Final Reflection of Text Set

Finding Arab-American and Middle Eastern children's literature was not so difficult if you know what you are looking for. The hardest part was making sure the author was an insider author. Many books with Middle Eastern content are not written by insiders. This is somewhat discouraging, because it can mean that there a lot of misperceptions about this underrepresented group. However, when I went to the library with a list of books I wanted written by insider authors, the books started to come. I did not find as many children's picture books as I did with young adult literature. It seems that the most popular form is chapter books, which go more in depth about the culture and experiences. Finding scholarly articles about the literature was also very difficult. Most of the reviews I found were not from reliable sources or were just completely absent. The review I did find, touched a little bit on the multiculturalism presented in Deborah Ellis' The Breadwinner but that was not the main focus, which was also a little disappointing. I know there are more books and articles out there, but I have learned through this experience that they are not so easily available. I believe this project has given me an important experience to take on my future teaching journey. I realize that a lot of background research on books is absolutely necessary when choosing multicultural books for my students. It is important to choose books that are from reliable sources, authentic in content, and avoid stereotypes. I am happy with my mini text set I have created for Arab Children's Literature, and I hope to continue to find more authentic multicultural books for my future classroom.