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Hi! My name is Caylee Pristas. I am currently in my first semester of the ProTeach Elementary Education program at the University of Florida. As a college student who aspires to be a teacher in the near future, I hope to learn as much as possible in order to help my students learn and grow in the best way possible.

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The following collection of books focuses on how family culture is portrayed through children's books via a variety of diverse characters through the topics of gender, special needs, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity.

This is an important theme when talking about diversity in the classroom because every student comes from a unique background and different life experiences that affect who they are and how they learn. By exposing them to diverse books, they will be able to see the lives of different characters as either mirrors or windows to their own lives. These books allow for students to not only realize that they are unique, but to accept everyone's differences which is an important lesson to teach young children from as early as possible.

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I would use this book collection in my classroom throughout the entire school year, introducing one of these books to my students every few weeks and doing the following activities with them throughout the week they were introduced. All of these activities would be appropriate for students in third through fifth grade, depending on academic levels. I specifically selected each one of these books because they are all high-quality children's books that represent diversity in unique ways. By exposing my students to these books that provide mirrors and windows for diverse topics such as gender, socioeconomic status, disabilities, and ethnicity, my students will be exposed to the positive idea of uniqueness from an early age.

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Princesses Can Be Pirates Too by C. Zellerhoff

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Princesses Can Be Pirates Too by C. Zellerhoff

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This book by Zellerhoff explains to young children that girls can play make-believe games as if they are pirates just as well as boys. This story starts off by saying, “Only boys can be pirates.” The main character, who is a girl, is dresses like a princess and tells the boy characters who are dressed as pirates that they are wrong. Throughout this story, the author lists many things that princesses can do such as captain a ship, make a mess, pull up the anchor, and dance just like pirates do. This book fits into the diverse literature category because it is proving gender stereotypes wrong. The story specifically shows how girls can do anything boys can do even if they are wearing a dress and a crown.

Possible Literature Response Activities:
1. Provide students with a list of stereotypical activities from each gender. Have them select one activity from the opposite gender's list that they enjoy participating in. Students will write about the activity they chose and why they enjoy it.
2. Write a play as a class that involves princesses and pirates as characters. Allow for both genders to act out both the princesses and the pirates in the play.

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This book is about a baseball player, Max, and his sister who takes dance lessons. One day Max ends up having to wait around the dance studio for his sister, so she invites him in. At first, he is hesitant, but then decides to give it a try. Max eventually realizes that he likes dancing and even finds that by doing leaps and turns on his way to his baseball games he has a fun and efficient way of warming up. This is a great book within the diverse literature category for children because gender and gender stereotypes are an extremely controversial issue in today’s society. It is a good idea to introduce the idea that anyone do anything or play with anything they want regardless of their gender, which is promoted within this story.

Possible Literature Response Activities:
1. Students will discuss with a partner about a time they thought they wouldn't like something but then tried it and enjoyed themselves.
2. Students will write a narrative in groups as a continued ending to the story, focusing on trying new things

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This book is about Eddie Lee, a child who has Down Syndrome. Christy, Eddie Lee’s neighbor, was told by her mother that she had to be nice to Eddie Lee and include him. However, when her friend Jim Bud comes along, they leave Eddie Lee and go to the lake to look for frog eggs. When they get there, Christy realizes that Jim Bud had no idea what he was talking about. Shortly after, Eddie Lee shows up at the lake and says, “I’ll get you a lily Christy!” When he realizes that it would be too difficult, he goes to find another small pond with lilies and frog eggs. He shows Christy and she realizes that Eddie Lee has a good heart and says, “You are a genius! You found lilies and frog eggs.” This book fits into the category of diverse literature for children because it is a story about a child with Down Syndrome and how children his age interact with him based on how they were raised and their family dynamics.

Possible Literature Response Activities:
1. Teacher will discuss different disabilities to the class. In groups, students will research a disability assigned to them and present their finding to the rest of their class.
2. Students will pick out their favorite quote from the story and draw a picture to go along with that quote. Students will then discuss in groups of 3 why they chose that quote and how it promotes Eddie Lee's unique characteristics.

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Danny and the Merry Go Round by N. Holcomb

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Danny and the Merry Go Round by N. Holcomb

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This book focuses on Danny, a young boy who has cerebral palsy. Danny and his mother go to the park one day when Danny gets frustrated because he cannot play like the other kids, due to the fact that he cannot move from his wheelchair. Then a girl, Liz, comes over to talk to him and his mother explains to her why he cannot get out of his wheelchair. Liz then goes to get her dad who helps Danny get on the merry go round. Danny is scared at first, but relaxes and has fun once he feels comfortable and sees Liz having fun as well. This book fits into the category of diverse literature for children because it is a story about a child with cerebral palsy and how he interacts with other people.

Possible Literature Response Activities:
1. As a class, the teachers and students will make a t-chart listing Danny's limitations and strengths. After making the chart with equal points in each column, we will then make a t-chart of things we can and cannot do as a class to explain how everyone has certain things they succeed in and other things that are more difficult.
2. Students will be given a picture of a merry go round and will write out their individual strengths and weaknesses around it. We will discuss how their are "ups and downs" in life just like when riding a merry go round and then talk about how we can overcome the hard parts.

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This story is about a young girl and her family whose house burnt down a year ago. It begins with the girl helping her mother work in the diner after school and saving all the tip money in a jar. Throughout the book the narrator explains that once their house had burnt down, their family and neighbors were very kind and gave them many things to fill their new house like curtains, a rug, and a bed, but they still did not have a big comfy chair. The money that they saved in the jar finally filled up and they went out and bought a chair to complete their new living situation. This story fits into the category of diverse literature for children because it talks about hardships and the socioeconomic status of a family. Although it does not directly mention this, one can infer from the text that the family in the story was not from a wealthy background. This book focused on a non-traditional family made up of the girl, her mother, and grandmother. This shows children that not every family looks the same or has the same stuff. It also shows children that everyone experiences difficult times in their life.

Possible Literature Response Activities:
1. The class will discuss about a time either they saved up for something they really wanted or a family member that saved their money to make a big purchase. After some discussion with a partner, they will create a comic strip to tell their story.
2. After reading this story to the class, the teacher will discuss some reasons a house could burn down, since some students might have never heard of this happening before. After some discussion, the class would research all the things in the book that needed to be replaced in a house such as the table, chair, rug, and beds. In groups, they would come up with a price value for all the things that needed to be replaced and make a diagram of a house with all the objects and a price tag. Finally, the class would discuss the concept of money and different socioeconomic backgrounds briefly.

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This book is about a boy who really wants new shoes like his classmate, but his grandma cannot afford them. When he tells his grandma about the shoes she says, “There’s no room for ‘want’ around here – just ‘need.” Eventually, his grandma decides she has saved up enough money to buy him new shoes, but when they get to the store she realizes that they are too expensive. Jeremy suggests that they go to a thrift store to see if they have the shoes. At the third thrift store, Jeremy find the shoes a couple sizes too small but decides to buy them anyways when his grandma says, “I can’t spend good money on shoes that don’t fit.” After realizing that it was not a smart decision to buy shoes that were too small, Jeremy gives them to his friend Anthony who was the only one who didn’t make fun of the shoes he was given by the guidance counselor. At the end of the story it starts to snow, so Jeremy gets to wear his “new black boots that no kid has ever worn before,” and is thankful for them. This story fits into the category of diverse literature for children because it opens up discussion for the topic of socioeconomic status and financial hardships. From the very beginning, Jeremy’s grandma explains to him that they do not have enough money to but things just because they want them which is a great message overall to explain to young children.

Possible Literature Response Activities:
1. Class will discuss their opinions on whether or not they think Jeremy should have given his shoes to his friend or not. We will then split the class into sides and have a structured debate with strong arguments on both sides.
2. Students will write a story about a time they really wanted something that they couldn't have and why they think they could not get whatever it is they wanted. Students will be reminded that their writing should be positive and reflect their ideas while looking back at a previous experience they had.

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In this story, CJ and his grandmother are traveling around the city on a bus after church. They do this every Sunday, but today CJ seems to question why they do this. As they are on the bus, they encounter many different and diverse people such as a musician and a man who is blind. When CJ asks why they don’t have things such as a car or a music player, his grandmother puts everything into perspective and seems to find the good in every situation. They eventually reach their destination, which is a soup kitchen, and CJ realizes how he should be thankful for everything he has just like his grandmother does. This is a great example of a diverse book. First of all, it portrays an African-American family and their everyday life. The language that is used in this book between CJ and his grandmother such as, "Nana, how come we don't got a car?" and "How come we always gotta go here after church?" allows for their culture and dialect to be shown in such a way that goes further than the surface.

Possible Literature Response Activities:
1. Students might be unfamiliar with what a soup kitchen it, so we will research soup kitchens as a class. We will then discuss volunteering and what we can do to help our community. In small groups, students will create a poster of one way they could give back to our local community and list steps for how they will accomplish their goal.
2. We will talk about different dialects as a class and how they relate to different cultures around the world. After some discussion, in pairs students will select a dialect from a list provided to them and research when & where that dialect is spoken and some of its cultural aspects. The students will then present their findings to the class using any form of multimedia they would like.

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Thunder Boy Jr. is named after his dad. Although he loves his dad very much, he wants a name that is unique to him as stated in the story, “I love my dad, but I want to be mostly myself. I love my dad, but I want my own name.” The story goes through a list of possible names that he would rename himself based on things he has done in his life such as, “Touch the Clouds” or “Not Afraid of Ten Thousand Teeth.” The story ends with his father saying that he should rename him Lightning so that together they could be thunder and lightning. The boy likes this idea and his new name. This book fits into the diverse literature category because it explains the ethnic aspect of naming your child after the father as many cultures often do. It also portrays a family that is not the stereotypical American family like many picture books do.

Possible Literature Response Activities:
1. In small groups students will talk about if they know why their parents named them what they did and if it has any cultural meaning or significance. Once talking about this in small groups, we will come together and discuss as a class.
2. Students will write a persuasive essay about a name they would want other than their own and why they think they should change their name to that new one.