Renee DeLeon ENM2 Task 1
Western Governors University
A. The children's book I chose for this task assessment was Yoko, written and illustrated by Rosemary Wells. The positive diverse representation in this boo
...
Renee DeLeon ENM2 Task 1
Western Governors University
A. The children's book I chose for this task assessment was Yoko, written and illustrated by Rosemary Wells. The positive diverse representation in this book is that of the main character, a little girl, Yoko who is of Japanese ethnicity in a multicultural school but she doesn’t quite fit in. However, in the end she finds a friend who can accept her differences and share in her culture.
B. Wells’ book helps students gain perspective for understanding diversity in the world by seeing that there are many children in school who have different backgrounds, ethnicities, and come from other countries who may be different, but share one thing in common: food. A cultural exchange occurs after the teacher notices that Yoko is ostracized because of the food she brings to school which is very unusual compared to the other student’s lunches, and the teacher wants her to feel included and not made fun of for the kind of food she eats.
1. The students in Yoko’s class are excited to share their cultural backgrounds with others by presenting traditional foods during an “International Food Day” at school. There are many cultures shared in the book including traditional food, dress and the countries’ flags such as France, Italy, Ireland, Israel, Brazil, and others, (Wells, 1998).
2. The literary theme of the book Yoko is “acceptance”.
a. One example of this literary element supports the plot. The scene after lunch, where the student’s made fun of Yoko for bringing sushi. Afterwards during recess Yoko didn’t want to play, so the teacher asked her what was wrong. “Everybody laughed at my lunch,” answered Yoko. “They’ll forget about it by snack time,” said Mrs. Jenkins, (Wells, 1998).
But they didn’t. (During snack time the students also made fun of Yoko’s snack). It was after this teasing that the teacher decided to teach a social skills lesson to the class by incorporating an International Food Day at school.The students were directed to try a bite of everything. It is inferred that if everyone brings a foreign dish, then Yoko won’t be the only one bringing something unusual, and that by trying all kinds of new foods, the other student’s might actually try and like the sushi. However, only one student did try it, liked it and became friends with Yoko after that.
3. It is important to select children’s literature that incorporates quality artwork, illustrations or images because the illustrations help to relate the information from the text in meaningful ways. The artistic mediums, techniques, and style also impact the reader by evoking emotions through the illustrations tone or mood (Galda, 2017). Books that have visually stimulating artwork can help to decode the words into instantly recognizable visual interpretation which will help encourage the reader to actively find visual clues to interpret the fundamental elements in the story, (Middleton, 2018). Quality imagery, especially in picturebooks, which are fundamental for the emergent reader, can further enhance the meaning of the story. Pictures or images in a book can help the reader hone in on details that words cannot express, according to Nodelman (1988), “words limit
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