tree) friend in

order to make money.

Role of School and Literacy

School literacy was decidedly absent in the CR books. Only First Day in Grapes

(Primer día en las uvas; King Pérez & Casilla, 2004) featured a child physically going to

school. There he encountered a supportive teacher, an intimidating bus driver, and two

bullies. This character, Chico, was proud of his quick math skills, which were developed

outside of school by adding up crates of fruit. Chico did not like to write; as a third

grader, he worked hard to squeeze out four short sentences to please the teacher. He

wanted to be a race car driver and believed that going to school was useless, but he

continued to attend out of a sense of duty to his family. Success for Chico in this book

came when he liked his teacher, managed to stand up to the bullies, and got a few

friendly words from the bus driver. His main concerns as a migrant child were fitting into

his new social environment and fulfilling his obligation to his family. His attitude

towards the usefulness of school in general, and literacy in particular, did not change

during the course of the story.

Literacy outside of school played a role in several books in the CR text set,

however. The main characters in My Diary from Here to There / Mi diario de aquí hasta

allá (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2002) and Nana’s Big Surprise / Nana, ¡qué sorpresa! (Pérez &

Gonzalez, 2007) both wrote in diaries, and the protagonist in My Very Own Room / Mi

propio cuartito (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2000) sought out library books as an essential

component in completing her new “room.” Notably, all three of these books are by the

same author, who is a former elementary school teacher. In Grandma and Me at the Flea

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/ Los meros meros remateros (Herrera & De Lucio-Brock, 2002), the main character

wrote original poems in a notebook in his spare time. In Braids / Trencitas (Contreras &

Lindmark, 2009), the main character taught her grandmother to read using lotería cards.

This enabled her to read the stories the main character liked to write and they also began

to exchange letters. All of these characters used reading and writing outside of school to

enhance their lives. Interestingly, none of the books in the CR text set took up the issue of

learning to read and write in both Spanish and English.

In the mainstream text set, six books took place entirely or partly at school and

school played a central role in these texts. In two of them, the plot revolved around how

to behave correctly in school, principally by playing nicely with friends and being quiet

and respectful in class. Two other books were about feeling nervous about the first day of

school. Literacy did not play a central role in any of the mainstream texts. In Clark the

Shark (Simón el tiburón; Hale & Francis, 2013/2014), Clark was excited about reading in

school, but when he expressed this his teacher told him, “Less shouting, more reading”

(menos gritos y más lectura). In How Do Dinosaurs Go to School? (¿Cómo van a la

escuela los dinosaurios?; Yolen & Teague, 2007), one page featured a teacher reading

aloud to the class. The text on this page read, “Does he stir up the classroom by making a

noise?” (¿Revuelve la clase? ¿Hace ruido y alborota?) On this page, the teacher looked

angry, the dinosaur looked bored and sleepy, and the two children shown were giggling at

the noise the dinosaur made.

Out of school literacy surfaced briefly and only twice in the mainstream text set.

In Kiss Good Night (¡Un beso de buenas noches!; Hest & Jeram, 2001) the young bear

main character and his mother knew all the words to a bedtime story by heart, and in The

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Kissing Hand (Un beso en mi mano) (Penn et al., 1993), the main character raccoon likes

to read books at home and his mother tells him that he will get to read new books at

school.

Summary of Results for Part 1

In this section I present a brief summary of the results for each text set.

CR Text Set

Most of the CR texts were written in the first person and several were

autobiographical. All main characters were Mexican American children; half were male

and half were female. Nearly all the children came from two-parent nuclear families with

parents who immigrated from Mexico, and most of the children had siblings, sometimes

up to five. The texts adhered to traditional gender roles. All the protagonists had dark hair

and more than half had dark skin. The books mostly took place in specific locations in the

United States, most often in California, but several also featured trips across the border

into Mexico for various reasons. Nearly half the families depicted struggled with poverty

to some degree.

The CR texts contained abundant cultural makers, in both text and illustration. All

the CR texts featured at least one cultural marker and eight of the texts featured cultural

markers in five or more of the seven categories. Traditional Mexican food, terms of

address, and Mexican clothing were the three most common cultural markers found.

Mexican décor, music and entertainment, and cultural celebrations were also abundant.

Traditional medicine was the least common cultural marker, only found in two CR books.

Overall, the CR text set was rich in cultural themes. In fact, all but two books

emphasized one of the focal cultural themes as its primary content theme. The most

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common primary content theme in the CR text set was family love, featured in thirteen

books, followed by intergenerationalism specifically as a primary theme in eight books,

and cultural pride as a primary theme in five. Community strength, immigration, poverty,

Mexico as home, migrant farmworkers, and language issues were also present as primary

content themes in one to three texts each. In addition, these culturally relevant themes

often surfaced in the CR texts even when they were not the primary focus. For example,

immigration was referenced or implied in nearly every CR text because it was part of the

families’ histories.

The cultural value of familism was strong in the CR text set. All books in the CR

text set showed family members who loved and supported one another. Some also

showed obligation to family and the family as a referent. Individualism was less evident

in the CR text set, but there were a few instances where the characters may have valued

gaining independence. Competition surfaced briefly in just two texts, and individualism

in the form of valuing material success over other things like personal relationships was

not evident in the CR text set. School literacy was only featured in one CR book, and not

in a very positive light. Literacy outside of school, however, was evident in several texts.

Mainstream Text Set

The mainstream stories were mostly written in the third person and none were

autobiographical. In terms of main characters, none were Mexican American. Most were

animals rather than people. Most protagonists were male and only one text showed a very

slight departure from stereotypical gender expectations. The child characters in the

mainstream text set came from upper- and middle-class families (with one exception) and

most did not have siblings. None came from immigrant families or spoke a language

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other than English and all human protagonists had light skin. Half the families did not

include a father figure, and only one book featured a grandparent. None of the

mainstream books provided a specific location for the characters, but all took place in the

“general” United States.

The mainstream text set also contained no Mexican cultural markers and very

limited access to themes and values that are important to Mexican American culture.

Family love was apparent in the mainstream texts, but mostly in the texts with animal

characters. Familism was evident in some texts that portrayed human characters, but was

also lacking in others. Many mainstream texts portrayed the mainstream value of

individualism, especially in the form of competition. While several texts took place in

school settings, literacy did not play a major role in any of the books in this text set.

In the next chapter, I will present my findings for Part 2 of the study.

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Chapter 5: Results of Part 2

In this chapter I present my findings for the classroom portion of the study where

I examined how first-grade students in a Spanish-language learning environment

responded to three mainstream texts and three CR texts through writing and discussion.

The goal of this portion of the study was to answer my second research question: How

does the cultural content of a text affect students’ reading responses, if at all?

Each day of data collection, I first met with two groups of four focal students

during which time I invited them to conduct a short picture walk of that day’s read-aloud

text. In analyzing these data, I examined the videos and transcripts of the picture walks to

see which aspects of the texts the children chose to discuss; I focused attention on

cultural elements, as well as whether students seemed to connect with the texts

personally. I also discussed each text in depth with the eight focal students after the

reading. I analyzed the videos and transcripts of the post-reading discussions, once again

looking for personal connections and connections to cultural themes and content.

All 22 participating students responded in writing to each text after the read aloud

sessions, except any who were absent on a given day. I analyzed the students’ written

responses to each text, looking for evidence of personal connection as well as

connections to cultural markers, themes, and values. In looking for personal connections

to text in the written responses, I noticed that they fell into two categories. The first type

occurred when the students directly referenced personal preferences or experiences in

relation to the text, such as, YO LE GUSTA EL PARTE CON LAS SAPATOS PORQE YO

LE GUSTA LOS NEVAS SAPATOS (I like the part with the shoes because I like new

shoes) or, “Su mamá vino y estaba enojada su mamá y eso me ha pasado” (His mom

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came and his mom was mad and that has happened to me). This type of personal

connection can be considered a “mirror” experience, where students see their lives

reflected in the book. The second type of personal connection occurred when students

extended or inserted themselves into the story or described how they would act in the

character’s shoes, such as, YO VOI ALLUDAR CANNDO ALLI UN PROBLEMA SI AII

FEGO EN UNA CASA O UNA ESCUELA O VOI ALLUDAR A PERSONAS SI SU CASA

TENE FUEGO (I will help when there is a problem if there is fire in a house or a school

or I will help people if their house is on fire). This type of personal connection represents

a “sliding door” experience, where students can step into the story world.

In the following sections of this chapter I present a description of the students’

written and oral responses to each text, focusing on personal connections as well as

connections to cultural elements. The texts are presented in the order in which we read

them during the study, beginning with the mainstream texts. Both because of the young

age of the students and because the English home language (EHL) students in the

classroom were attempting to write and speak in their second language, significant

grammar and spelling errors are present. I have preserved the students’ original words

exactly as written or spoken, with English translations provided in parentheses. Written

responses are notated in capital letters. Spanish words are italicized. Following my

review of the results of students’ responses to each picture book, I will summarize the

results by sub-question for RQ2.

Book 1: Alexander y el día terrible, horrible, espantoso, horroroso

This book is a translation of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very

Bad Day (Viorst & Cruz, 1972). This classic text, hereafter referred to simply as

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Alexander… (Viorst & Cruz, 1972/1989), tells the story of a young boy who wakes up

with gum in his hair and continues to have things go wrong for him all day long. It is a

humorous book with a universally relatable theme (who hasn’t had a bad day?); the plot

and language are relatively simple, and I thought it would be an ideal text for our first day

of written response. The main character, Alexander, is a White middle class boy with red

hair and strong emotions living in an unspecified American town circa 1970. Alexander…

(Viorst & Cruz, 1972) is an ALA Notable Book and is recommended as a Teacher’s

Choice book for read-aloud by the NEA and a top picture book by SLJ (Table 3). Before

the read-aloud session I was not aware that this book was made into a major motion

picture in 2014, but a few of the children expressed that they were familiar with the

movie. This text did not show evidence of any of the Mexican American cultural themes

or markers when I analyzed it using the text analysis protocol (Table 4).

Table 4. Written Connections to Cultural Themes in Focal Texts by Home Language Group

Title Primary MA Content Themes

Evidence of Themes in Written Responses

SHL Students EHL Students

Alexander… None N/A N/A La señorita Runfio None N/A N/A Un sillón para mi mamá Family, Poverty 2 (25%) 2 (15%) Finding the Music … Community, Family 7 (88%) 9 (69%) My Very Own Room … Family, Poverty 3 (38%) 6 (55%)

Grandma and Me at the Flea …

Community, Intergenerationalism* 3 (43%) 4 (33%)

*Cultural Pride theme not counted

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Picture Walks

I provided little instruction and no teacher modeling for how to conduct the

picture walks. I simply asked the students to look at the book in pairs and to talk about

what they saw happening on each page.

Spanish home language (SHL) focal students’ picture walks. Because

Verónica arrived at school late, another SHL student (Araceli) came to my table to do the

picture walk with Yolanda. The two girls easily took turns describing what happened on

each page, as commanded by Yolanda who kept track of whose turn it was. They

described what Alexander was doing on each page, often adding that he was mad.

Yolanda described the page where Alexander is picked up by the carpool by saying, “Yo

veo que se van en un carrito. Y que el niño todavía está enojado. Que tiene un chicle

pegado en su cabeza [heh]. Tu turno.” (I see that they are going in a little car. And that

the boy is still mad. That he has gum stuck on his head [heh]. Your turn.) The two girls

did not hesitate to add their personal opinions, but they did not appear to “step in” to the

text or make personal connections. Yolanda’s first comment upon turning to the first page

of the text was, “Yo veo que el niño está bien bravo. Y tiene un cochinero en su cuarto

[giggle]. Tu turno.” (I see that the boy is very wild. And he has a pigsty of a room

[giggle]. Your turn.)

Javier and Rafael were very animated as they completed the picture walk

together. Javier frequently pointed to something on the page, shouting “¡Mira! ¡(M)ira,

(m)ira, (m)ira!” (Look! Look, look, look!) After turning each page, he frequently began

by saying, “Ah, mira, me gusta esta página también.” (Ah, look, I like this page too.) The

two boys commented often about Alexander’s facial expressions, sometimes imitating the

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expressions themselves. The boys especially liked Alexander’s skateboard and

commented on the number of toys in his room. Javier said, “Otra patineta yo veo. Tiene

ochenta y mil.” (I see another skateboard. He has eighty and a thousand.) Javier once

talked back to the mother character in the text who is scolding Alexander, saying, “¿Me

regañas? ¡Pshh!” (Are you scolding me? Pshh!) It was not clear whether Javier was

providing dialogue to go along with the pictures, or if he was speaking as Alexander

himself. Javier also sometimes embellished the situations depicted in the text, adding

high drama with lots of humor. For example, when Alexander is shown crying with pain

after being tripped by his brother, he narrated, “¡Está llorando, está gritando a las

policias que vengan y que lo lleven a la carcel [laughing]!” (He’s crying, he’s yelling for

the police to come and take him to jail [laughing]!)

The SHL students did not have any trouble deciphering what was going on in the

pictures; the only errors that occurred were when Javier identified the car as a taxi and

Alexander’s muffin as a papaya, and it’s possible in the case of the papaya that he was

just being silly.

English home language (EHL) focal students’ picture walks. During their

picture walk, Ian and Oliver were very focused on describing what was happening to

Alexander and how he was feeling on each page. The two boys added many details to fill

in the story line, such as noting that Alexander was the only one who had a cavity at the

dentist and saying that he was embarrassed when he had to turn in a blank piece of paper

at school. They did not step into the character’s shoes, but they focused on trying to

determine the reason behind his actions, as illustrated by the following exchange.

Oliver: El está muy triste. (He is very sad.)

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Ian: ¿Por qué? (Why?) Oliver: No sé. ¿Es triste o ... ? (I don’t know. Is he sad or…?) Ian: Es (He’s) um, embarrassed. Oliver: Embarrassed. Ian: De no sé. Es embarrassing um... [turns page]. (Of I don’t know what. It’s embarrassing um… [turns page]). Ava was absent on the day we read this text and Verónica arrived late, so

Verónica and Brianna did their picture walk together even though Verónica was usually

part of the SHL group. They were in a very silly mood and spent a significant portion of

the time talking about Alexander’s pants falling down, although this does not happen in

the text. Verónica was actually quite absorbed in examining the pictures in the text,

however, and used her voice to speak for Alexander, using English and saying things

like, “Owww, my foot hurts! It’s horrible! [laugh] Owww, they dropped me on the

floor!”, showing her ability and willingness to step into the character’s shoes. She and

Yolanda both declared that Alexander was bad. Verónica said, “Oh my, he’s a bad, bad

kid.” Brianna seemed to be more interested in talking with Verónica about things other

than the text, such as a large blister she had on her hand from bar practice at gymnastics

class.

Written Responses

In total, seven out of 20 students (35%) made a personal connection to this text

during the whole-class writing and drawing period, three SHL students and four EHL

students (Table 5). Some commonalities across language groups were evident in the

responses. Nearly all the written responses to this text began with some variation of either

A MI ME GUSTÓ CUANDO… (I liked it when…) or MI PARTE FAVORITA ERA… (My

favorite part was…), showing that even at the beginning of first grade, the students had

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already internalized a standard format for written response to text. This pattern continued

throughout the course of the study.

Also, nearly all students wrote that they enjoyed when bad things happened to

Alexander, showing an appreciation for the entertainment value of this text. For example,

Araceli wrote, A MI ME GUSTO CUANDO HSU ERMANO LE YAMO CRAIBEIBI. (I

liked it when his brother called him crybaby.) Four students (two EHL and two SHL),

however, criticized the brother characters for fighting. An example of such a response

was, LOS NIÑOS ESTAN UN POCITOS MALOS Y PELIADO Y TAMIEN DIJO CE NO

JUGARA. (The boys are a little bad and fighting and also she said not to play.) Although

much of the book takes place at school, none of the students wrote about events that

happened in the classroom. I will now present a summary of the students’ written

responses by dominant home-language group.

Table 5. Number of Personal Connections (and Associated Percentages) Evident in Written Responses by Home Language Group

SHL Personal Connections

EHL Personal Connections

Total Personal Connections

Alexander… 3 (43%) 4 (33%) 7 (35%)

La señorita Runfio 1 (14%) 3 (30%) 4 (24%)

Un sillón para mi mamá 4 (50%) 4 (31%) 8 (38%)

Finding the Music / En pos de la música 4 (50%) 2 (10%) 6 (29%)

My Very Own Room / Mi propio cuartito 4 (50%) 4 (36%) 8 (42%)

Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los meros meros remateros 3 (43%) 4 (33%) 7 (39%)

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SHL students’ writing. Nine SHL students were present but Rafael turned in a

blank piece of paper and another student missed most of the read aloud, leaving seven

written responses in this group. The most common topics written about in response to this

text by the SHL students were when Alexander got gum in his hair (n = 3) and when the

brothers in the story were fighting (n = 3). Three out of the seven SHL students (43%)

who wrote about this text made a personal connection (Table 5), two to personal

experiences (mirror connections) and one who extended the story world into her life

through a “sliding door” type of connection (Table 6). However, neither of the personal

connections were included in the written responses; both were made during their

dictations to Ms. Diaz. One student recalled a time when he had had gum stuck in his hair

and Araceli said that her mother was once mad at her when she was fighting with her

brother.

Table 6. Type of Personal Connections in Written Responses by Home Language Group SHL Personal Connections EHL Personal Connections

Title Mirror Sliding Door Mirror Sliding Door Alexander… 2 1 4 0 La señorita Runfio 0 1 3 0

Un sillón para mi mamá 0 4 4 0

Finding the Music / En pos de la música 2 2 2 0

My Very Own Room / Mi propio cuartito 2 2 4 0

Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los meros meros remateros 2 1 4 0

Despite the fact that I met with the SHL group to discuss this text before they

completed their writing, none of the SHL focal students wrote personal connections in

their written responses except for Verónica, and hers was far removed from the events of

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the actual text. She chose instead to extend the text’s meaning. Her response, SI TU ASES

UN MALA DIA NO ESTA VIEN TU DIA MALA SI O NO PIESA ABLA SI ABLA NO YO

TEGO BIEN TU SI TU NO (If you do a bad day it isn’t good your bad day yes or no think

say yes say no I have good you yes you no), showed her connection of the words “bad

day” to her behavior at school. She explained to me that she and her sister report to their

mother on whether they have had bad or good days at school and that they are rewarded

for good behavior.

EHL students’ writing. Four out of 12 EHL students (33%) made personal

connections to this text in their responses (Table 5). Three of the personal connections

were to life experiences: Ian and Madison remembered times when they fell and scraped

their knees and another EHL student said that sometimes his mother forgets to put dessert

in his lunchbox. The fourth personal connection was a personal preference: Oliver wrote

that he liked the part when they bought shoes because he likes new shoes. Oliver was the

only student to include his personal connection in his writing, however; the rest were

made during dictations to Ms. Diaz. All 12 EHL students chose to write about things that

happened to Alexander. Ian wrote, YO ME GUSTO CUANDO ALEXANDRA LO HICE

CHREP Y LUEGO CAYO EN EL FANGO PORQUE ERA MUY MUY MUY MUY MUY

MUY CHISTOSO. (I liked it when Alexander tripped and then he fell in the mud because

it was very, very, very, very, very, very funny.) In fact, there was only one student in the

class who did not seem to find this book enjoyable. This EHL student wrote, ERE UN

BÍY TRIB POR QEU TUS ELMNOS GARO DOROS LO COSAS Y ESTO ERE TERIBE.

(It was a terrible day because his brothers got all the things and that was terrible.)

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Although I did not meet with the EHL focal students until after they had

completed their written responses, all but Brianna made personal connections to this text

in their writing or dictations.

Discussions

I met with the SHL group first to hear their thoughts on the story while the rest of

the students worked on their written responses, supervised by Ms. Diaz.

SHL focal students’ discussion. When I first sat down at the kidney-shaped table

with Javier, Rafael, Yolanda, and Verónica, I asked the students what they thought about

the book I had just read aloud to the class (“¿Qué pensaron de este libro?”). Javier

responded, “Yo nada.” (I [thought] nothing.) Some talk about finding pencils for writing

ensued and then I tried again with the same question. This time, it was Yolanda who

responded, “Yo no pensé nada.” (I didn’t think anything.) At this point the students

began flipping through the book; Javier and Verónica were laughing and arguing over

whether there was an elephant in the text. I asked, “¿Alguna vez han tenido un día así

terrible?” (Have you ever had a terrible day like that?), and this opened the discussion.

Rafael said that he had a stomach ache that morning. Javier said that he had soccer

practice and they would have to cancel it if the coach didn’t show up. Yolanda launched

into a story about her younger sister’s “día espantoso” (scary day) at preschool, where

she was frightened by some kids who threw water on her. She emphasized that, in

contrast to the book title, her sister’s day was “sólo espantoso” (just scary). She went on

to tell us that her sister did not cry, but that she did develop the flu and a cough. Rafael

said, “Yo también tuve un día espantoso” (I also had a scary day), and the students were

then eager to jump into a discussion of scary things, sparked by the word espantoso

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(scary or frightening) in the title of the Spanish version of this text. Rafael reported that

he was afraid that there were wolves at his house and Yolanda said that her little sister

was afraid there were tigers in their yard. She also told a story about a time when the

bathroom door closed all by itself, leading her to believe that there was a ghost in her

house. Javier said that this happened at his house too. Yolanda and Javier became very

serious about ghosts; Yolanda said, “No, sí, Rafael, de veras.” (No, yes, Rafael, really.)

The students were eager to share personal stories, but did not connect their personal

experiences to Alexander’s. The word “scary” is not part of the title of this text in the

original English version, and I believe it is somewhat misleading. Although espantoso

can also mean dreadful, it is a less common use of the word.

After this detour, I tried to bring the discussion back to the book by asking the

students if they had a favorite part. With some pressing from me to elaborate on their

responses, Verónica and Yolanda made connections from the book to their own lives.

Verónica said that she liked when the characters got new shoes. When I asked why she

told me that she likes the new shoes at Target. Yolanda said she liked it when they got

prizes from the cereal boxes because she never gets a prize in her cereal. Javier reported

that he liked Alexander’s invisible drawing and Rafael liked when the brothers were

fighting; although neither boy could say why, it appeared that they enjoyed those parts of

the book because they were entertaining and not because they were reminded of their

own lives. The SHL students’ small-group discussion was loud and lively, with lots of

side conversations, laughing, flipping pages, and fighting over the books.,

After the writing period, I checked in with three of the focal students in this group

about their writing and asked them if they felt that they or someone in their family could

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be in this book. Yolanda said that she could not be in this book (Table 7) but that maybe

her brother could be because he likes to scare people; she was still very focused on the

word espantoso. Verónica said she doesn’t like bad days because she doesn't get anything

from her mother but that both she and her sister have bad days at school sometimes. She

felt that her sister could possibly be in the book because of this. Javier told me that he did

not like this book because of the fighting. He felt that the boys’ fighting was not up to

professional standards, citing his knowledge of Mexican wrestling on television. He said,

“Están peleando muy feo. No luchadores. Como pow pow pow, bum bum bum. De Benito

Juárez.” (They are fighting very ugly. Not [like] fighters. Like pow, pow, pow, bum,

bum, bum. Like on Benito Juárez.) Despite his criticism, it was clear that Javier enjoyed

this book, and at the end of the study he chose it as his favorite (Table 8). His comments

about Alexander’s toys and invisible drawing indicated that he admired and perhaps

envied Alexander to some extent. However, he said that he didn’t feel that he could be

part of the story (Table 7).

EHL focal students’ discussion. At the table with me were Ian, Oliver, Brianna,

and, because Ava was absent, Madison (a White EHL student who is in the lowest

Spanish reading group). The EHL students started off by reading their written responses

to me one at a time. Oliver wrote that he liked when they got new shoes because he likes

new shoes, Ian and Madison both liked when Alexander fell down in the mud because

they thought it was funny, and Brianna wrote that she liked when he got gum in his hair.

When I asked if there was anything they didn’t like about the book, Brianna responded

that she didn’t like it when the brothers were pushing each other because “it was mean.”

Madison agreed.

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Table 7. Focal Students’ Affirmative Responses to the Question “Could You Be Part of This

Book?”

Alexander

…

La señorita Runfio

Un sillón para mi mamá

Finding the

Music…

My Very Own

Room… Grandma and Me…

SHL students

Javier X X X Rafael N/R* X X X

Verónica X X X Yolanda X X N/R

EHL students

Ava N/R X X Brianna X

Ian X X X X X X Oliver X X X X

* No Response

Table 8. Focal Students’ Favorite and Least Favorite Focal Texts

Favorite Least Favorite

SHL students

Javier Alexander… My Very Own Room …

Rafael La señorita Runfio Alexander…

Verónica Finding the Music … La señorita Runfio

Yolanda Finding the Music … Alexander…

EHL students

Ava My Very Own Room … Un sillón para mi mamá

Brianna Alexander… My Very Own Room …

Ian La señorita Runfio Un sillón para mi mamá

Oliver Finding the Music … Alexander…

I then asked if the book reminded them of anything. Ian described a time when he

sustained a head injury. I asked whether they could be part of the book. Brianna said “no”

and Oliver said “yes” but neither could elaborate. I asked whether someone in their

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family could be part of the book. Oliver immediately replied that his younger brother

could be in the book because he is “rough” and can tackle him. Brianna said that she

would not want to be in this text because she wouldn’t want gum in her hair or to fall

down. Madison said that she and her family didn’t write the book so they couldn’t be in

it, showing a lack of understanding of the question. Ian, however, jumped in to show that

he could in fact be part of this text.

Ian: Yo sé. Mi hermano y yo podemos ser en este libro porque hermana y yo tiene fights. Um, we get in fights. Cuando, como en todos los días. (I know. My sister and I can be in this book because my sister and I have fights. Um, we get in fights. When, like on every day.)

Finally, I asked if Alexander’s life was like theirs. Madison said that her life is

harder than Alexander’s because her sister “terrorizes” her and she has three bad dogs.

Ian said that there are bullies in his neighborhood who threw a piece of pizza at his door

once and got in a lot of trouble. At the very end of the conversation, Brianna held up her

blistered hand for me to see, saying with a grin, “Una cosa terrible es este.” (A terrible

thing is this.) Although none of the students made particularly deep connections, the

connections made by the EHL students showed that they could easily connect the events

in the text to their own lives.

Preferences

Three SHL students in the class (all boys) chose Alexander… (Viorst & Cruz,

1989) as their favorite book, including Javier. Interestingly, all three of these students

also chose My Very Own Room / Mi propio cuartito (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2000) as their

least favorite book. Four SHL students in the class chose Alexander… (Viorst & Cruz,

1989) as their least favorite book, including Yolanda and Rafael (Tables 8 and 9).

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Table 9. Classroom Students’ Favorite and Least Favorite Focal Texts

Favorite Book Least Favorite Book

SHL EHL Total SHL EHL Total

Alexander… 3 4 7 4 4 8

La señorita Runfio 1 2 3 1 1 2

Un sillón para mi mamá 0 0 0 1 3 4

Finding the Music / En pos de la música 4 4 8 0 1 1

My Very Own Room / Mi propio cuartito 1 2 3 3 1 4

Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los meros meros remateros 0 1 1 0 1 1

Four EHL students in the class chose this text as their favorite, including Madison

and Brianna, making it the second most popular text in the study. Four EHL students,

including Oliver, chose it as their least favorite book, making it also the book that

received the most votes for least favorite. During the small group discussion, the EHL

focal students seemed to find Alexander… (Viorst & Cruz, 1989) extremely funny and to

enjoy it more than the SHL focal students, with the exception of Javier, who seemed to

delight in Alexander’s toys, invisible drawing, and feisty mannerisms, and chose this text

as his favorite (Tables 8 and 9).

This book received the most votes overall (in either direction). It was also the first

book we read and therefore the first book shown on the voting sheet, which could have

had an effect.

Book 2: La señorita Runfio

This is a translation of Miss Rumphius (Cooney & Porter, 1982). The book tells

the story of Miss Rumphius, who grows up in a town by the sea, goes off to see the

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world, and comes back to live by the sea only to wonder how she will keep a promise

made long ago to her grandfather to make the world more beautiful. She eventually

decides to do this by scattering lupine flower seeds throughout the countryside. The

narrator, who is Miss Rumphius’ grandniece, knows that she too must make the world

more beautiful when she grows up and the text ends with her wondering how she will

accomplish this. This book has been a popular choice among teachers since its release in

1982. It was a National Book Award winner and is on the NEA’s (2007) and SLJ’s Top

100 lists (Table 3). The main character, Miss Rumphius, is an upper-class White female

with red hair that eventually turns gray and then white as she grows from a girl to an old

woman.

According to my analysis using the text analysis protocol, this text has no

evidence of MA cultural markers (Table 4). It does show some evidence of

intergenerationalism and familism, though neither are primary themes.

Picture Walks

I met with the EHL focal students first and they were already beginning to be

more familiar with the routine. Once again, I asked them to look at the pictures and to

talk about what they saw and what was happening in the story.

EHL focal students’ picture walks. Ian and Oliver once again chose to sit

together for their picture walk. The boys took turns eagerly describing what they saw on

each page, with Ian sometimes jumping in to correct Oliver’s Spanish. Their talk with

this text tended more towards naming things on each page rather than attempting to

narrate a storyline or determine character emotions, most likely because the vocabulary in

this book is more challenging for a language learner than Alexander… (Viorst & Cruz,

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1989) as it does not focus on the everyday routine. For example, Ian said, “Yo veo un, un

barco, yo veo un um yo veo un hmmm ¿qué veo? Veo un painting y veo un persona. Tu

turno.” (I see a, a ship, I see an um, I see a… hmmm what do I see? I see a painting and I

see a person. Your turn.) When I asked what they thought was going to happen in this

text after the picture walk, they were able to tell me that the main character traveled a lot

and that she got very, very old.

Brianna was contentedly flipping through the pages of the book talking about

what she saw until I intervened and asked her to let Ava have a turn to say something as

well. She did so, but still maintained physical control of the book, sliding it towards Ava

when it was her turn and then pulling it back quickly. Brianna was quick to identify the

places to which Miss Rumphius traveled. The pictures show her on a tropical island,

climbing a snow-covered mountain, and riding a camel. Brianna said, “Y mira, está en la

nieve [turns page back], y mira que está en Hawaii [turns page] y mira que está en, um

Africa.” (And look, she’s in the snow [turns page back], and look, she’s in Hawaii [turns

page] and look, she’s in, um Africa.) When I asked what they thought the book would be

about after the picture walk, they also said that she would be traveling a lot.

SHL focal students’ picture walks. Yolanda and Rafael sat together for their

picture walk. Yolanda jumped right in, creating a humorous story loosely based on the

pictures she saw. On the first page of text, a little girl with red hair dressed in a fur-lined

overcoat and a beret-style hat is staring out over the snow-covered rooftops of what

appears to be a New England port town in the horse and buggy era, looking out over the

handrail at the sea and the ships. Yolanda said, “Yo veo que esta niña quiere caerse. Pa’

el suelo [laughing].” (I see that this girl wants to fall. To the ground [laughing].) On the

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second page of the book, there is an American Indian figurine shown outside a cigar

shop. Yolanda identified the statue as una señora (a woman) who wanted to enter the

store. The third page of text shows young Miss Rumphius sitting on her grandfather’s

knee in front of the fireplace. Above the mantel is a painting of a ship in a storm. Yolanda

continued to embellish the pictures with a dramatic back story and Rafael followed along,

elaborating.

Yolanda: Y aquí veo que este señor se está abrazando a la niña que no le conoce [laughing]. (And here I see that this man is hugging a girl who doesn’t know him [laughing].)

Rafael: Y yo veo que, que el papá de ella se murió en este tormenta. (And I see that, that her dad died in this storm.)

They discussed the pages where she travels around the world, but after Miss

Rumphius is shown in bed with long gray hair, they became committed to the idea that

she was a witch. This idea persisted to the end of the book, where they concluded that she

was trying to poison the children of the neighborhood.

Yolanda: Yo veo que esta señora está bien embrujada y que está engañando a estos niños. (I see that this woman is bewitched and that she is trying to trick those kids.)

Rafael: Y yo creo que esta bruja está engañando a los niños y lo, y quiere que se mueran. Y, y le están dando una de estas galletas venenosas. (And I think that witch is tricking the kids and that, and she wants them to die. And, and she’s giving them those poisonous cookies.)

When I asked what they thought the book would be about, Yolanda began telling

me that a witch was tricking the children; however, I had to interrupt her to dismiss

Verónica from the table for off-task behavior and Yolanda then quickly changed her

answer, saying that she thought the children in the story were picking lots of flowers for

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their mothers. To each other, Yolanda and Rafael said that they don’t like flowers,

although Yolanda wrote in her written response that she does.

Javier and Verónica worked together on the picture walk and had a difficult time

staying on-task. Javier began in a silly mood, pointing to each picture and exclaiming,

“Taa daaa!” Verónica then grabbed the book and began describing what she saw in the

pictures; however, when Javier became absorbed in listening to the other pair of students,

Verónica decided she needed to step up her game if she was going to hold his attention.

She proclaimed, “And that guy is pooping into the sea!” and continued to invent a story

based on bathroom language until I intervened. Later, she became very focused on

finding the cat in the pictures and proclaimed that the cat was escaping to Africa, despite

lack of evidence to support this theory. Javier then began imitating everything Verónica

said until finally she started hitting him with the book and I sent her away from the table.

This picture walk was not very productive.

Written Responses

After reading the book aloud to the class, I asked the students to once again write

about what the book made them think about. I also asked that if they chose to write about

their favorite part, they should tell me why they liked that part. This resulted in several

students who added PORQUE ES CHISTOSO (because it’s funny) to the end of their

writing, but also some who made more thoughtful justifications. Unfortunately, five

students were absent the day we read La señorita Runfio (Cooney & Porter, 1996),

making it the day with the lowest attendance.

Four out of the 17 students (24%) made personal connections to this text, one

SHL student and three EHL students (Table 5). The overwhelmingly most popular topic

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to write about across both home language groups was when Miss Rumphius scattered

flower seeds around the countryside. As an example, Yolanda’s written response was, A

MI ME GUSTO QUADO PLANTA LAS FLORES PORQUE ERAN AZULES Y

MORADAS Y TABIEN ME GUSTO LA PARTE DONDE KRESIERON LAS FLORES. (I

liked when she plants flowers because they were blue and purple and also I liked the part

when the flowers grew.) Although this part of the text was the climax of the story, it did

not exemplify intergenerationalism or familism, which were only secondary themes.

Several students also had a strong reaction to when Miss Rumphius was called “Esa Vieja

Loca” (That Crazy Old Lady) in the text, and chose to write about that.

EHL students’ writing. Three out of ten EHL students (30%) made a personal

connection to this text (Table 5), and two were focal students who had discussed their

personal connection to this text with me prior to writing (Oliver and Ian). Oliver wrote

that he and his parents like flowers and Ian wrote that he plants flowers with his mother,

which we had discussed during the small group discussion. The third EHL student told

Ms. Diaz during his dictation that he planted seeds with his mother, though he did not

include this in his writing or drawing.

Most of the EHL students (n = 7) chose to write that they liked when Miss

Rumphius scattered the flower seeds. Brianna wrote that she liked when the people in the

book called Miss Rumphius “Loca.” One EHL student wrote that she liked when the

main character was painting with her grandfather, showing the only connection made to

intergenerationalism.

SHL students’ writing. None of the seven SHL students present on this day

made a connection to a personal experience with this text. However, Rafael made a

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personal connection in the form of extending the story’s meaning into his own life (Table

6). Although he was only able to write half a sentence in his written response, in his

dictation to Ms. Diaz he completed his thought, saying, “Cuando yo este grande yo voy a

recoger la basura para que el mundo no este sucio.” (When I grow up I will pick up

trash so the world isn’t dirty.) Rafael was also the only SHL student who chose this text

as his favorite at the end of the study.

Four of the SHL students chose to write about Miss Rumphius throwing flower

seeds, two of whom mentioned the colors of the flowers. Two SHL students wrote about

when she was called “Loca.” I did not see evidence that the SHL students connected with

the themes of intergenerationalism or the value of familism in their written responses,

which is not surprising, given that these were not primary content themes.

Discussions

After the read aloud, I met with the EHL students first to discuss this text,

followed by the SHL group of focal students.

EHL focal students’ discussion. This was a somewhat short discussion. The

students all said that they liked when Miss Rumphius planted the flowers. Ian talked

about planting flowers with his mother. He said that he felt that his mother could be in the

book because she likes to buy flowers from the store and bring them home. Brianna was

focused on the traveling, as she had been during the picture walk. She said, “Yo voy

escribir, um, ella encanta, um, plantar, y, um, le gusta travel.” (I am going to write, um,

that she loves, um to plant and, um, she likes to travel.) However, she did not wind up

writing about traveling in her written response, despite expressing her intention to do so.

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Brianna, Oliver, and Ava did not feel that they or their family members could be

in this book. They said that, although their mothers do like flowers, they do not like them

“tantas” (as much) as Miss Rumphius. When I asked if there was a part of the book that

they did not like, Ava said that she did not like that the grass in front of Miss Rumphius’

house was brown and Oliver said that her house was ugly because it was old. Brianna did

not like when Miss Rumphius was in bed with a sore back because her room “está un

mess” (it’s a mess). Seemingly out of the blue, Ian related that he would be traveling to

the east coast to visit his grandparents for Christmas. It is possible that the illustrations in

this text were reminiscent of the town where his grandparents live, but he did not say so.

The students did not seem very excited to discuss this text and were calm and slow in

their responses.

SHL focal students’ discussion. The SHL students came to the table excited to

show me how much they had written in their responses. Javier wrote that he liked when

Miss Rumphius threw seeds. I asked him why and he said that he liked it because she was

“loca” (crazy). When I asked if he felt that he or someone in his family, such as his

mother, could be in this book, he seemed to become slightly offended and said that his

mother was not loca. I asked if he thought that Miss Rumpius was actually loca and he

replied that she was. He seemed hesitant to use this word to describe someone, almost

apologetic. Yolanda then read her response, in which she said that she liked the flowers

in the book because she likes the color blue. When I asked if she felt that her mother

belonged in the story she replied, “Sí, porque está bien loca [giggles]. Con mi papi pues

sí es.” (Yes, because she is very crazy [giggles]. Well, she is with my dad.) She then

launched into a discussion of her father’s drinking habits at the restaurant where he works

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and how upset this makes her mother. Rafael chimed in immediately, saying that his dad

used to come home very late and very drunk and his mother would scold him.

Rafael and Verónica also shared their written responses. Neither elaborated much,

although Rafael seemed proud of his response that he could make the world cleaner by

picking up trash; his response was written on a post-it by Ms. Diaz. Verónica wrote that

she liked the flowers in the book because they looked pretty but replied that she did not

feel that she or her mother could be part of this text.

I then asked if they liked it when Miss Rumphius traveled around the world and

the following exchange occurred:

Annie (Researcher): ¿Les gustaron cuando ella viajó? ¿Por todo el mundo? (Did you like it when she traveled? All around the world?) Yolanda: ¿Qué? (What?) Annie: Ella viajó a muchos lugares lejanos. (She traveled to many faraway places.) Javier: Muchos lugares. (Many places.) Yolanda: A mí no. A mí me gustó cuando- (I didn’t. I liked it when-) [taps her written response paper] Javier: No, yo no fui en [inaudible]. Yo fui en México. (No, I didn’t go to [inaudible]. I went to Mexico.) Yolanda: Eso es lo que iba a decir. (That’s what I was going to say.) Annie: ¿Tú has viajado a México? (You’ve been to Mexico?) Yolanda: Yo también- (Me, too-) Rafael: Yo también. (Me, too.) Javier: Yo también. Con mi carro. (Me, too. In my car.) Rafael: ¿Sí sabías que mi mamá y yo somos de México? (Did you know that my mom and I are from Mexico?) Annie: ¿Sí? (Oh?) Yolanda: Yo fui en México. Pero en avión. (I went to Mexico. But on a plane.) Verónica: Yo fui a México en mi carro. (I went to Mexico in my car.)

The students then engaged in a lengthy conversation about which of their relatives

lived in Mexico, who had visited there, and who had been baptized there. Although I

showed interest, their preference for this topic above all others was clear. Despite this

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lively conversation, none of the students wrote anything about their families in their

written responses to the text.

Preferences

Two EHL students in the class chose this text as their favorite, including Ian, who

made a personal connection to this text, and no EHL students chose it as their least

favorite. Rafael was the only SHL student in the class who chose this text as his favorite,

and he was also the only one who made a personal connection to it. Verónica was the

only SHL student in the class who chose this book as her least favorite (Tables 8 and 9).

Book 3: Un sillón para mi mamá

This is a translation of A Chair for My Mother (Williams, 1982). It is another

classic text that can often be found in elementary school classrooms. It tells the story of a

family whose home burns down in a fire. In their new home, the family saves coins in a

large jar until they can buy a beautiful new armchair where the mother can sit when she

comes home from long days serving tables. It is a Caldecott Honor book and an ALA

Notable book (Table 3). The main character, Rosa, has white skin and black hair worn in

two braids down her back. This text is the least mainstream of the mainstream texts,

mainly due to the fact that it portrays a family headed by a working-class single mother.

It also shows strong evidence of familism and contains several of the cultural themes

from my text analysis protocol: family, poverty, community, and intergenerationalism,

although only family and poverty were rated as primary themes (Table 4). It does not

contain any MA cultural markers.

Picture Walks

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Continuing the pattern of alternating the group I met with first, I saw the SHL

students before the EHL students for the picture walks and discussions of this text.

SHL focal students’ picture walks. Javier completed the picture walk with

Rafael this time, as I searched for the pairing that would yield the most on-task behavior.

Javier was very focused on counting things in the pictures. He began by counting birds on

the first page, then coins on the second page, and even began counting the floor tiles on

the page showing the characters in a bank. He did not attempt to connect the pictures with

a storyline, nor did he step into the character’s shoes. Rafael participated in the counting

as well, and also did not focus on providing a plot.

I had a talk with Verónica about her behavior after the last picture walk and she

came to the table determined to do her best. She began by describing what she saw

happening on the first page, “Ella está aquí y quiere a, a, a hacer adentro de el um, um

shop y ella dice, ‘Okay, puedo abrirlo para ti.’ ¿Que tú piensas?” (She is here and she

wants to, to, to get inside the um, um shop and she says, ‘Okay, I can open it for you.’

What do you think?) Verónica remained focused, quiet and serious throughout the picture

walk. She persisted in speaking careful Spanish even though she seemed more

comfortable in English, and even provided dialogue for the characters. Yolanda and

Verónica took turns describing what was happening on each page, as was Yolanda’s

custom. Verónica continued to provide thoughtful descriptions as well as dialogue for the

characters, while Yolanda seemed less engaged. She seemed preoccupied with checking

to see if they would finish their picture walk before the other pair of students, and at one

point even shut the book and jokingly said, “Ya acabó.” (It’s finished.) However, she was

also capable of inventing a plausible storyline to accompany the pictures, and at times did

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so. At one point, she correctly inferred, “Ella le compró un sillón de la rosa… No, ella le

compró un sillón para que su mamá descansara.” (She bought a chair with roses… No,

she bought a chair so that her mom could rest.) On the page where the main character and

her mother run towards her uncle, Yolanda said that the characters were running from a

man who wasn’t the girl’s mother or father; this was the second time she brought up an

unknown man trying to engage with a child during the picture walks.

Neither pair of SHL students discussed the house fire at length, although they did

notice it. Verónica said, “Aquí vio su casa y está, no está muy bonita porque había

fuego.” (Here she saw her house and it’s, it’s not very pretty because there was a fire.)

Yolanda did not comment in reply.

EHL focal students’ picture walks. Ava and Brianna conducted their picture

walk together again. Ava was more assertive and more vocal on this day, frequently

demanding her turn to talk and hold the book. The two girls described what they saw on

each page, spending the most time discussing the jar for saving money. They both gasped

upon turning the page and seeing the jar completely full of coins. They also discussed the

house fire and shopping for chairs.

Ian and Oliver worked to come up with a story to explain the pictures. They

concluded that it was the shop that burned down and not the family’s home.

Ian: El fuego um, um burnt down el shop y luego no pueden buy it. Y es que están building it y yeah yo pienso que están building it... right? (The fire um, um burnt down the shop and then they couldn’t buy it. And it’s that they are building it and yeah I think that they are building it… right?) Oliver: Yo pienso que está building, (a)garrando más um, stuff. (I think that they are building, getting more um, stuff.) Ian: And now, and since they fixed it, they have lots of money. Oliver: Yes, yes, yes.

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Ian: Y luego tiene dolores aquí [pointing], y puede buy stuff aquí [page turn] y um luego aquí (And then they have dollars here [pointing], and they can buy stuff here [page turn], and um then here)… she bought those and now they’re playing in it and now their house is all, looks really good cuz they had enough money to buy stuff [looking at illustration of furniture store].

Written Responses

Eight out of 21 students (38%) made personal connections to this text, four EHL

and four SHL students, making it the only book with equal numbers of personal

connections from each home language group (Table 5). The four EHL students all made

connections to personal experiences or preferences while the four SHL students made

connections by extending the story’s theme into their own lives. The most common topic

covered in the students’ written responses was the house fire, though it was taken up in

different ways.

SHL students’ writing. Four out of eight SHL students (50%), including Rafael

and Verónica, made personal connections to this text by inserting themselves into the

world of the story, even though none of them made connections to personal experiences

(Table 6). All four included their connections in their writing as well as in their

dictations. Rafael stated that he would not like it if there were a fire at his house, showing

an ability to identify with the situation portrayed in the text. The other three SHL students

wrote that they would help people if their houses caught on fire or if they needed money.

For example, Verónica’s response was YO VOI ALLUDAR CANNDO ALLI UN

PROBLEMA SI AII FEGO EN UNA CASA O UNA ESCUELA O VOI ALLUDAR A

PERSONAS SI SU CASA TENE FUEGO (I am going to help when there is a problem if

there is fire in a house or a school or I will help people if their house is on fire).

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Six of the eight SHL students wrote about the house fire, all but one saying that

they didn’t like it. These responses to the fire showed an awareness of the actual damage

that a fire can cause, rather than enjoyment of the fire from a standpoint of entertainment.

Javier wrote, LA PARTE FAFORITA LO QUE ME GUSTO ES CUADO QUE ESTÁN

COMPRADO EL SION DE FLORES I LA PARTE NO ME GUSTO FUEGO PORQUE

EL FUEGO PUEDE QUEMAR LAS CARETRAS (The favorite part that I liked is when

they are buying the flowered chair and the part I didn't like fire because the fire can burn

the highways). Two SHL students wrote that they liked when the family bought the chair,

but none wrote about the jar for saving coins.

None of the SHL students commented on the fact that the grandmother in the

story lives with the family or connected to the theme of intergenerationalism in their

responses, which was not a primary theme. However, in the responses that positioned the

students as helpers there was evidence of connection to the cultural themes of poverty

and community members helping each other. For example, one SHL student wrote,

CUANDO ESTE GRADE YO LE VOY A DAR DINERO A LAS PERSONAS Y TAMBIEN

LES VOY A DAR COSA CE NESESITEN Y ALLUDARELES DE PROBLEMAS (When I

grow up I will give money to people and also I will give them things that they need and

help them with their problems), showing that this text sparked a connection to his

awareness of both poverty and the responsibility of community members to help one

another (Table 4).

EHL students’ writing. Four out of 13 EHL students (31%) made personal

connections to something that happened in this text (Tables 5, 6). The personal

connections made by the EHL students were to the experiences of sitting in a bean bag

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chair (Ian), riding in the back of a pickup truck, playing with toy firetrucks (Oliver), and

liking money (Brianna). Two of these connections were included in the written responses

and two were added during the dictations to Ms. Diaz. None of the EHL students inserted

themselves into the world of the story by stating what they would do in the characters’

shoes, and none of the personal connections connected with the cultural themes identified

in the analysis protocol, though other written responses did.

While all except for one of the SHL students who wrote about the house fire

expressed that they did not like it, three EHL students seemed to enjoy the part with the

fire. For example, one EHL student wrote, MI PATE FAVOITO ES KUADO EL CASA

ESTAVA EN FUEGO Y LOS PERSONAS ESTAVAN KORIEDO PARA SUS VIDA (My

favorite part is when the house was on fire and the people were running for their lives).

Oliver, however, stressed in his response that he likes fires, but only “fake” ones.

None of the EHL students wrote about intergenerationalism, which was not a

primary theme. One EHL student, Blake, connected to the secondary theme of

community by saying that he liked when the neighbors helped each other. In his dictation

to Ms. Diaz he said, “Mi parte favorito es cuando los personajes ayudan a la familia.”

(My favorite part is when the characters help the family.) Blake’s responses to the books

from this time forward in the study consistently had to do with people helping each other

and being “buen ciudadanos” (good citizens), which was a focus of the social studies unit

the class was studying at the time.

Four EHL students wrote that they liked when the jar of coins was full. Two

students’ responses included an awareness of the theme of poverty (Table 4) but did not

express an awareness of community responsibility. One was Brianna’s dication to Ms.

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Diaz, “Están practicando para agarrar dinero porque necesitan sillas. Porque yo le

encanto dinero cuz you can buy things.” (They are working on getting money because

they need chairs. Because I love money cuz you can buy things.) However, two other

EHL students wrote about the jar of coins without reflecting any understanding of the

theme of poverty, or the role that money plays in a family’s living situation. One said,

“Mi parte favorito es cuando la botella de dinero esté muy full porque es chistoso. Es

muy funny porque si agarra más está overfill y necesita uno más.” (My favorite part was

when the jar of money was full because it was funny. It was really funny because if they

got more it would overfill and they would need another one.)

Discussions

I met with the SHL students first to discuss this text. The SHL students’

discussion had little to do with the actual text.

SHL focal students’ discussion. Rafael began the discussion by saying that the

house in the story burned to ashes and was then immediately reminded of his baby

brother’s ashes, who was stillborn.

Annie: ¿Qué pensaron del libro? (What did you think of the book?) Rafael: Que la, que la señorita Runfio está loca. (That the, that Miss Rumphius is crazy.) Annie: No, no, de éste libro. (No, no, of this book.) Rafael: Oh. Que la casa se quemó y fue ceniza. Oh, ¿sabes que? Mi, mi, yo tenía un hermanito pero se murió porque no tenía un, un cerebro, solo tenemos en casa pero es ceniza. (Oh. That the house burned down and it was ashes. Oh, do you know what? My, my, I had a little brother but he died because he didn’t have a, a brain, we just have him at home but he’s ashes.) After Rafael added more details to this sad story and the students asked him

questions, Javier described a fire that he saw in the mountains and Verónica told us that

her baby brother had touched fire and died. Later, I tried to confirm whether this was true

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with Ms. Diaz. She told me that Verónica sometimes invented stories about her home life

and that she had not heard about a baby dying, but she was not intimately acquainted with

the family.

When I brought the discussion back to the book, it immediately returned to the

fire. Yolanda and Javier believed that somebody had purposefully set the house on fire,

even though this was not implied in the text. When I asked if they felt that they could be

part of the story, Javier, Rafael, and Yolanda replied that they could not, because if they

were in the story they could be burned by the fire. While nobody in the story is actually

burned, this implies that the students were able to put themselves into this story’s world,

but were reluctant to do so.

Yolanda: Yo no puedo estar en el libro porque yo me podía quemar, por eso. (I could not be in this book because I could get burned, that’s why.) Annie: Mmm. ¿Pero alguien se quemó? (Mmm. But did anyone get burned?) Yolanda: No. Pero yo sí me podría. (No. But I could.) Verónica then stated that she could be in the book because if she were, she could

help the people, showing a different way to enter the world of this story. Verónica also

wrote this in her written response. However, the other students did not add to the

discussion of people helping one another. In fact, Yolanda questioned this response,

thinking that Verónica must have misunderstood my question, and restated it to her in

English, “Verónica, she said if you could be part of the book.” Rafael was so captivated

by the page in the book that shows the fire that he announced that he was going to copy

all the words from that page onto his response sheet. At the end of the discussion, Javier

said that this book made him think about a time when there was a tsunami.

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The SHL focal students seemed familiar with the possibility of disaster striking.

They did not bring up the community members who helped the family in the story and

they did not discuss poverty in relation to this text. The jar of money, which was a focus

of the story and of the EHL students’ discussion, was never mentioned.

EHL focal students’ discussion. The EHL students began by reading their

written responses to me. Ava started out, saying that she liked when the family had lots of

money so that they could buy a house, showing a misunderstanding of the text but an

awareness of the role that poverty can play in a family’s living situation. When I asked

her to elaborate, Ava and Brianna both said that they liked it when the family got lots of

money because they themselves like money. Ava said that she did not like the part when

the family doesn’t have money. Ian then stated that he liked it when they went shopping

for a chair because he likes beanbag chairs. He told a story about sitting in a very

comfortable bean bag chair at his uncle’s beach house.

Oliver’s written response brought up the topic of the fire. He said that he likes

fires because he has a toy firetruck that he likes to play with at his house. Brianna was

slightly shocked by this comment.

Brianna: You like fires?! [showing him the illustration] Oliver: Pero no los real ones… Solamente los fake ones. (But not the real ones… Just the fake ones.)

None of the students except Ian were anxious to place themselves or their families

in this book. Ian said that he could be in this book because he has a piggybank where he

saves his coins. Ava said that she and her family could not be in the part with the fire.

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Oliver also felt that he could not be in the part with the fire because he wanted to keep his

family safe, but he said that he could be in the part when they have a lot of money.

Oliver: No, no. Yo no puedo, um, mi mamá puede y yo y mi papá y mi hermano porque yo puede hacer en el parte cuando tiene mucho dinero en este parte [pointing to full jar]. No el parte de este, um, este… (No, no. I can’t, um, my mom can and I and my dad and my brother because I can be in the part when they have a lot of money in this part [pointing to full jar]. Not in the part, um, this part…) Annie: ¿Sólo en esta parte? (Just in this part?) Oliver: Sí. (Yes.) Annie: ¿Por qué? (Why?) Oliver: Porque la fuego puede mm, destroy you, y yo no quiere que ese pasar a mí. (Because the fire can mm, destroy you, and I don’t want that to happen to me.)

The students agreed that they did not like the fire and that they did like it when

the family had a lot of money. The theme of community members helping each other did

not come up during the discussion.

Preferences

None of the students chose Un sillón para mi mamá (Williams, 1994) as their

favorite book at the end of the study (Table 9). One SHL student in the class chose it as

her least favorite book. Additionally, three EHL students, including Ava and Ian, chose it

as their least favorite (Tables 8 and 9).

Following the three mainstream texts, the students responded to three Mexican

American award-winning CR books.

Book 4: Finding the Music / En pos de la música

Finding the Music / En pos de la música (Torres & Alarcão, 2015) tells the story

of a young girl who goes on a quest through her neighborhood hoping to mend her

deceased maternal grandfather’s vihuela (Spanish guitar), which she has accidentally

damaged. It was commended by the Américas Award in 2016 (Table 3). Many of the

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students loved the cover illustration on this book, which shows the main character,

Reyna, wearing a traditional mariachi sombrero and playing the guitar. The music itself is

depicted flowing from the instrument in colorful swirls and flowers. While all the CR

books were published more recently than the mainstream books, this text was the most

current of all the books used in the study and was only available in glossy hardback

edition. The main character, Reyna, is a light-skinned Mexican American with long

flowing brown hair from what appears to be a middle-class family headed by a single

mother. According to my text analysis protocol, community was a primary theme in this

text (Table 4), and intergenerationalism and poverty were also present. The cultural value

of familism was strong in this text. Cultural markers included traditional food, traditional

clothing, traditional décor, terms of address, and traditional music. Four of these were

evident in the illustrations alone (food, clothing, décor, and mariachi music).

Picture Walks

This was our first day reading a CR book. I met with the EHL group first to

conduct the picture walk.

EHL focal students’ picture walks. Upon opening the book, Brianna

immediately ascertained that the mother in the story works in a restaurant, but she did not

comment on any of the foods that were shown in the illustrations. I asked her what type

of restaurant she thought it might be and she replied, “breakfast.” Both she and Ava then

worked to construct a story narrative around the main character bringing the guitar to be

fixed. Ava said, “Yo veo que um, brought it to la store, um shop y la niña es, um, la

abuelo estaba fixing los wires porque es wiggly.” (I see that she brought it to the store

um shop and the girl is um the grandfather was fixing the wires because it’s wiggly.)

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Ian and Oliver also focused their picture walk on the topic of fixing the guitar.

Oliver noticed that the mother was preparing food, but did not identify it as Mexican, “Yo

pienso que la mamá está cortando la, um, dinner, y ella está comiendo el, um, dinner.” (I

think that the mom is cutting the, um, dinner, and she is eating the, um, dinner.) Neither

pair of EHL students commented on any of the visible cultural markers in the text.

Although they discussed the guitar at length, they did not connect it with mariachi music.

Both pairs of EHL students noticed that this book was printed in English as well as

Spanish, rather than only Spanish.

SHL focal students’ picture walks. If I had any doubts that the bilingual

students would notice the difference between the mainstream texts and the CR texts, they

were erased the moment I saw the look in Javier’s eyes when he walked up to my table

and saw Finding the Music / En pos de la música (Torres & Alarcão, 2015), exclaiming,

“¡Woa! ¿Cuál [libro] es éste?!” (Woah! Which [book] is this?!) After I read the title and

quickly explained what “en pos” means, Verónica opened the book and gasped upon

seeing the illustration on the first page.

Verónica: Ooooh. ¡Este es… este es mexicano! (Oooh. This is… this is Mexican!) Yolanda: [Reads] En pos de la música (Finding the Music) Verónica: ¡Me-xi-ca-no! (Mex-i-can!)

The students immediately recognized the wall décor at the restaurant and

associated it with Mexican mariachi music and the cultural celebration of Day of the

Dead, which they then easily and spontaneously connected to their own lives.

Javier: ¡Hay mariachis! (There are mariachis!) Annie: ¿Sí? (Oh?) Verónica: ¡Los mariachis! (The mariachis!)

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Yolanda: Acá hay muchos, el Día de los Muertos (Here there are a lot, the Day of the Dead) Verónica: De mariachi ([dressed like] mariachi) Yolanda: Casi va a ser el Día de los Muertos. (It’s almost Day of the Dead.) Annie: Sí, es cierto. (Yes, that’s true.) Verónica: Sííí. (Yesss.) Yolanda: Y la otra vez nos hicieron pan. (And last time they made us bread.) Verónica: Oooh. ¡Me gusta el pan! (Ooooh. I like the bread!)

Unlike some of the other picture walks where the SHL students strayed far from

what was shown in the illustrations, here they worked to come up with a narrative that

matched (and did so). Yolanda guessed that the photograph shown is of the main

character’s father and that he was a mariachi musician. She predicted that the main

character would also become a mariachi musician, after seeing her wearing the traditional

sombrero, and she proudly interrupted the other pair of students to tell them her

prediction.

Rafael came to the table wearing his sweatshirt on his head with the sleeves

hanging down like hair, pretending to be a grand lady. Javier, however, was so interested

in this book that he resisted all Rafael’s attempts to be silly during the picture walk and

was intent on figuring out the storyline. He said the word “mariachi” nine times during

the picture walk and was extremely excited about the music, the mariachi outfits, and the

guitars.

Javier: Ah, aquí se está poniendo la gorra de mariachi. Y aquí mira tiene, oh, la guitarra, mira. La guitarra [turns page]. Y aquí fue a donde estaba la guitarra y yo quiero que [inaudible] esta y es muy feo pues, los mariachis, esta está bonita verdad, mira, mira, él es mariachi, va a estar muy bonito. (Ah, here she is putting on the mariachi hat. And here look, she has, oh, the guitar, look. The guitar [turns page]. And here she went to where the guitar was and I want [inaudible] this one and it’s very ugly, the mariachis, this one is pretty, right, look, look, he is a mariachi, he is going to be pretty.) Rafael: ¿Tú sabías que…? (Did you know that…?) [whispers in Javier’s ear]

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Javier: [Ignores him] Mira, ella tiene la música ella. Ella tiene la música ella. ¡Ella tiene la música!¡Luego está hablando de los mariachis esta! (Look, she has the music, she. She has the music, she. She has the music! Then she’s talking about the mariachis!)

For the first time, at the end of the picture walk, without my even asking, Javier

concluded that he could indeed be part of this book, based on the characters depicted in

the illustrations.

Javier: Oh, sí puedo estar, sí puedo estar, sí puedo estar… (Oh, I can be in this, I can be in this, I can be in this…) [flipping pages] Rafael: Oh, yo sí puedo estar, puedo, yo puedo estar porque yo puedo estar con una peluca como así. (Oh, I can be in this, I can, I can be in this because I can be wearing a wig, like this.) [pointing to Reyna and flipping his sweatshirt sleeve like hair] Javier: ¡Aquí estoy yo, aquí estoy yo! (Here I am, here I am!) [beaming, pointing to a little boy in the restaurant illustration]

Written Responses

Six out of 21 students (29%) made personal connections to this text, four SHL

students and two EHL students, making it the first text to which more SHL students

connected than EHL students (Table 5). The two most common topics chosen by both

groups of students in their written responses were when Reyna received the sombrero as a

gift and when she went to the music shop to have the guitar fixed. Both events in the text

reflect the cultural theme of community members helping one another, and the sombrero

is a cultural marker.

EHL students’ writing. Only two out of 13 EHL students (8%) made a personal

connection to this text, the lowest rate by far (Table 5). One was Oliver, who consistently

made a personal connection to each text by writing that both he and his parents liked

something from the book (in this case, sombreros). The other personal connection made

to this text by an EHL student came from the illustration, where he drew a restaurant he

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visited while traveling in Baja California. This response showed that this student was

aware that the book contained Mexican cultural content and that he connected it to his

own experience traveling in Mexico. However, he did not include an explanation or a

personal connection of any kind in his writing or his dictation, where he simply said, “Yo

pensé que fue a un guitar shop y try to fix el guitar. Pensé que fue de mucha música.” (I

thought that she went to a guitar shop to try and fix the guitar. I thought it was about a lot

of music.) None of the other EHL students showed that they were aware that this text

contained Mexican cultural content, although Ava colored her drawing of Reyna brown

while making the teacher in her drawing white-skinned (this corresponds with what is

depicted in the book). Besides Oliver, the other EHL focal students did not write about

personal connections, despite having discussed the text with me prior to writing.

Four EHL students wrote that their favorite part was when the main character

brought the guitar to the guitar shop and five wrote that their favorite part was when the

main character was given the sombrero; both of these events exemplify the community

theme (Table 4). In addition, two EHL students explicitly wrote about the theme of

community, by stating that they liked that the people in the story helped the main

character. One wrote, MI PATE FAVORITO ES KUADO LA MAESTRESTA LE DIO EL

SODREDDO A LA NIÑA Y LA MAESTRA DE MUSIK DIJO KE LO PUEDE YUDADR

(My favorite part is when the teacher gave the sombrero to the girl and the music teacher

said that she can help her). The other was the same student, Blake, who chose to write

about the community members helping the family in Un sillón para mi mamá (Williams,

1994).

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One EHL student (Madison) wrote that she liked that the grandfather was a

mariachi musician because it was surprising. This was the only explicit mention of the

grandfather or intergenerationalism, but this was a secondary theme. None of the EHL

students wrote about poverty but it was not a strong theme in this text.

SHL students’ writing. Four out of eight SHL students (50%) made personal

connections to this text (Table 5). Two SHL students inserted themselves into the story in

some way (Table 6). One wrote that he would like to sing the traditional Mexican song

from the book: ME GUSTA LA CASION Y ESTAVA VIEN BONITA Y YO LA CIERO

CATAR (I like the song and it was very beautiful and I want to sing it). The other was

Yolanda, who said in her dictation to Ms. Diaz that she would like to play the guitar from

the story. The girl she drew in her picture is wearing a sombrero and holding a guitar; the

guitar and the sombrero are both labeled and the girl is labeled both REINA (Reyna) and

YO (I); her writing and drawing can be found in Appendix H.

Two other SHL students made connections to personal experiences (Table 6). One

wrote, A MI ME GUSTO CUAANDO LE DA EL SOMBRERO Y CUANDO LE DA LA

FOTO A MI ME GUSTARON PORCE A MI ME GUSTA LOS MARIACHES Y PORCE A

MI ME GUSTA LOS SOMREROS DE MARIACHIS (I liked when they gave her the hat

and when they gave her the photo I liked those [parts] because I like mariachis and

because I like mariachi hats). His picture includes a drawing of himself with his father

and a mariachi band. The other was Javier, who wrote that he liked when they fixed the

guitar because he enjoys fixing things. While these responses reflect a connection to

personal experiences, they also show a connection to the cultural theme of community

(Table 4). In fact, all but one SHL students wrote about when Reyna received the

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sombrero or when she went to fix the guitar; both of these events were directly related to

the theme of community members helping one another.

None of the SHL students mentioned the grandfather directly. Araceli was the

only student to show an awareness of the (secondary) role that poverty played in the story

in her response. She wrote that Reyna would have liked to receive money to help her fix

the guitar, but instead she received a sombrero.

Discussions

Because of the SHL students’ dramatic response to this text during the picture

walk, I was especially excited to hear what they had to say after the read aloud. However,

I first met with the EHL students.

EHL focal students’ discussion. When asked what they thought about this text,

Ava replied, “Muy feliz. Y después estaba muy triste y después está muy feliz.” (Very

happy. And then it was very sad and then it is very happy.) Brianna added that the mother

in the story is not angry with Reyna, even though Reyna thinks she will be. When asked

whether they felt that they could be in the story, Ava, Brianna, and Oliver all responded

“no.” (Ian was in the bathroom at this point.) Ava said that she could not be part of this

story because her mother is not a baker, even though she does enjoy baking at home.

Oliver said the same about his mother, pointing out that she cooks at home but doesn’t

cook “as a job.” Even though her parents do work at a restaurant, Brianna still felt that

she could not be in this book, though she struggled somewhat to explain why. She said of

her parents,

Ellos work in a restaurant pero ellos no, como ellos no quiere como, um, como work there for actually like for, like this book, like she wouldn’t, like she doesn’t, like these kind of restaurants. (They work in a restaurant but they don’t, like they

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don’t want, like, um, like work there for actually like for, like this book, like she wouldn’t, like she doesn’t, like these kind of restaurants.)

Ava said that her mother likes to dance and sing like the mother in the book, but

this did not change her answer (Table 7). It is possible that the students sensed a cultural

difference in this book, though they were not able to articulate it.

When Ian arrived at the table, he said that he felt that he could be in this book

because he found a lucky penny once (the sombrero in the text is supposed to bring

Reyna good luck). He also had a personal connection to the text because his father works

in a music store and knows how to fix guitars. However, when I asked the EHL students

if they felt that what happened to Reyna could happen to them, they all replied “no.” The

EHL students agreed that they did not like when the guitar fell off the wall and cracked

and Ava was especially vocal about saying that she did not like, “cuando ella estaba

triste porque ella estaba triste porque una crack” (when she was sad because she was sad

because of a crack) and she pointed out the illustration that shows the broken guitar. The

students did not discuss the sombrero, which figured prominently in the SHL students’

discussion, nor did they make any connections to Mexico during the discussion.

SHL focal students’ discussion. Yolanda and Verónica arrived at the table first

and both were eager to get to continue working on their drawings; Yolanda was carefully

trying to draw Reyna exactly as she appeared on the cover of the book. When I asked

what they thought about this book, they agreed that they liked when Reyna received the

sombrero, and both girls said that they have similar sombreros at home. When asked if

this story could happen to them, Yolanda was quick to try to convince Verónica that it

could.

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Annie: ¿Ustedes pueden ser parte de este libro? ¿O tu familia? (Can you be in this book? Or your family?) Verónica: No Yolanda: [finger on chin thinking, reaches for book, opens it] I bet you will! Yo voy a ver… (I’m going to see…) Annie: ¿Por qué? (Why?) Verónica: Porque um um (Because um, um) Yolanda: ¡Yo sí! (I can!) [raising hand and waving it] Annie: ¿Sí? (Yes?) Verónica: Yoooo, yo sí. (I…. I can) Annie: ¿Tú sí? (You can?) [Laughing] Yolanda: Yo también (Me too) Annie: ¿Por qué? (Why?) Verónica: Porque um, um, yo sí puedo ayudarle a um a arreglar el guitarra (Because um, um, I can help her to fix the guitar) Annie: Mmm. Yolanda: Yo puedo estar porque me gusta tocar la guitarra. (I can because I like to play the guitar).

While Verónica was the one who stated later that she actually had a guitar at

home, her connection to this text was more removed than Yolanda’s. She changed her

initial response that she could not be part of this book quickly once she heard Yolanda’s

answer, yet her reason for being part of the book was hypothetical, and very similar to her

response to Un sillón para mi mamá (Williams, 1994), where she said that she could be

part of the book because she could help the characters with their problem. Yolanda’s

response that she could be in the book because she likes to play the guitar indicated a

more direct feeling of belonging in the text. Later in the conversation, I asked the

question again.

Annie: ¿Qué creen? ¿Puede ser que este libro se trata de ti, Verónica? (What do you think? Could it be that this book is about you, Verónica?) Verónica: Mmhmm [Nods] Yolanda: Sí, Verónica. (Yes, Verónica.) Verónica: Yo puedo a, ser ella y tocar la guitarra. (I can be her and play the guitar.) Annie: ¿Sí? ¿Y tú, Yolanda? (Oh? And you, Yolanda?)

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Yolanda: También. (Me too.) Annie: ¿También? ¿Esto te puede pasar? (You too? This can happen to you?) Yolanda: Mmhm. Pero no voy a hacer eso. (Mmhm. But I won’t do that.)

This time, Yolanda directly urged Verónica to identify with the story and she did

so, restating the connection that Yolanda had made earlier. Yolanda expressed her

enjoyment of this book by trying to get her friend to feel a part of it as well. In addition,

in saying that she could be part of the book because she would play the guitar, but that

she wouldn’t break it, Yolanda showed a willingness to step into the shoes of a main

character that I had not seen in our discussions of any of the other texts, indicating a

stronger sense of belonging.

When Javier and Rafael arrived at the table, Javier said that he liked the part when

Reyna went to fix the guitar. Yolanda said that she liked the sombrero and Javier was

quick to add that it was a sombrero “de los mariachis” (for mariachi musicians). He said

that he could not be the main character because he is not a girl, but when I asked if he

could be the main character in this book if it were a boy, he said that he could (Table 7).

Rafael initially said that he could not be in this text but when Javier said that he could, he

agreed. I then asked Rafael if felt that what happened to Reyna could happen to him and

he said that it could because he has a friend who breaks his toys. This connection was a

bit far removed from the text and led to a tangential discussion about children who don’t

take good care of toys. I brought the discussion back to the book by asking Javier to read

his written response aloud. Javier wrote that he liked when they fixed the guitar because

he enjoys fixing things. He told us that his father has lots of tools and can fix many

things. This led to a debate amongst the students over whose parents have the most tools.

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When I brought the conversation back to the book, Javier was eager to tell me that he felt

that he could be part of this book when the characters are in the restaurant, once again

pointing to the little boy in the illustration that he had identified as himself during the

picture walk.

Preferences

Four SHL students in the class chose Finding the Music / En pos de la música

(Torres & Alarcão, 2015) as their favorite book, including Verónica and Yolanda, and no

SHL students chose it as their least favorite book (Tables 8 and 9). Four EHL students

also chose it as their favorite, including Oliver, making it the most popular of all the

books used in the study. Only one student (Blake, an EHL student) chose it as his least

favorite.

Book 5: My Very Own Room / Mi propio cuartito

My Very Own Room / Mi propio cuartito (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2000) is the first

book of three semi-autobiographical tales written by Amada Irma Pérez, a third-grade

teacher in California, and beautifully illustrated by Maya Christina Gonzalez. In this

book, a young girl whose family has recently immigrated to the United States from

Mexico shares a room with her five brothers and longs for a space of her own. Her family

pitches in to help her create a small “room” in a corner of the house behind a curtain of

flour sacks where she can sleep and read in peace. This text was the winner of the Tomás

Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award and received an Honorable Mention

from the Américas Award (Table 3). The main character’s physical appearance suggests

some indigenous heritage; she has jet black hair, light brown skin, high cheekbones and a

wide nose, with dark brown eyes and pink lips. Her family is poor—her father works the

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night shift at a factory—and they live somewhere in California, presumably close to the

border. According to my analysis with the text analysis protocol, poverty and family are

primary themes of this text (Table 4), and immigration and “Mexico as home” are

secondary themes. The cultural value of familism is strong in this book. The only cultural

marker contained in this text is the use of terms of address, which is not visible in the

illustrations.

Picture Walks

This was the second CR book used in the study. Continuing the pattern of

alternation, I met with the SHL students first to conduct the picture walk.

SHL focal students’ picture walks. Yolanda and Javier were taken with the

illustrations in this text. They commented on the colorful lines and swirls, and they

gasped when they turned to the vivid illustration of the mother hugging the main

character. When the other pair of students finished much faster, however, Yolanda began

to invent a silly narrative to go with the pictures. Upon Rafael’s declaration that they

were finished, Yolanda said, “¡Ah, they’re finished! Yo veo que aquí ella, ella quiere

convertir a estos niños en zombis [laughing].” (Ah, they’re finished! I see that here she,

she wants to change these kids into zombies [laughing].) They were also fascinated by

the English text in the book, and attempted unsuccessfully to sound out some of the

words, giggling at the nonsense words that came out of their mouths when they tried.

They did not develop a congruous plot line to go with the illustrations in this text.

As stated, Verónica and Rafael finished their picture walk very quickly. They

began well, with Verónica using the title to get her started with a narrative.

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Verónica: Ella quiere su cuarto, no los dos, los cuartos de su hermano chiquito y el hermano. (She wants her room, not the two, not her little brother and her brother’s room.) Rafael: Y ella, la hermana no quiere que nadie se duerma con ella. (And she, the sister doesn’t want anyone to sleep with her.) Verónica: Sí. Y ella está, su mamá vea que ella está ahí. (Yes. And she is, her mom sees that she is there.)

About halfway through the book, however, Rafael took over the narration while

Verónica turned the pages. If Verónica tried to jump in and add something to Rafael’s

description, he would simply talk over her. He had to talk quickly, however, before she

turned the page. They sped through the book with Rafael giving a brief description of

each picture and Verónica turning pages. While they did not go off-topic or delve into

silliness, there was also little thought put into the plot of the story. Besides the non-White

appearance of the characters, this book did not have any obvious cultural markers

depicted in the illustrations and neither pair commented on the cultural specificity of this

text.

EHL focal students’ picture walks. Ava and Oliver conducted this picture walk

together. They began by working to create a story to match the pictures.

Ava: Yo pienso que estaba dormindo con un te- con un osito y [laugh] el bebé estaba en la mamá’s cabeza [turns page]. Tu turno. (I think that he is sleeping with a te- with a teddy bear and [laugh] the baby is on the mom’s head [turns page]. Your turn.) Oliver: Y… y está waiting para el baño para lavar los manos para a b-- (And… and they are waiting for the bathroom to wash their hands for b-- ) Ava: Breakfast. Oliver: Breakfast.

However, as they got further into the book, they began to simply describe what

they saw on each page, without trying to tie it into a plot.

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In a similar manner to Rafael and Verónica, Ian and Brianna also zoomed through

their picture walk with this text. They seemed to be competing for a turn to talk, rather

than working together, and they frequently talked over each other or struggled for control

over the book. They also did not focus on creating a coherent plot for the story, or

comment on any cultural markers.

Written Responses

In total, eight out of 19 students (42%) made personal connections to this text,

three SHL students and four EHL students, which was the highest rate of overall personal

connection (Table 5). Several students commented on some aspect of the family love

portrayed in this story in their responses, such as when the family members helped the

main character make her room, or when the main character read books to her younger

brothers.

SHL students’ writing. Four out of eight SHL students (50%) made personal

connections to this text (Table 5). Four students, including Rafael, wrote that they would

like to have their own rooms. One also mentioned that he liked it when the main

character read books to her younger brothers because he loves to read (Table 6).

Two SHL students, including Verónica, wrote that they liked the beautiful lamp

that the main character chose, but did not discuss the role that poverty plays in purchasing

the lamp (the family uses stamp coupons that they have saved). Yolanda wrote about the

beautiful colors of the paint they used to paint the main character’s room. This was the

fourth time she included her preference for a color in her written responses. Two other

SHL students simply wrote that they liked it when the main character got her own room.

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Araceli wrote that she liked when the family members all came together to help

the main character, picking up on the primary theme of family (Table 4) and the cultural

value of familism. MI FAVORITO PARTE ERA CUANDO ELLA QUERIA UNA

CUARTO PORQUE ELLA NO QUERIA DORMIR CON SUS SEYS ERMANOS SO

TODO LA FAMILIA AYUDARON A ASER LA CUARTO PARA ELLA Y TAMBIEN MI

PARTE FAVORITO ERA CUANDO ELLA QUERIA UNA LAMPARA Y UNA MESA Y

UNAS LIBROS Y CUANDO ELLA DORMIO SOLITA. (My favorite part was when she

wanted a room because she didn’t want to sleep with her six brothers so the whole family

helped to make a room for her and also my favorite part was when she wanted a lamp and

a table and some books and when she slept by herself.) One other SHL student wrote

about his own sister sleeping with him when she is afraid. Javier was the only student

who wrote about the father working at night, showing a possible awareness of the poverty

theme. None of the SHL students mentioned Mexico or immigration in their written

responses, which were secondary themes.

EHL students’ writing. Four out of 11 EHL students (36%) made personal

connections to this text, including Oliver, Ian, and Ava (Table 5). Oliver wrote about his

family’s sleeping arrangements. Another EHL student said that she wants her own space

because her brother talks and keeps her awake. This was the only incidence where an

EHL student seemed that she might be making a personal connection in the form of

stepping into the story, but then she connected it back to her own personal experience in

her justification (Table 6). Ian connected to this text by writing that his family comforts

him when he is unhappy, thereby connecting to the theme of family strength and love that

was so evident in this text (Table 4). By this point in the study, Ian knew that I would ask

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him if he could possibly be in this text. He wrote, YO SI PUEDO ESTAR EN ESE LIBRO

PORQUE MI FAMLIA AYUDA A MI COMO CUANDO YO LLORRA MI FAMILIA

DICE ESTÁ BIEN ESTÁ BIEN Y LUEGO YO NO LLORRA MAS Y TENGO UN

CUARTO Y SOLO YO DORME EN MI CUARTO. (I could be in this book because my

family helps me when I cry my family says it’s okay it’s okay and then I don’t cry

anymore and I have a room and only I sleep in my room.) Ava wrote that she liked it

when the main character reads to her little brothers because she likes it when her mother

reads to her.

In addition to Ian’s response, one other EHL student wrote that she liked when the

mother in the story hugged the main character, showing that she absorbed the primary

theme of family love in this text (Table 4). Familism was also evident in Madison’s

response, MI FAVORITO PARTE ES COMO TODO EN EL LIBRO BAT MI FAVORIT

PARTE ES CWANDO EL FAMILIA HEPT CON EL KWARTO DEL DE EL NIÑA (My

favorite part is like everything in the book but my favorite part is when the family helped

with the girl’s room), and in three others, including Ava’s, who wrote that they liked

when the main character read books to her younger brothers. None of the EHL students

wrote about Mexico, poverty, or immigration in their responses.

Five EHL students, including Brianna and Oliver, wrote that they liked it when

the main character got her own room. One EHL student mentioned the beautiful lamp in

the story, but without reflecting an awareness of the role that poverty played in the

purchase of the lamp.

Discussions

I met with the SHL students first to discuss this text.

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SHL focal students’ discussion. Javier sat down at my table and immediately

told me that he could be part of this book because he sometimes snores, just like the

father in the book. Yolanda said that she could not be in this book, but Javier disagreed,

saying, “A ver, ¿por qué no puedes? A ver, ¿por qué no puedes? Mira, sí puedes, mira.

Aquí, mira la niña.” (Let’s see, why couldn’t you? Let’s see, why couldn’t you? Look,

yes you can, look. Here, look at the girl.) Yolanda then demanded the book and began

flipping through, looking for the part that she could be in. Javier and Rafael continued to

point out each illustration of the main character as Yolanda was flipping the pages, telling

her that it could be her. (Yolanda and the main character have similar appearances.) She

brushed them off and continued to look for her favorite part, saying that she could only

be in the part where they mix the paint to make the color magenta, although she also did

not deny it when Javier said that she could hug her mother like the girl in the picture

(Table 7). When I asked her if what happened to the girl in the story could happen to her,

she shook her head “no” emphatically.

Verónica stated that her favorite part was when the main character bought a lamp

because it was pink and had crystals. She said that the story could not be about her

because she doesn’t like boys; she only has two sisters (no brothers). Rafael initially

brought up zombies again, but when pressed he said that this story could happen to him

because he would like to sleep in his own room. He also appeared to enjoy identifying

with the illustrations in the text, flipping the pages and commenting that he likes to put

things in his mouth like the characters who are licking stamps on one page, and saying

that he wouldn’t like to have a baby at home who could crawl on his face. When asked if

there was a part of the book that they didn’t like, Rafael brought up the baby crawling on

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the main character in bed. Javier also enjoyed looking at the illustrations, and was

especially captivated by the yellow houses on one page that he said looked like fire. He

related that his cousins don’t have a bed and have to sleep with their parents, showing an

awareness of poverty that was not present in the EHL students’ discussion.

The discussion ended where it began, with a discussion of snoring. Yolanda said

that she didn’t like it when the main character’s father snored because, “Mi papi siempre

ronca.” (My daddy always snores.) Verónica and Rafael said that their parents snore as

well and all the students began making snoring sounds. Yolanda asked if she could

borrow the book so as to get the exact color of magenta correct in her drawing and the

discussion concluded. The students did not bring up any direct connections to Mexico in

relation to this text.

EHL focal students’ discussion. Ava began the discussion by proudly reading

her written response, where she said that she liked when the main character reads to her

little brother because she could tell that they liked it, showing a connection to the cultural

value of familism that was so evident in this text (Table 4). “Yo me gusta cuando la niña

estaba leyendo un libro a los hermanos chiquitos y yo ve que los niños le gusta cuando la

niña estaba leyendo a los niños chiquitos.” (I like when the girl was reading a book to the

little brothers and I see that the boys liked when the girl was reading to the little boys.)

When I asked why, she said that she chose to write about that part because she enjoys it

when her mother reads to her. When I asked, however, she said that she felt that she

could not be part of this book because not very many people come to her house, referring

to how crowded the house in the book was. However, later in the discussion she revised

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her answer, saying that when her brother was little he would come to her room and want

her to read to him, so perhaps she could be part of this book (Table 7).

Oliver said that he could be part of this book because he shares a room with his

brother, but he made sure to point out that, unlike in the story, he and his brother each

have their own bed and he enjoys sharing his room (Table 7). When I asked later if what

happened in the book could happen t to him, however, he said that it could not. Brianna

wrote that she did not like when the main character did not have enough space. She said

that she could be in this book because, “Yo le encanta a leer y yo tiene muchos, muchos

personas en mi familia.” (I love to read and I have many, many people in my family.)

However, she clarified that the many members of her family do not live under one roof;

she was referring to her extended family who live in separate homes. She also said that

what happened in the book could not happen to her. Ian also read his written response in

which he said that he could be in this book because his family comforts him when he is

sad, showing an awareness of and connection to the value of familism in this text.

However, he also responded that what happened in this book could not happen to him.

The EHL students agreed that they didn’t like the part where the children were

squished in the bed with the baby crawling on their heads. Ava said, “Es difícil cuando

una bebé estaba en tu cabeza y no puedes breathe.” (It’s difficult when a baby was on

your head and you can’t breathe.) However, Ian pointed out that the baby was very cute

and probably enjoyed crawling on the older kids. There was no mention of poverty,

immigration, or Mexico during this discussion.

Preferences

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Only one SHL student chose My Very Own Room / Mi propio cuartito (Pérez &

Gonzalez, 2000) as his favorite text and three chose it as their least favorite, including

Javier (Tables 8 and 9). Two EHL students chose it as their favorite, one of whom was

Ava, who initially chose La señorita Runfio (Cooney & Porter, 1996) but then realized

that it was in Spanish whereas My Very Own Room / Mi propio cuartito (Pérez &

Gonzalez, 2000) was in both English and Spanish. Although I offered to bring her a copy

of Miss Rumphius (Cooney & Porter, 1982) in English, she chose to stick with My Very

Own Room / Mi propio cuartito (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2000). One EHL student, Brianna,

chose it as her least favorite text, although it was also the only text to which she admitted

feeling a part of.

Book 6: Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los meros meros remateros

This was the last text we read during the study and the third CR book. It tells the

story of a young Mexican American boy named Juanito and his outing to the flea market.

Juanito lives in Fresno, California, his family is poor, and he has dark hair, eyes, and

skin. He is living with his grandmother while his parents have traveled north to pick fruit.

His grandmother goes to the flea market every Sunday morning to sell used clothing and

Juanito accompanies her there. Herrera presents the flea market as a magical world of

wonderful sights, sounds, and tastes of Mexico, peopled by a community of friendly

vendors who know and help each other. This book was commended by the Américas

Award in 2002 (Table 3). According to my text analysis protocol, the strongest cultural

themes in this text are community, cultural pride, and intergenerationalism (Table 4).

Secondary themes of poverty, spirituality, Mexico as home, migrant farmworkers, and

language issues are also evident. The cultural value of familism is strong. Cultural

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markers included in this book are traditional food, traditional clothing, traditional décor,

cultural holiday/celebration, terms of address, music, and traditional herbal medicine.

Picture Walks

There was an English-speaking substitute teacher in the classroom on the day we

read this text because Ms. Diaz was conducting quarterly reading assessments in a

neighboring room. I met with the EHL students first. They decided that even though Ms.

Diaz was not present, they would continue to conduct the picture walks in Spanish.

EHL focal students’ picture walks. Ava and Oliver took turns describing a few

key things on each page of the book and quickly completed their picture walk. Although

they did not say a lot about each page, they were carefully observing the pictures and

trying to piece together a story. Ava noticed Juanito’s facial expression on one page and

commented,

Y veo que hay un abuelo, abuela, con una, um zapato, y el niño no quiero porque um, no estaba so sure. (And I see that there is a grandfather, grandmother, with a, um shoe, and the boy doesn’t want it because um, he wasn’t so sure.)

Brianna and Ian were more competitive for turns to talk, but they also noticed

characters’ facial expressions and tried to describe many details on each page.

Neither pair of EHL students immediately identified any of the many cultural

markers present in the illustrations by name. Ian referred to the chiles and herbs at the

flea market simply as “fruta y otros tipos de cosas” (fruit and other types of things).

Similarly, Ava did not identify the chile peppers, saying “Hay, um, personas comiendo,

um, cosas.” (There are, um, people eating, um, things.) Oliver tried to read the names of

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the chiles for sale at the flea market but was not successful. Brianna mistakenly identified

the large Mexican belt shown in one illustration as a picture frame.

SHL focal students’ picture walks. Yolanda and Javier noticed many of the

cultural markers present in the illustrations. They began the picture walk by easily

surmising that the characters were driving to the flea market to sell clothing, and Yolanda

noticed the rosary beads hanging from the rearview mirror in the grandmother’s van.

Javier immediately identified the chiles at the flea market, saying “¡Ay ya yay, mira,

chiles! Jalapeño, jalapeño, que sea, pero es jalapeño chile.” (Ay ya yay, look, chiles!

Jalapeño, jalapeño, whatever, but it’s jalapeño chile.) Later in the book, he commented

on the chiles in the illustrations again and Yolanda mentioned that her father eats chiles.

Javier said that his father eats them too. They also commented on the belt worn by one of

the vendors at the flea market, identifying it as Mexican.

Javier: Que cinturón tan grandeeee. (What a biiiiig belt.) Yolanda: Mi turno. Oh, mi papi tiene uno de estos. (My turn. Oh, my daddy has one of those.) Javier: A mi también. (Me too.) Yolanda: Es de México. (It’s from Mexico.)

In addition, Yolanda proudly identified jamaica (hibiscus water) in one of the

illustrations.

Rafael and Verónica did not immediately identify any of the cultural markers as

Mexican, but they did make some detailed observations of the illustrations. Once again,

about halfway through the picture walk, Rafael took over the book and flipped through

the pages, quickly describing a few things happening on each, while Verónica sat

listening.

Written Responses

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Seven out of 18 students (39%) made personal connections to this text, three SHL

students and four EHL students (Table 5). Several students wrote about the characters in

the story giving and receiving items, showing an awareness of the events that exemplified

the strong theme of community (Table 4).

EHL students’ written responses. Four out of 12 EHL students (33%) made

personal connections to this text (Table 5), and they were the four focal students. By this

point in the study, it is possible that the focal students had become aware of the fact that I

was interested in whether they could personally connect with the stories, or that they had

been inadvertently trained to do so. Ava wrote that she liked it when the man ate the hot

chile pepper because his face got red and it reminded her of her brother’s face because he

has red cheeks. Oliver also wrote that he liked the part with the chile pepper, because he

and his father like chile peppers, but not the spicy kind. Brianna wrote that she liked the

boots that were sold in the book because she likes to wear boots when she rides horses.

Lastly, Ian’s response was, YO SI PUEDO ESTAR EN ESTE LIBRO PORQUE YO DA

COMO CHICLE A MI NEYBR Y TAMBIEN YO DA JUGETES QUE YO NO QUIERO Y

YO Y MI MAMÁ COMEN CHUROS Y MI PAPÁ FIX COSAS COMO UN GITARRA. (I

can be in this book because I give like gum to my neighbor and also I give toys that I

don’t want and my mom and I eat churros and my dad fixes things like a guitar.) This

response shows an awareness of the theme of community members giving and helping

those in need, as well as an ability to find personal connections to the characters.

Two additional EHL students wrote that they liked when Juanito was given a

blanket, but did not explain why. Another student wrote about Juanito receiving items

without reflecting an understanding of the community theme, saying in his dictation,

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“Where the guy gets all the toys and I like it because it’s really funny.” This was the

same student whose response showed a lack of awareness of the poverty theme in Un

sillón para mi mamá (Williams, 1994). However, another EHL student wrote about

Juanito being a good grandson because he brought lots of things for his grandmother; he

was the only one to write about intergenerationalism and familism. This was Blake, the

same student who wrote about the community and family members helping each other in

relation to Un sillón para mi mamá (Williams, 1994) and Finding the Music / En pos de

la música (Torres & Alarcão, 2015).

Four EHL students chose to write about when a man in the text accidentally ate a

hot chile pepper. While the chile was one of the cultural markers in the text, the EHL

students did not write in a way that indicated that they identified it as such. They merely

said that the incident was “chistoso” (funny). While none of the EHL students gave any

indication that they understood that Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los meros meros

remateros (Herrera & De Lucio-Brock, 2002) contained Mexican cultural content,

Madison said in her dictation that she liked this book, “because it had a lot of different

things in it, because it discovers people to do stuff,” showing a possibility that she

recognized and appreciated that this text contained cultural content that was different

from the norm. However, a week later when it was time to state preferences, Madison

chose this book as her least favorite of all the texts in the study.

SHL students’ written responses. Three out of seven SHL students (43%) made

personal connections to this text (Table 5), including Javier and Rafael. Javier wrote that

he liked it when they went to the flea market because he could be part of this book. He

wrote, MI PARTE FAVORITO ES CUANDO FUERON AL REMATE PORQUE PUEDO

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SER EL PARTE DEL LIBRO. (My favorite part is when they went to the flea market

because I can be the part of the book.) Javier’s picture shows himself with a big smile

holding up a book, labeled with the words YO (I) and LIBRO (book). Rafael said that he

didn’t like it when the man bit the chile pepper because he wouldn’t want that to happen

to him. The third SHL student wrote, MI PART FUE CUANDO AGARO LA PELOTA

PORCE YO ANTES JUGAVA CON MI PRIMO Y A MI ME GUSTO CUANDO SE

COMIO LAS ENCHILADAS PORCE MI PAPÁ COME ENCHILADAS (My part was

when he got the ball because I used to play with my cousin and I liked when he ate the

enchiladas because my dad eats enchiladas). This response points to an awareness of the

cultural specificity of the text with regards to traditional food, and also seems to illustrate

cultural pride. This particular SHL student wrote personal connections in his responses to

all three CR texts.

Yolanda wrote that she liked it when Juanito gave the grandmother lots of things,

connecting to the themes of intergenerationalism and familism. Two additional SHL

students, including Verónica, also wrote about parts of the text where the characters gave

and received items, showing a connection to the community theme (Table 4). Although

their picture walk clearly showed that Javier and Yolanda were aware that this book

contained elements of Mexican culture, and cultural pride is a strong theme in this text,

their written responses did not contain reference to any cultural markers. While many

students wrote about the incident with the chile pepper, I did not feel that I could reliably

judge whether they did so because of cultural pride, so I did not attempt to tally the

number of responses that showed evidence of connecting to the cultural pride theme.

Discussions

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I met with the EHL students first to discuss this text.

EHL focal students’ discussion. Brianna, Oliver, and Ava all wanted to talk

about when the man eats the hot chile pepper, saying that this was their favorite part. Ian

said that he liked it when the kids gave the toys and other things to the grandmother

because it was a good thing to do. While this may have been a slight misunderstanding

because they don’t actually give her toys, they do bring her many things.

When asked if they felt that they could be part of this book, Oliver replied that he

could because he has candy at his house that is very, very old (Table 4). In the book, the

characters say that “old can be new.” Brianna originally responded that she could not be

part of this book but then changed her answer because she likes to ride horses and she

wears boots for that activity, which were featured in the story. Ava also responded “no”

at first, but then said that her father could be in the book because he likes to fix things.

Later in the discussion, she added that she could be in the book because her grandmother

gives her lots of things. Like the previous week, she seemed to be enjoying discovering

ways to connect with the text.

Ian said that his father likes to fix guitars and that he could be in the book because

he gives gum and toys to his neighbor, perhaps tuning in to the theme of community

present in the text (Table 7). When I asked if what happened to Juanito in the book could

happen to them, however, the students initially replied “no.” Brianna felt that she would

not be allowed to go around the flea market by herself without adult supervision. This

could be an indication that she was aware of the community represented in the text but

did not feel that it reflected her reality. Oliver pointed out that perhaps Juanito is older

than they are and so needs less supervision. Ava felt that it was okay for the kids to be by

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themselves because the grandmother was watching them from her booth, bringing up the

topic of intergenerationalism. Ian then decided that what happened to Juanito could

actually happen to him because sometimes he goes places with his grandmother. He also

said that he and his mother like to eat churros. The conversation did not touch on the

major themes of cultural pride or Mexico as home.

SHL focal students’ discussion. When I asked what they thought about this

book, Yolanda replied that the boy brought lots of things to the grandmother on the last

page. I asked her what that made her think about and she replied, “Así mi mami me

hace.” (That’s what my mommy does for me.) These comments reflected an awareness

of intergenerationalism and familism represented in the texts. However, her comment

also led directly to a story about how her mother gives more things to her little sister, who

she took to Burger King while Yolanda was at school.

Javier asked why the man at the jewelry booth was crying and I explained that he

missed his home town in Mexico. This elicited the following reply from Yolanda: “Hey,

mi mami vive en México y mi papi también.” (Hey, my mommy lives in Mexico and my

daddy too.) While her parents do not currently live in Mexico, her response reflects an

awareness of the fact that Mexico still represents home in her family.

Javier then wanted to share his written response, where he said that he felt that he

could be in this book because he goes to the flea market sometimes (Table 7). Verónica

then shared that her favorite part was the blanket with the peacock on it. She said that she

could be part of this book because she likes peacocks, but when I asked if what happened

in the story could happen to her, she said no. Rafael also said that he could not be part of

the book, saying that he could not sell anything, but Javier and Yolanda said that he

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could. After flipping pages for a long time and saying that the book was loco (crazy),

Rafael decided that his favorite part was the peacock blanket as well.

When I asked if there was a part of the book that they did not like, Verónica

brought up the page where a man eats a raw hot chile pepper. Verónica gave detailed

accounts of the different chiles she had tried, although she did not know their names. She

seemed to be enjoying speaking in English. Yolanda, Rafael, and Javier piped up with

accounts of their experiences eating different chiles as well. The conversation was lively

with lots of laughter.

Verónica: I liked the green one. Annie: You liked the green one? Verónica: Uh huh. But I had to drink water. Yolanda: I ate the red one. Annie: You had to— Yolanda: I ate the red one. Annie: The red one? Rafael: No me gustó esta. (I didn’t like this.) Verónica: Oh my God, that’s… kind of spicy. Annie: Pero hay diferentes tiops, ¿verdad? Rafael: No me gustó esta parte. (I didn’t like this part.) Annie: ¿Cómo se llama? (What’s it called?) Javier: Cuando yo estaba un bebé yo comí de chile. (When I was a baby I ate chile.) Verónica: My mom only eats [inaudible]. Yolanda: Son de los que son flaquitos (They are the ones that are skinny)

After this, Rafael finally managed to get our attention and tell us that he didn’t

like the part with the chile pepper because once he ate chile in a soup and it got on his

hands and it made his face turn red. Javier continued to insist that he ate chile as a baby

and Yolanda concluded that the chiles in the text are the ones used to make salsa roja.

She also told a story about a car that her father bought and fixed up using the same tools

as were shown in one of the illustrations.

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This conversation reflected a sense of cultural pride that was definitely evident in

the text, especially with regard to the chiles. It also touched briefly on Mexico as home

and community members giving each other gifts.

Preferences

Even though the students seemed to enjoy this text and it was the last text we read

and therefore the freshest in their minds, no SHL students chose it as their favorite or

least favorite (Table 9). Only one EHL student chose this text as his favorite (it was

Blake, the student who continually wrote about the theme of community in his

responses). Madison was the only student to choose this text as her least favorite.

Summary of Results of Part 2

In this section, I present a summary of the results of Part 2 organized by sub-

question of RQ2: How does the cultural content of a text affect students’ reading

responses, if at all?

a) Which aspects of the texts do students choose to write about and discuss?

b) What personal connections and connections to cultural content are evident in

the students’ responses? What evidence is there of distancing or resistance?

c) Do students prefer texts that are culturally relevant?

d) How do students construct their cultural and school identities during

discussions of the texts?

Topics for Writing and Discussion (RQ2a)

Which aspects of the texts do students choose to write about and discuss?

Students from both home language groups often chose similar topics for the written

responses. Both SHL students and EHL students were able to engage with mainstream

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and CR stories enough to know which parts they found to be the most exciting and

entertaining, and these parts of the books were almost always what individuals chose to

write about. In addition, the two groups of students generally had similar ideas about

which events in the stories were worth writing about, regardless of whether the texts were

mainstream or CR (e.g., when Alexander fell in the mud, when Miss Rumphius scattered

flower seeds, when Reyna received the lucky sombrero, when the man ate a hot chile

pepper). However, the ways in which the two groups of students wrote about a topic

sometimes differed. For example, the house fire in Un sillón para mi mamá (Williams,

1994) provoked a more serious response from the SHL students, who used this event in

the book to think about the possibility of fire as a serious calamity in a person’s life,

whereas most of the EHL students represented the fire simply as an entertaining part of

the story.

In addition, the events that the students chose to write about had different personal

and cultural connotations for different groups of students. This in turn affected whether

their responses contained personal or cultural connections. For example, a SHL student

who chose to write about when Reyna received the lucky sombrero in Finding the Music

/ En pos de la música (Torres & Alarcão, 2015) did so because this was a pivotal point in

the story and because he likes mariachi music and has a similar sombrero at home, while

the EHL students were less likely to have this type of personal and cultural connection to

the event in the text. I will discuss connections to the texts further in the following

section.

While the topics chosen for written response were largely similar across language

groups, this was not true of the small group oral discussions. Topics varied significantly

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between the two focal groups of students, despite my effort to maintain consistency by

using a discussion question protocol. In the discussions of the mainstream books, the

SHL students were eager to launch into topics that were not directly related to events in

the story, usually fueled by one word from the text that was used as a vehicle to transition

the conversation to another topic, such as espantoso (scary) in Alexander… (Viorst &

Cruz, 1989), loca (crazy) in La señorita Runfio (Cooney & Porter, 1996), and ceniza

(ash) in Un sillón para mi mamá (Williams, 1994). These words led to discussions about

the students’ fear of ghosts, fathers who came home intoxicated, and deceased siblings,

respectively. My conversations with the EHL students never dealt with such serious

topics and rarely wandered so far from the texts themselves.

Similarly, during the picture walks with the mainstream texts, the SHL students

sometimes preferred to go off-topic. With La señorita Runfio (Cooney & Porter, 1996),

for example, Yolanda and Rafael created a story that was more interesting and dramatic

than what was actually depicted in the illustrations by turning the main character into an

evil witch, and with Un sillón para mi mamá (Williams, 1994), Javier and Rafael were

more interested in counting things in the pictures than trying to create a story. This type

of behavior was less evident during the picture walks of the CR text. In contrast, the EHL

students did not create narratives during the any of the picture walks that were not

directly supported by what they saw in the illustrations.

With the CR books, the SHL students were excited to see the Mexican cultural

markers represented in the illustrations, and they were proud that they could identify

them. The cultural markers in the pictures helped them to make spontaneous connections

between what they saw in the books and events from their own lives, and sparked their

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interest in the stories the pictures told. The EHL students were also able to describe what

they saw in the pictures in the CR books using general terms, but they did not comment

on any of the cultural markers depicted in the illustrations and did not seem to be aware

of the cultural content of the texts.

Another notable finding regarding the content of the students’ responses was the

frequency with which the SHL students’ discussions focused on Mexico. Because

Mexico is an important part of the SHL focal students’ lives, regardless of whether

Mexico was represented in the text we were discussing, they often included it in the

discussion. For example, all it took was my mention of the word “travel” in relation to La

señorita Runfio (Cooney & Porter, 1996), and the students excitedly began a discussion

of the various methods by which one can travel to Mexico, who has been there, and

which relatives still live there, even though Mexico is never mentioned in that text. The

SHL students also brought up Mexico in relation to Finding the Music / En pos de la

música (Torres & Alarcão, 2015) and Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los meros meros

remateros (Herrera & De Lucio-Brock, 2002), when, because of the cultural content of

those CR texts, it was more relevant to the literary discussion. Mexico never came up in

my discussions with the EHL students, even when it was a focus of the text at hand.

Connections and Distancing (RQ2b)

What personal connections and connections to cultural content are evident in the

students’ responses? What evidence is there of distancing or resistance? In their written

responses and dictations, the SHL students in the class were more likely to make a

personal connection to the texts than the EHL students overall. That is, the percentage of

SHL students who made a personal connection in their writing or dictation was always

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higher than that of the EHL students, except for when we read La señorita Runfio

(Cooney & Porter, 1996). However, the sample sizes are too small to make claims about

the significance of this. The texts with the highest incidences of personal connection for

SHL students, where half of them made a personal connection in their writing or

dictation, were Un sillón para mi mamá (Williams, 1994), Finding the Music / En pos de

la música (Torres & Alarcão, 2015), and My Very Own Room / Mi propio cuartito (Pérez

& Gonzalez, 2000). The text with the lowest incidence of personal connection for SHL

students was La señorita Runfio (Cooney & Porter, 1996). See Table 5.

The EHL students’ rate of personal connection usually hovered around 30%

(about a third of English speakers connected personally with any given text), with the

highest percentage (36%) connecting with My Very Own Room / Mi propio cuartito

(Pérez & Gonzalez, 2000) and the lowest (10%) to Finding the Music / En pos de la

música (Torres & Alarcão, 2015). However, while the EHL students were not able to

connect personally with Finding the Music / En pos de la música (Torres & Alarcão,

2015) in the same way the SHL students were in their written responses, during the small

group discussions I found that the EHL focal students seemed to enjoy finding ways to

connect personally with the CR texts, even as they recognized that the worlds depicted

were perhaps different from their own. For example, Ava at first felt that she did not

belong in My Very Own Room / Mi propio cuartito (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2000), but after

further discussion she triumphantly announced that she could in fact be part of this text

because she reads to her little brother. She then went on to write about this in her written

response and to choose this text as her favorite at the end of the study.

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While the percentage of SHL students who wrote personal connections was

usually higher, the type of personal connection the students made differed by home

language group (Table 6). Only SHL students engaged in the type of personal connection

that involved putting oneself in the shoes of the characters or the world of the story in

their written responses (e.g., If I were in that situation, I would…). These can be

characterized as sliding door connections. In addition, SHL students made this type of

personal connection more frequently with the mainstream books, possibly because

personal experiences did not immediately come to mind upon hearing those stories. With

the three mainstream texts, the SHL students as a group had just two connections to

personal experience or preference (mirror connections) and six to imagining themselves

in the story world (sliding door connections). The latter type of connection usually took

the form of imagining themselves as helpers (e.g. cleaning up the world, giving people

money, and putting out fires). The text that inspired the most connections by imagining

themselves in the story world was Un sillón para mi mamá (Williams, 1994).

The SHL students were less likely to connect the events in the mainstream texts to

events in their own lives in their writing, even when they had experiences that were

similar to events portrayed in the book, such as traveling to another country. Only two

SHL students wrote connections to personal experiences to mainstream texts, and both

were in response to Alexander… (Viorst & Cruz, 1989). They were more likely to make

connections to events in their own lives with the CR texts. With the CR texts, SHL

students as a group had eight connections to personal experiences or preferences (mirror

connections) and just three to imagining themselves in the story world (Table 6). They

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made the most connections to personal experiences or preferences in relation to My Very

Own Room / Mi propio cuartito (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2000).

The EHL students did not insert themselves into the story worlds in their written

responses, regardless of text type. All of their personal connections were mirror

connections (Table 6). Even when the EHL students were unfamiliar with a story world,

for example, when we read Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los meros meros remateros

(Herrera & De Lucio-Brock, 2002), the EHL students who chose to make a personal

connection did so by reaching for a connection to a personal experience rather than

imagining themselves in a character’s shoes. The EHL students had 11 personal

connections to experiences or preferences with the mainstream books, and no mainstream

text received significantly more connections than any other. With the CR books, the EHL

students made ten personal connections, almost the same number.

During small group discussions, the SHL focal students could make personal

connections to the mainstream texts when asked to do so. For example, during our

discussion of Alexander… (Viorst & Cruz, 1989) all four SHL focal students could talk

about a time when they had a bad day when I asked them to. Additionally, when I asked

Yolanda and Verónica why they liked certain parts of the text, the reasons they gave were

personal connections. For example, Yolanda said that she liked when the kids in the book

got prizes in their cereal because she never gets a prize in her cereal. However, these

personal connections did not transfer to the students’ writing, perhaps because they were

not spontaneous, or because the students did not feel that their personal stories were

important to write about in relation to the mainstream texts. In fact, all but one of the

SHL focal students did not make personal connections to this text in their written

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responses or dictations, despite the fact that I had asked them to make personal

connections during our small group discussion before the writing period. The one SHL

focal student who did make a personal connection, Verónica, made a connection that was

far removed from the actual text. In contrast, three out of the four EHL focal students

spontaneously made personal connections to events depicted in Alexander… (Viorst &

Cruz, 1989) in their written responses or dictations, even without having discussed

personal connections with me beforehand. When the SHL focal students did make

personal connections to the mainstream texts spontaneously during the discussions, they

were almost always far removed from the actual text. For example, Rafael’s story about

his brother’s ashes did not relate directly to Un sillón para mi mamá… (Williams, 1994).

These spontaneous personal stories also never appeared in the students’ writing, perhaps

because the students felt that they were too far removed from the actual texts to be

appropriate topics for writing.

With the CR books, the personal connections made by the SHL focal students

during our discussions were more spontaneous and more closely related to the books. For

example, immediately upon sitting down at the discussion table, Javier declared that he

could be part of My Very Own Room / Mi propio cuartito (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2000)

because he snores like the father in the book. He also chose to write about this part of the

text in his written response. Later in the discussion, he asked his peers if they sleep with

their parents or by themselves, a personal question related closely to the plot of the text.

In contrast, during our discussion of La señorita Runfio (Cooney & Porter, 1982), his

contribution to the discussion was continually bringing up that Miss Rumphius was loca

(crazy). He was unwilling or unable to imagine himself or anyone in his family as part of

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this story and was not able to engage in meaningful discussion of it. Even during our

conversation of Alexander… (Viorst & Cruz, 1989), a text that Javier enjoyed, he did not

make any spontaneous personal connections.

The SHL focal students also made personal connections during the CR picture

walks without any prompting from me. These connections were catalyzed by the

culturally-specific images they saw in the illustrations. While the EHL students did not

make personal connections during the CR picture walks, they were able to make personal

connections to the CR texts during the small group discussions when prompted.

Belonging in the story world. During our small group discussions, I tried to gain

an understanding of whether the focal students felt that they could be part of the world of

the story at hand. I asked them directly whether they could be part of the book, and

whether the events portrayed could happen to them, as a way to gauge the degree to

which they could identify with the characters portrayed and feel at home in the world of

the story. While their answers sometimes changed as our discussion progressed, their

responses were still illuminating. Looking at individual focal students’ responses to the

questions across the entire study, it is possible to gain some insight into the students’

feelings of belonging in the context of each of the books. Their responses are listed in

Table 7. In the case of a student who changed his or her answer, the answer they settled

on at the end of the discussion is shown.

SHL focal students. In the SHL focal group, Javier responded that he could not

be part of any of the mainstream texts and that he could be part of all three CR texts.

Rafael only said that he felt that he could be part of Finding the Music / En pos de la

música (Torres & Alarcão, 2015) and My Very Own Room / Mi propio cuartito (Pérez &

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Gonzalez, 2000) originally, although he was able to find a way to belong in La señorita

Runfio (Cooney & Porter, 1996) by saying that he could pick up trash. Verónica said that

she could be part of Un sillón para mi mamá (Williams, 1994) by helping to put out the

fire, Finding the Music / En pos de la música (Torres & Alarcão, 2015), and Grandma

and Me at the Flea / Los meros meros remateros (Herrera & De Lucio-Brock, 2002).

However, she said that she could be part of Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los meros

meros remateros (Herrera & De Lucio-Brock, 2002) because she liked the peacock, but

that what happened to Juanito could not happen to her. Verónica also said that her sister

could be in Alexander… (Viorst & Cruz, 1989) because she has bad days at school, but

she did not say that she could be part of the book herself. Yolanda felt that she could be

part of Finding the Music / En pos de la música (Torres & Alarcão, 2015) and My Very

Own Room / Mi propio cuartito (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2000), and none of the mainstream

texts. She unfortunately did not respond to the question during our discussion of

Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los meros meros remateros (Herrera & De Lucio-Brock,

2002).

All four SHL focal students felt that they could be part of Finding the Music / En

pos de la música (Torres & Alarcão, 2015) and all but Verónica felt that they could be

part of My Very Own Room / Mi propio cuartito (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2000). The SHL

students’ facial expressions and comments during small group discussions made it clear

that they liked it when they could feel that they were included in the context of the story.

Javier’s joyfulness upon discovering a boy who resembled him in an illustration of

Finding the Music / En pos de la música (Torres & Alarcão, 2015) was a clear illustration

of this, and his joy was also apparent in his written response to this text where he drew a

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smiling self-portrait holding up a copy of the book. Yolanda’s feeling of satisfaction upon

finding a character with whom she could identify also showed up in our discussion and

when she drew herself as Reyna in her written response.

EHL focal students. In the EHL focal group, Ian said that he could be part of

every book we read in the study (Table 7). Ava, on the other hand, initially responded

that she could not be part of any of the books. In the two last discussions of the study,

however, she revised her initial answers later in the discussions, finding ways to identify

with the last two texts: My Very Own Room / Mi propio cuartito (Pérez & Gonzalez,

2000) and Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los meros meros remateros (Herrera & De

Lucio-Brock, 2002). She was unfortunately absent for our discussion of Alexander…

(Viorst & Cruz, 1989). Oliver said that he could be part of Alexander… (Viorst & Cruz,

1989), Un sillón para mi mamá (Williams, 1994), My Very Own Room / Mi propio

cuartito (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2000), and Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los meros meros

remateros (Herrera & De Lucio-Brock, 2002). However, he also said that what happened

in all three CR books could not happen to him. Brianna only said that she could be part of

My Very Own Room / Mi propio cuartito (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2000), because of the large

family portrayed in this text. However, she also said that what happened to the main

character in that text could not happen to her and that her family lives in different houses.

Her statement that she could not be in Alexander… (Viorst & Cruz, 1989) because she

did not want gum in her hair shows that she was actually able to put herself in that

character’s shoes. Notably, Brianna’s mixed cultural background of White and Afro-

Brazilian was sadly absent from the books used in this study.

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The only book that all four of the focal EHL students said they felt they could be

part of in some way was My Very Own Room / Mi propio cuartito (Pérez & Gonzalez,

2000), perhaps because having one’s own room is a very relatable topic for a first grader,

despite the fact that this text is not culturally relevant for them. However, three of the

EHL focal students also stated that what happens to the main character in this text could

not happen to them.

Cultural connections. The mainstream texts provided little opportunity for the

SHL students to connect with their cultural backgrounds. However, I did find evidence

supporting the idea that even mainstream texts that contain themes that align with

Mexican American cultural relevance provide more opportunity for students to connect

culturally than those texts that do not. With the one mainstream text that contained more

significant evidence of the themes of family and poverty, Un sillón para mi mamá

(Williams, 1994), the SHL students were slightly more likely to include elements that

reflected those themes in their written responses than the EHL students (Table 4). In

addition, although I did not include secondary themes in the table, three SHL students

(38%) wrote about elements of the story that reflected the culturally relevant theme of

community, which was a secondary theme in this text, whereas only one EHL student did

so. However, in Alexander… (Viorst & Cruz, 1989) and La señorita Runfio (Cooney &

Porter, 1996) when the Mexican American culturally relevant themes were not primary,

the students did not write about them or bring them up for discussion.

With the CR books, the SHL students had many more opportunities to connect

with Mexican American cultural themes (Table 4). For example, community was a

primary theme in Finding the Music / En pos de la música (Torres & Alarcão, 2015) and

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nearly all the SHL students in the class (seven out of eight, or 88%) wrote about elements

of the text that reflected the community theme. Most of the EHL students were able to

recognize the community theme in relation to this text as well (69%), reflecting that this

theme was stronger and more central to the story in this CR text.

For the SHL students, cultural markers were also central in facilitating both

personal and cultural connections. The strongest cultural connections evident in the study

came from the cultural markers the SHL students noticed during the picture walks in the

illustrations of Finding the Music / En pos de la música (Torres & Alarcão, 2015) and

Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los meros meros remateros (Herrera & De Lucio-Brock,

2002). Some of the SHL focal students discovered these cultural markers immediately

and independently and they sparked recognition and delight. These cultural connections

then easily led to personal connections as well, as in Finding the Music / En pos de la

música (Torres & Alarcão, 2015) when recognition of Day of the Dead decorations in an

illustration led Yolanda and Verónica to discuss their school’s approaching celebration of

this holiday. The Mexican American cultural markers went entirely unnoticed or

unremarked upon by the EHL focal students.

While the mainstream texts did not offer many opportunities for the SHL focal

students to connect with their cultural selves, the students tried to bring their culture into

the conversation anyway during our small group discussions. For example, we discussed

travel to Mexico instead of the events depicted in La señorita Runfio (Cooney & Porter,

1996) and Javier brought up Mexican professional wrestling in relation to Alexander…

(Viorst & Cruz, 1989). When this happened, the SHL students seemed to be connecting

with their culture, but not with the book. They did not include these cultural connections

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in their written responses, perhaps because they did not feel that they were appropriate to

the literary response task.

Cultural connections made by the students led them to show feelings of cultural

pride during our conversations of the CR texts. For example, the SHL students were

eager to explain their knowledge of chile peppers to me, and to tell me that their school

makes special Day of the Dead bread for all the students. Cultural pride was also evident

during our discussions of the mainstream texts when the SHL students brought up

Mexico, but these conversations were not connected to the books.

Distancing or resistance. While the SHL focal students were usually cooperative

during the small group discussions, and tried their best to comply with my requests for

them to think deeply about these books, at times they clearly wanted to discuss things

other than the texts. These moments could be thought of as moments of distancing or

resistance to the texts, and they mostly occurred when we were discussing mainstream

books. For example, Yolanda placed distance between her life and Alexander’s when she

categorically distinguished between Alexander’s bad day and her sister’s. Resistance to

the books was even more evident during the SHL students’ picture walks, when I was not

as directly involved as a facilitator. The most extreme example was with La señorita

Runfio (Cooney & Porter, 1996), when neither pair of SHL focal students stayed on task.

Notably, the pictures in this text are also the most far removed from the students’ lives of

any of the books used in the study.

The students also showed some reluctance to identify with characters in the texts

when upsetting things happened to them. For example, most of the focal students were

not eager to place themselves in the world of Un sillón para mi mamá (Williams, 1994)

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because they did not want to imagine their homes burning down. This was true in both

groups of focal students.

Preferences (RQ2c)

I asked the students to choose their favorite and least favorite text at the end of the

study and they got to take a copy of their favorite book home to keep. The goal was to

answer the question: Do students prefer texts that are culturally relevant?

SHL students. Four SHL students in the class chose mainstream texts as their

favorites and five chose CR texts, showing a slight preference for culturally relevant texts

in this group (Table 9). Finding the Music / En pos de la música (Torres & Alarcão,

2015) and Alexander… (Viorst & Cruz, 1989) were the two most popular texts with the

SHL students and Alexander… (Viorst & Cruz, 1989) and My Very Own Room / Mi

propio cuartito (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2000) were the two texts that received the most votes

for least favorite from SHL students. Alexander… (Viorst & Cruz, 1989) seemed to

promote strong feelings of both enjoyment and dislike.

As for the SHL focal students’ choices, Javier and Rafael chose mainstream texts

as their favorites and Verónica and Yolanda chose CR books (Table 8). Verónica and

Yolanda both chose Finding the Music / En pos de la música (Torres & Alarcão, 2015)

even though they were not together when they made their choices. Javier opted for

Alexander… (Viorst & Cruz, 1989); even though he said he did not see himself in this

story, he clearly enjoyed it. Rafael chose La señorita Runfio (Cooney & Porter, 1996),

possibly because this was the first text that he found a way to connect with personally and

he was very proud of his response.

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EHL students. Six EHL students chose mainstream books as their favorites at the

end of the study, while seven chose CR books, again showing a slight preference for the

CR texts, which are not culturally relevant for this group, but which do align with the

dual language curriculum ideals in which students are supposed to learn not just the

Spanish language, but about Spanish-speaking cultures (Table 9). Alexander… (Viorst &

Cruz, 1989) tied with Finding the Music / En pos de la música (Torres & Alarcão, 2015)

for most popular with the EHL students. Notably, both SHL and EHL students chose

these two books as their favorites. Alexander… (Viorst & Cruz, 1989) and Un sillón para

mi mamá (Williams, 1994) were the two books that received the most votes for least

favorite with the EHL group. Once again Alexander… (Viorst & Cruz, 1989) received the

most votes in both directions.

Two EHL focal students chose mainstream texts as their favorites (Brianna and

Ian) and two chose CR books (Ava and Oliver). Ian originally chose Finding the Music /

En pos de la música (Torres & Alarcão, 2015) but asked to change his vote at the last

minute because his grandmother has Miss Rumphius (Cooney & Porter, 1982) in English

at her house and he thinks it’s “muy bueno” (really good). Brianna chose Alexander…

(Viorst & Cruz, 1989) because she thought it was funny. Ava said that she enjoyed My

Very Own Room / Mi propio cuartito (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2000) but that she also chose it

because it includes the story in English so her mom can read it to her. Oliver did not

hesitate when choosing to bring home Finding the Music / En pos de la música (Torres &

Alarcão, 2015) although this was not a book that he said he felt part of when we

discussed it. He did not give a reason for his choice (Table 8).

Mini-Case Studies: Identities (RQ2d)

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How do students construct their cultural and school identities during discussions

of the texts? While the SHL focal students obviously have lived experiences in common

with the EHL students, and these can help them relate to mainstream family fiction books

(e.g. going to Target, having a stomach ache), these types of connections only allow the

SHL students to activate part of their identities. Because the main focus of my study was

on children’s literature and the connections students make, I was not able to examine

each child’s identity constructions in all of their complexities. However, the profiles of

these two students highlight the ways in which certain identities were enacted during our

discussions of mainstream and CR texts. In this section I focus on two students: Yolanda

and Ian, who were the two highest achieving readers in the classroom when this study

took place, and who come from very different cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic

backgrounds.

Yolanda. Yolanda, who is a high-achieving SHL student, fought to include her

family in our small group discussions starting on Day 1, but resisted identifying with the

mainstream books. During our discussion of the first book, Alexander… (Viorst & Cruz,

1989), for example, in her response to my question, “¿Alguna vez alguien ha tenido un

día así, terrible?” (Has anyone had a terrible day like that?), she used the word espantoso

to make a connection to a story about her younger sister’s scary day at preschool that led

the discussion far from the world of the text, as nothing scary happened to Alexander in

the book. Yolanda recognized that she was leading the conversation in a different

direction, by stating that her sister’s day was unlike Alexander’s because it was “sólo

espantoso” (just scary); in doing so, she seemed to be admitting that her personal story

was only tangentially related to the text, but also implying that it was more interesting

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and therefore worthy of discussion. The other students recognized her as a leader,

immediately following suit and telling stories about things that they found scary in their

lives. In this way, Yolanda positioned herself as a capable and talented storyteller, and

brought her personal stories to the forefront of our discussion, but she had to

acknowledge that her story was not related to the text at hand, thereby diminishing

somewhat her status as a high achieving reader. She did the same when we discussed La

señorita Runfio (Cooney & Porter, 1996), using one word from the text to launch us into

a discussion of her father’s drinking habits, which was not a topic appropriate to a

discussion of this text, but which allowed her to bring her family into the conversation.

Yolanda continued to be a leader in our literary discussions, usually the first to answer

my questions, yet she knew that her responses were sometimes not appropriate to the

discussion at hand.

The task of connecting personally with these texts made it difficult for Yolanda to

maintain her identity as one who excels in school tasks and belongs in the world of

academic literacy. In the context of this study, I was asking Yolanda to engage with

picture books that are not culturally relevant, a task that minority students are faced with

every day in schools. While Yolanda was able to do so when asked, as when I pressed for

a connection to her life with Alexander… (Viorst & Cruz, 1989), her contributions to the

discussions of mainstream texts indicated that she did not spontaneously seek ways to

identify with the characters. Put another way, these texts did not inspire her to look for

connections to her own life. In fact, Yolanda seemed perfectly content to keep the stories

in the mainstream texts separate from her own life stories. Although she was eager to talk

about her own life, including sharing her cultural background with me and the students in

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our group, she was less eager to talk about the mainstream texts or to draw personal

connections, and it is likely that this disengagement affected her comprehension of the

texts as well.

During the picture walk of La señorita Runfio (Cooney & Porter, 1996), Yolanda

twisted the story, adding hidden dangers such as an unknown man and a witch who tricks

children and poisons them. This kind of storytelling could be seen as a form of distancing

herself from the text; Yolanda created a story that was entertaining to her peers, most

likely drawing upon other stories she had encountered in books, media, or television, but

her story had nothing to do with her own life or her loved ones. It was also a form of

rejection of the text at hand, which may have seemed outdated and boring. However,

Yolanda walked a difficult line between distancing herself from the mainstream book and

maintaining her school identity as a high-achiever, one who excels in the academic

setting. When I entered the discussion at the end of their picture walk, Yolanda quickly

changed her tune, telling me that the children in La señorita Runfio (Cooney & Porter,

1996) were gathering flowers for their mothers (not running from an evil witch).

In Yolanda’s written responses, there was no overt evidence of resistance to

engagement with the texts, but also no connections to her life outside of school. Her

responses were written in complete sentences and included a justification, showing her

technical capabilities as a first-grade writer and her desire to complete the assignment

according to the directions given which positions her as a good student. However, in

terms of content, they usually fell short, reflecting neither connection to the content

themes nor the knowledge of the world that she demonstrated during our discussions. Her

responses to the mainstream texts included that she liked the flowers in La señorita

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Runfio (Cooney & Porter, 1996) because they were blue and she liked the chair in Un

sillón para mi mamá (Williams, 1994) because it had pink roses on it. These responses

did not delve beneath the surface, did not reflect awareness of content themes in the texts,

and did not even seem to reflect her actual thoughts about the books. For example, during

the La señorita Runfio (Cooney & Porter, 1996) picture walk with Rafael, Yolanda

actually told him that she does not like flowers. She also could not justify her written

response to Un sillón para mi mamá (Williams, 1994): when Ms. Diaz asked why she

wrote that she liked the chair in the story, she replied, “Me gustan los sillones. Por eso.”

(Because I like chairs. That’s why.) It seems that Yolanda had not found a way to merge

her school identity as a high achiever with her cultural identity as one who possesses

knowledge about two countries and two cultural worlds and stories that are worth telling;

and reading mainstream texts did not seem to help. Her identity as a talented teller of

personal stories with deep connection to her family and Mexico did not carry over into

the written realm, at least not in response to mainstream texts.

During our discussion of the CR texts, however, Yolanda was able to maintain her

school identity as a high-achieving student while also connecting with her own life and

culture. While her contribution to the discussion of the house fire in Un sillón para mi

mamá (Williams, 1994) indicated that she was quite capable of imagining herself in the

world of the story in some respects, it was not until we discussed Finding the Music / En

pos de la música (Torres & Alarcão, 2015) that she admitted to identifying with a

character, and took pleasure in doing so. During the picture walk, she used her story

knowledge and her cultural knowledge to form a prediction about Finding the Music / En

pos de la música (Torres & Alarcão, 2015) and felt no need to twist or dramatize the

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story that was shown. This was also the first time that she included any sort of personal

connection to a text in relation to her written response and she elaborated on this response

during our small group discussion, saying that if she were the main character in the story,

she would not break the guitar like Reyna did. When Ms. Diaz asked why Yolanda chose

to draw herself as Reyna, she replied that she would like to play the guitar in the story. In

writing about and discussing this text, Yolanda was engaging with a high-quality

challenging text in a way that called upon her to activate her cultural and personal

knowledge of the world.

Yolanda seemed conflicted about her identification with the main character in My

Very Own Room / Mi propio cuartito (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2000). The information I got

from my conversation with Ms. Diaz leads me to believe that, of all the books we used in

this study, the family in this text probably most closely resembles Yolanda’s. Yolanda

has five children in her family, two of whom were recently reunited with the family from

Mexico, plus an uncle who has recently immigrated from Mexico and lives with them.

Her parents work in low-paying jobs and with the high cost of housing in the area I

imagine that space is probably scarce in their home. In addition, Yolanda’s physical

appearance closely resembles that of the main character in the book. However, while

Yolanda did not actively resist the boys’ assertions that she could be the main character

of the book, she also did not accept them. She screwed up her eyes and emphatically

shook her head “no” when I asked her if what happened in the book could happen to her.

While usually eager to share personal stories, she did not relate any family stories during

our discussion of this text, aside from telling us that her father snores. She instead

focused intently on her enjoyment of the color of the paint the characters use to paint the

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new room and did not offer any acknowledgment of identification with the character

beyond this part of the story, aside from not refusing Javier’s idea that she could hug her

mother like the girl in the book. This refusal was maintained in her written response, MI

PARTE FAVORITA FUE DONDE ERVOLVIERON LOS COLORES ROSITA Y AZUL Y

TABIEN HISIERON COLOR MALLETA CON LA PITURA ROSITA Y AZUL (My

favorite part was when they mixed the colors pink and blue and also made the color

magenta with the pink and blue paint). Even during the picture walk, Yolanda briefly

brought up zombies; although it was just one comment, this was the only CR text where

she engaged in any off-task behavior.

It is possible that the family in My Very Own Room / Mi propio cuartito (Pérez &

Gonzalez, 2000) did not remind Yolanda of her own family. However, it seems more

likely that she preferred to identify with Reyna because Reyna represents a more

glamorous version of what it means to be Mexican American. With her long, wavy gold-

brown hair and her sparkly sombrero, her own restaurant and a neighborhood full of

friends, Reyna’s problems are superficial. The deeper problems that come with poverty

and immigration to a new country shown in My Very Own Room / Mi propio cuartito

(Pérez & Gonzalez, 2000) may have felt too close to home for Yolanda, or represented

parts of her life that she did not want to think about or discuss at the time.

Yolanda made it clear that she was activating her cultural identity and thinking

about her family when we read Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los meros meros

remateros (Herrera & De Lucio-Brock, 2002). She said that when Juanito gave lots of

things to the grandmother, it made her think about her own mother, and she chose to

write about this in her written response: MI PARTE FAVORITA FUE DONDE SU ÑIÑO

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LE DIO MUCHAS COSAS PORQUE ES MUY AMADLE. (My favorite part was when

her boy gave her lots of things because it’s very nice.) Although she did not include her

personal connection in her writing, this response still indicates a deeper connection to the

text than was evident in her written responses to the mainstream books. In this response,

Yolanda shows her connection to two important themes of this book: community giving

and familism. In this situation again, Yolanda’s cultural and personal knowledge

facilitated her engagement with text and more successful completion of an academic task,

allowing her to activate both her cultural and school identities, and perhaps even begin to

merge the two.

In conclusion, although Yolanda is a native Spanish speaker who reads above

grade-level, during our discussions of texts she sometimes struggled to make connections

to her own life while also including the mainstream (culturally irrelevant) stories that we

read. This led to behavior that seemed off-task, when Yolanda told stories about her life

that did not seem relevant to the literary discussion at hand, or when she invented more

entertaining stories than the ones in the books during the picture walks. In contrast,

Yolanda was able to showcase her world knowledge and maintain her identity as a high-

achieving student when she could easily identify and discuss cultural items in the pictures

of the CR books. These cultural markers facilitated spontaneous and relevant personal

connections during the discussions. In addition, Yolanda’s written responses in relation to

the CR texts then contained evidence of her attention to important cultural themes

embedded in the texts, although she still did not include her personal stories in her

writing.

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Ian. Ian, a high-achieving EHL student learning Spanish as a second language,

was easily able to discuss his life in relation to every text we read. During my time in the

classroom he constantly enacted a high-achieving school identity, showing aptitude as

well as enthusiasm for academic tasks. Much like Yolanda, he was almost always the first

of the group to answer my questions. However, Ian offered his responses with the

confidence that they were relevant to the literary conversation and would be well

received.

Ian found Alexander… (Viorst & Cruz, 1989) both hilarious and easy to relate to;

when we discussed this text he made connections to sibling rivalry in his family, a time

when he fell and scraped his knee, and bullying in his neighborhood. He told me all about

the flowers he planted with his mother in relation to La señorita Runfio (Cooney &

Porter, 1996), and related in vivid detail his experience sitting in the most comfortable

beanbag chair in the world during our discussion of Un sillón para mi mamá (Williams,

1994). Despite the fact that the mainstream stories we read were in his second language,

the cultural content was familiar and easy for him to connect with. His personal stories

were not as well-told as Yolanda’s; they were halting and lacking in Spanish vocabulary

and correct sentence structure, but Ian persevered, at times painstakingly searching for a

word and at last saying it in English. He was determined to make his point and his stories

were usually directly related to the text we were discussing.

When we discussed the CR texts, Ian was also able to make connections that were

relevant to the texts, using his background knowledge and his understanding of the

stories’ themes. He had prior experience with guitar repair shops that allowed him to

connect to Finding the Music / En pos de la música (Torres & Alarcão, 2015), recognized

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the strong theme of family love portrayed in My Very Own Room / Mi propio cuartito

(Pérez & Gonzalez, 2000) and related it to his own loving family, and discussed the

theme of community members giving gifts to each other in relation to his own charitable

activities in our discussion of Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los meros meros remateros

(Herrera & De Lucio-Brock, 2002). It was coincidental that Ian happened to have

extensive experience in guitar repair shops; however, I have no doubt that Ian would have

found another way to meaningfully connect the story to his personal experience in some

way had this not been the case. He never hesitated to reply that he could be part of

whatever book we were reading, and always had a justification for his response ready. Ian

continued to search for connections to the texts even after offering several. At the end of

our discussion of Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los meros meros remateros (Herrera &

De Lucio-Brock, 2002) when the students were getting up from the table, he announced

that he had another connection to share.

Ian felt at home in the world of school literacy tasks. If a connection to his life

was not readily apparent to him in relation to any of the books we read during the study,

he never let on. In addition, Ian’s written responses always coincided with his

contributions to our discussions, showing that he felt comfortable relating his thoughts

about a book both on paper and in front of his peers and teacher. All but one of his

written responses included a connection to personal experience. His cultural identity

seemed to blend seamlessly with his academic identity, even in a linguistically

challenging setting when he was responding to a culturally unfamiliar text.

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Chapter 6: Discussion, Limitations, and Implications

Discussion of Mainstream and Culturally Rich Texts

Most of the books composing the mainstream text set have been recognized

nationally as popular, high quality literature for children (Table 2). These books can be

assumed to be commonly found in dual language classrooms throughout the nation due to

the relative scarcity of Spanish language children’s books, as well as the prevalence of

Scholastic as a supplier of children’s books in Spanish translation. In addition, because

the best-selling children’s books are more likely to be considered for publication in

Spanish editions, the books in the mainstream text set are likely to be found in their

original English editions in mainstream (English-only) classrooms as well. My analysis

shows that these common classroom texts are deficient in several ways in which the CR

texts are not, pointing to valuable benefits of including culturally rich texts in classrooms.

The mainstream text set was especially lacking in family fiction texts, with only

four books featuring human children, all of which were written more than thirty years

ago. Most of the mainstream books featured animal characters, and while it is not

impossible that a child would identify with an animal character’s personality traits,

animal families depicted in illustrations cannot provide a direct mirror for young

children. Since the family fiction genre provides the most opportunity for children to

identify with characters and see their lives reflected in a book (Galda et al., 2014), this

points to a need for more family fiction texts featuring human children living their lives

in the present day in specific locations in the United States (in this case, California).

More importantly, when the mainstream texts I analyzed did portray human main

characters, they hardly ever mirrored the participating SHL focal students’ physical,

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linguistic, cultural, or socioeconomic backgrounds. The child protagonists in the

mainstream books were light-skinned, monolingual, mostly affluent, and not culturally

Mexican American. The families shown in the mainstream books were also different

from the SHL students’ families in that none of them were immigrant families and family

members such as siblings and grandparents were rarely portrayed. In contrast, the main

characters in the CR text set had dark skin and hair, spoke two languages, struggled with

poverty to various degrees, had parents who were immigrants, and had close relationships

with grandparents and siblings, in addition to being culturally Mexican American. These

characters’ realities closely mirrored those of the SHL students in the classroom along

several possible dimensions, making identification with main characters much easier.

The mainstream books also did not include any Mexican cultural markers that

signaled cultural relevance and importance to a Mexican American reader. Since picture

books are heavily dependent on the illustrations to create an engaging story world and

young readers are especially dependent on a text’s illustrations to find meaning when

being read to, visual cultural markers are of particular importance to young children. I

observed this in the classroom portion of my study when the focal students first

encountered Mexican cultural markers in illustrations. The SHL students noticed and

commented on aspects of the illustrations in the CR texts such as culturally similar

characters’ physical characteristics, type of home décor, neighborhoods, and foods. They

quickly and easily identified cultural markers as specifically Mexican, and related these

items to their own lives. Nearly every CR text I analyzed in this study contained abundant

visual cultural markers that provide an immediate invitation for children to link the world

of the story with their own realities.

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Besides allowing for personal identification with main characters and connection

to cultural content, the texts teachers read aloud in classrooms open opportunities for

discussions of the themes they contain, and convey the importance of certain values,

whether explicitly or implicitly (Stephens, 1992). When examined closely, the

mainstream texts presented little to no opportunity for discussion of themes and values

that have been repeatedly identified as important to the Mexican American community.

Only one mainstream text contained any significant evidence of the themes of community

and poverty, and one other contained evidence of language as a theme, making it unlikely

that these themes would become central to classroom discussions or writing projects on a

regular basis.

In stark contrast were the CR texts, where culturally relevant themes such as

family love, poverty, community, intergenerationalism, and cultural pride featured

prominently. The themes of immigration and feeling that Mexico is also home were an

ever-present backdrop for the stories in the CR text set. Full comprehension of these

stories would not be possible without at least some comprehension of the culturally

important themes they contain, making it extremely likely that classroom teachers would

spend time discussing these themes with their students when reading these texts aloud, as

well as asking them to write about them when responding to the texts, thus legitimizing

culturally important themes in the academic environment.

The mainstream texts often emphasized cultural values that the Mexican

American community has deemed not culturally relevant (Knight et al., 2010).

Individualism in the form of competition was especially prevalent in the mainstream text

set. These findings coincide with what Boutte et al. (2008) found when they deemed the

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required reading lists from several districts to be “a steady diet of culturally invasive

literature” for minority students (p. 955). In their study, the books on required reading

lists for teachers did not include African American values and ways of being. In this

study, Mexican American values and ways of being were noticeably absent from the

mainstream classroom texts as well, perhaps with the exception of Un sillón para mi

mamá (Williams, 1994).

In contrast to the mainstream texts were the values portrayed by the characters in

the CR text set, who valued family love over personal achievement, enjoyed spending

quality time with family members, honored their grandparents, and stuck together in the

face of adversity. These themes and values have been identified repeatedly in the research

literature as important for Latino children. If these themes and values could be the focus

of not just one, but most of the texts read aloud to students, it would open the possibility

of a literacy pedagogy that includes, affirms, and sustains (Paris, 2012) minority

students’ cultures.

One could argue that the SHL students’ home culture is partially included in the

literacy curriculum in dual language settings because the texts they read are in Spanish.

Reading in the students’ home language adds a layer of cultural inclusion that is not

found in mainstream classrooms where English is the sole language of instruction.

However, in this study I found that even the Spanish used in the mainstream texts was

less familiar to Mexican American children who were born in the United States than the

Spanish that was used in the CR texts. The mainstream texts were translated into

monolingual, sometimes overly formal Spanish that was confusing at times to the SHL

students in this study. In contrast, the CR texts were written by Mexican American

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authors who were more likely to use the Spanish language in a way that was familiar to

the SHL students. The CR books were sometimes written in both languages by the author

him or herself, or even translated with care by a family member, making it more likely

that the Spanish that was used reflected the actual voices of the characters in the texts.

In addition, nearly all of the CR texts were published in bilingual format: two

languages within the same volume, side by side, while none of the mainstream texts were

available in bilingual editions. In the bilingual books, Spanish words were often included

in the English narration and English words were occasionally incorporated into the

Spanish, though not as often as would accurately reflect the students’ use of

translanguaging. The dual language usage in the CR texts shows that these books were

written mostly for a bilingual audience, which was not necessarily the case for the

Spanish editions of the mainstream texts, which were often printed for sale

internationally, and seemed to be marketed for a Spanish-speaking audience, rather than a

bilingual one.

Ada (2003) states that Latino children need more books that explore the

experience of being bilingual in the United States, and my study corroborates her claim.

There was only one text that directly took up language as a theme in the mainstream text

set, and it portrayed speaking a different language as shameful and isolating. While only

one book in the CR text set focused on a child’s experience of being bilingual as its

primary theme, language issues were present in several texts, including the feelings

associated with learning a new language and the importance of learning and maintaining

Spanish as a heritage language. However, biliteracy, or the ability to read and write in

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Spanish and English, which is a key skill in the growing international job market, was

absent from both text sets.

In addition to valuing bilingualism, the CR texts also validated biculturalism.

While the mainstream texts offered just one cultural orientation (White European

American), the CR texts portrayed a world of cultural and linguistic pluralism that better

reflects the SHL students’ daily experience of living between two languages and two

cultures (Anzaldúa, 1987). While the characters in the mainstream texts for the most part

go about their lives apparently oblivious to other ways of doing or being, the characters in

the CR texts are explicitly situated in a particular place in the United States that is almost

always positioned in relation to Mexico. Even in the simplest CR story in the text set,

Abuelita Full of Life (Costales & Aviles, 2007), which is designed to be read to children

in preschool or the earliest elementary grades, the grandmother arrives from Mexico

bringing cultural influences into the home that explicitly contrast with what was there

before. This juxtaposition positions the family in the book strongly as bicultural, and

shows some negotiations that the young boy must make because of his bicultural

background (e.g., moving his dinosaurs over to make room for her candles), along with

the rewards that come with having two cultures (e.g., delicious traditional cuisine and

beautiful traditional songs). This type of dualistic reality was not found in any of the

mainstream texts.

In conclusion, when children are beginning to form an idea of who they are in the

world, they can look to storybooks to find a mirror (Bishop, 1990). However, when they

do not encounter characters who have similar backgrounds and characteristics, this

becomes much more difficult, if not impossible. In this textual analysis, I found that the

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mainstream texts were not providing an opportunity for minority children to identify with

characters along several dimensions, including the cultural. In addition, the mainstream

texts did not contain themes or values that align culturally with many students’ homes

and communities, presenting little opportunity for the students to make a connection with

the texts, but also limiting the possibility that classroom discussions would tend towards

topics that are important to minoritized students. These findings point to a need for

realistic family fiction texts portraying characters and events that are similar to children’s

lived experiences, a need that can be met by books like those in the CR text set.

While it is disappointing to find that the mainstream texts are lacking in so many

ways, it is also encouraging to know that texts do exist to counteract their deficits. While

not as many are available as would be ideal, a large body of bilingual family fiction texts

are available that emphasize Mexican American cultural themes and values while

offering engaging stories and beautiful illustrations rich in cultural markers. Many of

these books have been commended by knowledgeable award committees and are

therefore easier for teachers to find. The findings of Part 2 of this study support my

argument that these texts are essential for students to encounter frequently in the early

elementary grades.

Discussion of Student Engagement with Texts

The students’ interactions with the picture books in this study reinforce the

importance of access to mirror texts, especially for children in the early grades. The SHL

focal students were more likely to feel that they belonged in the culturally familiar texts

and they could more easily identify with the culturally similar characters. When the texts

contained familiar content in the form of culturally relevant themes, culturally similar

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characters, and cultural markers (in the CR texts), the SHL students were able to make

personal connections that were more meaningful and more directly related to the texts at

hand. Even upon seeing a culturally familiar item in an illustration, two of the SHL focal

students connected the item to their own lives with a personal anecdote about a cultural

celebration at their school. Meaningful personal connections were evident in the SHL

students’ written responses as well, which contained reference to family members and

culturally specific Mexican elements such as listening to mariachi music, in addition to

personal experiences that connected with elements in the text that would not be

considered Mexican cultural markers such as playing baseball and fixing things with

tools.

The SHL students had a more difficult time connecting personally with the

mainstream texts, which remained, for the most part, as windows. Even though they had

experiences that were similar to events depicted in the mainstream texts, such as the

mundane events in Alexander… (e.g., going to the shoe store and arguing with siblings),

they were unlikely to connect the events in the story to their own lives in response to this

book. When I asked questions leading Yolanda to make a personal connection to this text,

she separated her own life from that of the characters even as she made a connection,

saying that she never gets a prize in her cereal box. Making this connection did not seem

to make her feel more a part of the book and she did not include it in her written

response, preferring instead to maintain a spectator stance where she enjoyed the book for

its entertainment value but did not feel that it pertained to her. When the text was too

unfamiliar, as with La señorita Runfio (Cooney & Porter, 1996), even Yolanda, who was

reading at the highest level in the group, resorted to silliness and opted to resist

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acknowledging the storyline depicted during the picture walk, instead creating an

alternate version.

Even though the SHL students sometimes appreciated aspects of the mainstream

texts as entertaining or interesting, they usually said that they did not feel that they

belonged in the mainstream stories. These feelings of not belonging were reflected in

their comments during our small group discussions, which tended to wander far from the

texts at hand. Javier’s interactions with Alexander… (Viorst & Cruz, 1989) and Finding

the Music / En pos de la música (Torres & Alarcão, 2015) provide an illustration of this.

Even though Javier delighted in Alexander’s skateboards and invisible drawing, he did

not feel that he was a part of the story. When asked what he thought about it, his initial

response was “nothing.” Although he was willing to tell a personal story when I asked

him to, he did not relate it in any way to the book. It was only when he saw a character

that reminded him of himself in an illustration in Finding the Music / En pos de la música

(Torres & Alarcão, 2015) that he joyfully proclaimed that he (finally) belonged in a book.

He was eager to share his knowledge of mariachi music in relation to this text, and even

said that he could be the main character if she were a boy. Episodes like this illustrate on

a small scale that continual exposure to mainstream books could easily lead to feelings of

alienation and disengagement from literary tasks while early experiences where students

feel that they are included in the world of books contributes to feelings of belonging in

relation to academic literacy.

It is important to remember that the SHL focal students in this study were eager to

tell personal stories, and that these stories were rich in possibility for connection to

literacy learning. The students especially wanted to discuss their family members’

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occupations and activities, family dynamics, personal fears, and experiences traveling to

Mexico and communicating with family members who live there. Enciso (2011) asserts

that creating a space in the classroom for children’s personal stories allows them to be

recognized in academic settings. The immigrant adolescents in her study did not feel that

their personal stories were welcome or relevant in their regular classrooms (Enciso &

Ryan, 2011). In my study, the personal stories told by the SHL focal students in relation

to the mainstream texts usually seemed unrelated to our literary discussion and could

easily be written off as off-task behavior by a teacher. For example, Yolanda’s story

about her mother’s reaction when her father came home late after drinking too much did

not relate to La señorita Runfio (Cooney & Porter, 1996). She based her personal story on

one word in the text that stood out to her (loca), and her story did not contribute to her

understanding or to the group’s understanding of the text. Based on her picture walk and

her comments during our discussion, Yolanda did not feel that she belonged in this text.

In a regular guided reading lesson, her story would most likely be dismissed by a teacher

as irrelevant, and it is easy to see how, after time, she might stop sharing her personal

stories in an academic setting. Had this text contained culturally-similar characters,

culturally-relevant themes, or more obvious cultural values, it is probable that Yolanda

could have told a personal story that would have been more relevant to the literary

discussion, enhanced her comprehension of the text, and confirmed her life knowledge as

valuable in the literary setting, thus contributing to the development of a literacy identity

of belonging. Similarly, when the SHL students brought up Mexico during discussions of

the mainstream texts, their conversations seemed tangential and irrelevant. When we

discussed the CR texts, however, the SHL students’ knowledge of Mexican culture

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enabled them to make meaningful contributions to the literary discussions and likely

contributed to deeper understanding of those texts as well.

When the SHL students did make a personal connection to a mainstream book, it

was usually in the form of stepping into the story world, hypothetically putting

themselves in the characters’ shoes, or bringing some aspect of the world of the story into

their own life, rather than making a direct connection to a personal experience. This more

removed type of personal connection can be likened to a “sliding glass door” experience,

rather than a mirror reflection connection (Bishop, 1990). Stepping into the story world

through a sliding glass door requires some level of comprehension of the text,

imagination, and the ability to empathize with characters. I found that these connections

usually showcased understanding of the overarching themes or messages of the books as

well. For example, Rafael stated that he could pick up trash to make the world cleaner in

response to La señorita Runfio (Cooney & Porter, 1996). This personal connection did

not require personal experience with the plot events in the text, but showed that he was

thinking about the text’s theme or message and applying that theme to his own life. While

the EHL students had more personal connections to this particular text, their connections

were all to personal experiences planting flower seeds; none mentioned the important

content theme of having a responsibility to make the world a better place or extended that

idea into their own lives.

This type of “sliding door” connection was most frequent with the one

mainstream text that contained more evidence of culturally relevant themes and values.

Nearly half of the SHL students stepped into the world of Un sillón para mi mamá

(Williams, 1994), writing that they would help people who needed money and shelter,

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while none of the EHL students did so. This text is the only mainstream text that contains

significant evidence of the cultural themes of community and poverty, and the SHL

students’ written responses show a connection to those themes. This points to the

possibility that culturally relevant themes and values may make it easier for students to

connect personally with texts even in the absence of culturally similar characters or

cultural markers through a sliding glass door approach: opening the sliding glass door

and stepping into the world of the story.

Throughout the study, the EHL students only connected to texts via personal

experience or preference, using the texts as mirrors to reflect their lived realities. This

difference could be because the EHL students have not been asked to connect with

culturally unfamiliar texts regularly. Inexperience with “window” texts may make them

less adept at looking for sliding glass doors and more used to searching for their own

reflections in books, or connecting to similar characters and experiences. The SHL

students, on the other hand, regularly engage with texts that do not necessarily remind

them of their daily lives, which may encourage the development of a different technique

for personal connection based on imagination, or “what if,” rather than looking to texts as

a mirror.

Multicultural literature is touted as benefiting White students as well as minority

students because it helps them to develop an appreciation of diversity (Bishop, 1997).

However, White students in high school often resist engaging with culturally unfamiliar

literature when it is too far removed from what they know (Beach, 1997). In this study,

about the same number of EHL students made personal connections to the CR texts as to

the mainstream texts. Even when the stories used in the study became culturally

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dissimilar, many EHL students were able to find connections between events or items in

the texts and their own lives. Perhaps because the EHL students were used to engaging

with mirror texts, they simply continued to look for their reflections, or to adopt a

participant stance, even when the cultural content of the text changed. Their personal

connections to the CR texts often remained at surface level (e.g., Oliver wrote that he

likes sombreros and Ada recognized that she and a main character both read to their little

brothers). Still, admiring and identifying with culturally different characters could be an

important first step towards developing empathy. The EHL students also showed a slight

preference for the CR books as a group. It is possible that early exposure to multicultural

texts on a regular basis could help to develop an appreciation of diversity early on and

lessen resistance to such texts later.

These surface-level personal connections could easily be used as a jumping-off

point for more productive “perspective-taking,” or being willing to consider other points

of view, which should be a goal of exposing mainstream students to multicultural

literature (Thein, Beach, & Parks, 2007). Recognizing the family love portrayed in My

Very Own Room / Mi propio cuartito (Pérez & Gonzalez, 2000) as similar to the love that

his own parents show when comforting him, Ian could be expanding his awareness of

what different families look like and the love that they all share. I would like to think that

if policy makers had regularly engaged with picture books about Mexican immigrant

families as children, the current headlines would not feature Mexican immigrant children

being torn from their parents at the border. However, it is not enough to provide children

with multicultural literature and assume that they will develop empathy and appreciation

for diverse cultural groups (Louie, 2005). Without guidance from a teacher, the EHL

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students seemed to read and enjoy the CR texts in this study without any understanding

of their cultural specificity, much less their sociopolitical message.

While the SHL students immediately recognized the CR texts as culturally

Mexican, the EHL students did not seem to. Although the focal EHL students have been

exposed to traditional Mexican cultural celebrations such as Day of the Dead at their

school, their comments during the picture walks in this study did not indicate that they

recognized any of the cultural markers in the pictures as belonging to this holiday.

Mexico is explicitly referenced in all three of the CR books, yet Mexico never came up in

our EHL focal group discussions. Besides the one EHL student who drew a picture of a

place in Baja California in response to one of the CR texts, none of the EHL students’

written responses contained reference to Mexico either. Without understanding that the

CR texts were culturally Mexican, I doubt that the EHL students could fully understand

these texts, nor could they develop their appreciation for diversity. However, there were

some instances where the EHL students indicated that they were aware that the CR texts

were somehow different from the mainstream texts, such as when Brianna said that her

parents did not work in “these kind of restaurants,” referring to the Mexican restaurant in

Finding the Music / En pos de la música (Torres & Alarcão, 2015), or when Madison

commented that Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los meros meros remateros (Herrera &

De Lucio-Brock, 2002) showed “different” things. This points to an emerging sense of

cultural difference that could be developed into a deeper understanding of and

appreciation for such differences through continual exposure to culturally rich texts along

with intentional discussions and guided reflection led by a teacher.

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In sum, the cultural content of a text does affect how students respond to it,

especially for minority students. Broadly, when the text is culturally rich, culturally

similar students are more likely to feel a sense of belonging in the story, they are more

likely to identify with the characters, and they have more opportunity to connect with

culturally relevant themes and values. When the text is not culturally familiar, or is

culturally mainstream, minority students do not usually feel that they belong in the story,

they are reluctant to identify with characters, they make almost no connections to

personal experiences or preferences that contribute to their understanding, they rarely

have the opportunity to think about and discuss culturally important themes, and their

cultural values are not reinforced (and are perhaps undermined) by the stories.

When minority students continually see themselves in texts, they gain practice

identifying with characters and making meaningful connections to people and events in

their own lives, enriching their understanding. They also gain the opportunity to think

about culturally important issues. Even at a young age, culturally rich picture books can

inspire children to consider the importance of family love, what it means to speak two

languages, and how community members can help each other, for example. In addition,

students gain reinforcement of cultural values. All of this “dancing before the mirror”

(Quiroa, 2011) results in a confident reader who sees herself as someone who belongs in

books, personally and culturally. When, on the other hand, students are unable to find a

“way in” to a text, or continually read literature that does not align with their worldview

or prior experience, they may experience a feeling of disconnect that can be isolating and

rejecting.

220

While it is burdensome and unfair to ask minoritized students to engage with

culturally unfamiliar literature all the time, the flip side is also true. When students

constantly gaze at their own reflections it can be limiting as well. The EHL students in

this study seemed to be less aware of the cultural content of the texts and were more

likely to look to texts as mirrors. It is important for EHL students to also experience

window texts, in which they do not see their reflection, if they are to expand their ability

to take on other perspectives and learn to open sliding glass doors. This type of

engagement with texts pushes students to examine their own values, biases, and beliefs

and supports the development of awareness, tolerance, and understanding of alternate

viewpoints and cultural values (Thein et al., 2007).

All students deserve to be able to connect with texts on a personal level and to

feel that they belong in the world of books from a young age; to see their own lives

reflected in a positive light and to have their cultural values affirmed in print; and to

know that their personal world knowledge brings something valuable to a literary

discussion. They should also be able to step into the shoes of characters who are very

different from themselves and experience taking on other perspectives. The students’

responses in this study illustrate that the development of these complementary literacy

skills is facilitated by exposure to a balance of culturally relevant and culturally

unfamiliar texts in the classroom, or both mirrors and windows.

Limitations

This study has several limitations. First, the students’ written responses tended

towards the concrete, which is to be expected with this age group (Applebee, 1978). This

meant that the students’ writing did not usually focus explicitly on the moral, message, or

221

theme of the stories, although they often wrote that they enjoyed part of the book that

exemplified an important theme. When analyzing the written responses, this made it

difficult to say how much they were understanding or internalizing the story themes, and

how much they just liked certain parts of the books that happened to do with those

themes.

Another limitation of this study was not being able to observe the focal students’

responses to the stories in real time as they heard them read aloud. Ms. Diaz wanted all

the students in the classroom to be able to participate in the study, but she also had

limited instructional time to devote to it. The design allowed me to record the focal

students’ initial responses to the pictures and to hear their thoughts about the books after

the read aloud sessions, but I missed their true initial responses to the words in the books.

Future studies that examine and compare Mexican American and White students’

responses to mainstream and culturally rich literature are needed to determine if the

patterns discerned in this study are evident in other environments. As with most

qualitative studies, my findings are strongly linked to the context in which the study

occurred. Individual personalities played an important role in our oral discussions, as did

the student groupings. New dynamics emerged, for example, when Brianna was paired

with Verónica for a picture walk.

Lastly, labeling the students as either EHL or SHL was somewhat simplistic as

some students surely came from homes that used both languages, and to varying degrees.

Verónica, for example, was obviously bilingual but may have used more English at home

than Spanish. More information about the students’ cultural backgrounds and their

222

language use at home would have been helpful when I was analyzing their responses to

the texts.

Implications for Culturally Sustaining Literature Engagement

My study highlights the ways in which mainstream values and ideologies

permeate American school systems through literacy practices, even in the earliest grades.

While I am a strong proponent of native language literacy instruction as well as language

immersion for English speakers, this study brings to light the fact that the cultural content

of texts is just as important as the linguistic. Seen from this perspective, constantly

reading books like Alexander… (Viorst & Cruz, 1972) in Spanish translation can begin to

feel like a form of colonial socialization. While I know it is far from the intention of

teachers, and especially bilingual teachers, to strip students of their home cultures, a

failure to question the consequences of a steady stream of culturally mainstream books

can contribute to cultural erosion. The surprise and delight that was shown when the SHL

focal students encountered the first text with significant Mexican cultural content in this

study was lovely for me to see, but also saddening. If home cultures are to be sustained in

the classroom, students should not be surprised to find a book that contains obvious

Mexican cultural content at the guided reading table.

This study also has important implications for how students are asked to respond

to literature in the primary classroom. Close examination of students’ written responses

alongside their oral comments reveals that there was often a disconnect between the

students’ writing and what they said during discussions. In writing, the students stuck

close to one particular response format that did not particularly facilitate personal

connection or deeper thought. During the discussions in this study, several of the focal

223

students became more adept at finding ways to connect their own lives to the lives of the

characters in the books, and this was sometimes facilitated by the content of the texts

themselves, but also by the opportunity to practice finding personal connections with

texts during oral discussions and listening to their peers’ stories. Having frequent

opportunities to discuss literary texts with peers and teachers should help students

develop their capacity for deeper thought about textual meanings, themes, and personal

connections. When teachers give students the opportunity to think, discuss, draw, and

write about books frequently, they can also open the possibilities for ways to engage with

and respond to texts beyond “my favorite part,” even in the early grades. Of more

particular concern, the SHL focal students in this study did not seem to feel that their

personal experiences were appropriate to the literature response writing genre. Students,

and especially minority students, need to know that their lives and their stories are

welcome and legitimate in written responses to literature as well as oral.

Through regular exposure to and discussion of culturally rich texts, students can

learn that their lives and their stories are relevant to their literary experiences; they can

experience the power of transactional theory in action, reading as Rosenblatt would have

us read. It is through this transaction that students can create their “poems,” taking

meaning from texts and applying it to their lived experiences to create their own meaning

and interpretations (Rosenblatt, 1994).

Such transactional reading should also include a critical edge (Lewis, 2000).

While there is some value in discovering similarities across cultural differences and the

ability to empathize is a valuable skill, students can also learn to question the cultural

content of texts. Through teacher modeling and literary discussions, students can learn to

224

question the invisibility of certain cultural groups when they read mainstream stories, and

to discover messages about power and values embedded in texts, even at a young age

(McLaughlin & DeVoogd, 2004). SHL students can also be taught that members of their

culture have contributed beautiful written stories that deserve to be included on classroom

shelves and as a regular part of the literacy curriculum (Ada, 2003), rather than always

asking minoritized students to identify with characters with whom they have little in

common.

Before teachers can be expected to implement a culturally sustaining critical

literacy approach, they need to be cognizant of what types of books are included in their

classrooms, and what messages those texts are sending to their students. It is evident from

my study that young students notice when they can and cannot see themselves reflected

in a book, and that content themes are coming through to students and influencing their

responses to some degree. To put it plainly, it truly matters which books students read.

While it is obviously not realistic to ask teachers to analyze every text they read out loud

to children using an extensive textual analysis protocol, teacher education programs must

prepare future teachers to be conscious of cultural themes and values embedded in texts,

and to be aware of the consequences of their text selections for students’ developing

literary identities. Aspiring teachers can be provided with the necessary resources to seek

out high quality books that address important culturally relevant themes and values for

different parallel cultural groups, in addition to finding texts that represent protagonists

who are similar to their students in terms of ethnicity, age, gender, social class, location,

family structure, and culture. Providing young students with regular access to a wide

variety of culturally affirming texts is one way for educators to resist a system based on

225

dominant ideologies and fight against instigating or perpetuating a subtractive schooling

experience for minoritized students.

226

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248

Appendix A. Fields Included in Text Analysis Protocol

Basic Informaion:

• Title • Publisher, Date • Publisher, Date of English version (if applicable) • Author • Illustrator • Translator • Publisher, Date of Spanish or Bilingual version • Awards • Genre • Spanish only or Bilingual? • Summary of Book

Section 1: Main Character Characteristics

• Location • Gender • Ethnicity • Skin/ Hair • SES • Family Structure • Narration style/ point of view

Section 2: Mexican American Cultural Markers

• Food • Clothes • Décor • Terms of Address • Music/ entertainment • Holiday/ celebration • Medicine

Section 3: Mexican American Cultural Themes

• Immigration • Poverty • Mexico as Home • Community • Migrant Farmworkers • Language • Cultural Pride • Intergenerationalism

249

• Family Strength/ Love

Section 4: Cultural Values • Familism • Individualism

Other

• Spanish words in English text • English words in Spanish text • Traditional gender roles • Role of school

Notes

250

Appendix B. Text Analysis Protocol for Additional Coders

Your name: ___________________________ Date: ___________________ Title of Book: ____________________________________________________________ Section 1: Main character

1. Who is the main character in this book? _____________________

2. What is the main character’s ethnicity or cultural background? _________________________________________________________________

3. How old is the main character (approximately)? ___________

4. What is the main character’s socioeconomic status (SES)? (circle one)

upper class middle class working class poor

5. Where does the main character live? ___________________________________

6. Does this book stick to traditional gender roles? Yes No

If no, please explain here: Section 2: Cultural Markers

1. Is there traditional Mexican food in this book (text or illustrations)? Yes No

2. Is there traditional Mexican clothing in this book (text or illustrations)? Yes No

3. Is there traditional Mexican décor in this book (text or illustrations)? Yes No

4. Is there traditional Mexican music or entertainment in this book (text or illustrations)?

Yes No

5. Is there a traditional Mexican celebration in this book (text or illustrations)?

Yes No

251

6. Is there traditional medicine in this book (text or illustrations)? Yes No

7. Are there traditional Mexican religious items in this book (text or illustrations)?

Yes No

Section 3: Themes

1. Is “family” a theme in this book? Yes No

a. If yes, would you say that it is a Primary or Secondary theme?

2. Is “immigration” a theme in this book? Yes No

a. If yes, would you say that it is a Primary or Secondary theme?

3. Is “poverty” a theme in this book? Yes No

a. If yes, would you say that it is a Primary or Secondary theme?

4. Is “Mexico as home” a theme in this book? Yes No

a. If yes, would you say that it is a Primary or Secondary theme?

5. Is “community” a theme in this book? Yes No

a. If yes, would you say that it is a Primary or Secondary theme?

6. Are “language issues” a theme in this book? Yes No

a. If yes, would you say that it is a Primary or Secondary theme?

7. Are “migrant farmworkers” a theme in this book? Yes No

a. If yes, would you say that it is a Primary or Secondary theme?

8. Is “cultural pride” a theme in this book? Yes No

a. If yes, would you say that it is a Primary or Secondary theme?

9. Is “intergenerationalism” a theme in this book (grandparent-grandchild relationships)?

a. If yes, would you say that it is a Primary or Secondary theme?

252

Section 4: Values Which values do you see reflected in this text?

1. Valuing the family as a source of emotional support. Yes No

2. Valuing obligation to family (including the importance of caregiving). Yes No

3. Valuing relying on the family to define oneself. Yes No

4. Valuing gaining independence. Yes No

5. Valuing competition and personal achievement. Yes No

6. Valuing material success over other things (such as relationships). Yes No Do you feel that your students would see themselves reflected in this book? Yes No Anything else you would like to add? Anything you noticed or felt about this book: Thank you so much!

253

Appendix C. Written Response Sheet #1

254

Appendix D. Written Response Sheet #2

255

Appendix E. Questions to Ask During Small Group Discussions

1. ¿Qué pensaron de este libro? (What did you think of this book?)

2. ¿Qué escribiste? (What did you write?)

3. ¿Había una parte que te gustó más? (Was there a part that you liked the best?)

4. ¿Había una parte que no te gustó? (Was there a part that you didn’t like?)

5. ¿Tú podrías ser parte de este libro? ¿Alguien de tu familia podría? (Could you be

part of this book? Could someone in your family?) and/or Lo que pasó a _____ te

podría pasar a tí? (Could what happened to _____ (main character’s name)

happen to you?)

256

Appendix F. Student Interview Protocol

1. How old are you? / ¿Cuántos años tienes?

2. Where do you live? / ¿Dónde vives?

3. Where were you born? / ¿Dónde naciste?

4. Tell me about your family. Who lives in your house? / Dime acerca de tu familia.

¿Quién vive en tu casa?

5. What does your mom/dad do for a living? / ¿Qué hace tu mamá/papá como

trabajo?

6. Where are your parents from? / ¿De dónde son tus padres?

7. What do you do after school? / ¿Qué haces después de la escuela?

8. What do you like to do on the weekend? / ¿Qué te gusta hacer en el fin de

semana?

9. Do you like to read? Do you read at home? With whom? / ¿Te gusta leer? ¿Lees

en tu casa? ¿Con quién?

10. What is your favorite book? / ¿Cuál es tu libro favorito?

11. What do you want to be when you grow up? / ¿Qué quieres ser cuando crezcas?

12. Where have you traveled? Where would you like to travel? / ¿Has viajado? ¿A

dónde? ¿A donde querías viajar?

257

Appendix G. Codebook Used in Analysis of Discussion Transcripts and Coded

Transcript Excerpt

Codebook

Code Meaning S: Soliciting (Teacher solicits information from students)

PC: Personal Connection (Student makes connection between text and his/her life)

PS: Personal Story (Student relates a personal story or experience that does not seem to be tied to the text)

A/E: Appreciating or Evaluating (Student expresses like or dislike of the text or an aspect of the text, or student makes a comment that evaluates the text in some way without making a personal connection)

CC: Cultural Connection (Student mentions Mexican American cultural content in the text or mentions it in relation to his/her own life)

E: Embellishing (Student adds to the story as written or depicted)

I: Identification with characters/ Belonging (Student responds to the question of whether they see themselves or their family in the text, or whether what happened to the characters could happen to them)

R: Resistance (Student refuses to respond, changes topic rather than responding, or is off-task)

R?: Possible Resistance (Student appears to be resisting, but not enough evidence to say for sure)

258

Coded Transcript Excerpt SHL Group Discussion of Grandma and Me at the Flea/ Los meros meros remateros: Code Dialogue

S A: Okay, ¿qué pensaron de este libro ustedes? (Okay, what did you think about this book?)

Y: Yo pensé donde en la última página que ese niño le dió muchas cosas. (I thought that on the last page that the boy gave her lots of things.)

S A: Sí, ¿y qué te hizo pensar? (Yes, and what did that make you think?) PC Y: Así mi mami me hace. (That’s what my mom does to me.)

S A: ¿Te da muchas cosas? (She gives you a lot of things?) (PC)

PS Y: (Nods) Más a mi hermanito, siempre le lleva a un restauran cuando

nosotros estamos en la escuela. Ayer así le hizo. (More to my brother, she always takes him to a restaurant when we are in school. Yesterday she did that.)

A: Ohh PS Y: Y a mí no. (And she doesn’t take me.)

A: Ohh. (Javier is giggling)

PS Y: It's true. Le dejó al Burger King. (She took him to Burger King.) J: Al Burger King. (To Burger King.) Y: Allá en ## (There in ##) A: Okay

I J: Yo pensé que puedo ser en este parte del libro. (I thought I can be in this part of the book.)

S A: ¿Cuál parte? (Which part?) PC J: En donde fueron al remate porque a veces yo, yo voy al remate.

(Where they went to the flea market because sometimes I, I go to the flea market.)

S A: ¿Oh sí? (Oh yes?) J: Mhm.

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Appendix H. Yolanda’s Writing and Drawing in Response to Finding the Music/ En

pos de la música