Latinx Characters in Children’s Literature:
An Exploration of Language, Family and Separation
My praxis project and research is focused on multicultural literature in book-reading activities with Latinx children in an after-school mentoring program. The books were selected to include Latinx characters created by Latinx authors and illustrators.
Building upon the theory of cultural wealth of Tara J. Yosso and Rudine Sims Bishop’s framework of books being “mirrors, windows, or sliding doors,” each of the books is intended to facilitate a conversation with the children in which they can express in their own voice the richness of their own cultural wealth, whether it be (in Yosso’s six categories) aspirational, navigational, social, linguistic, familial, or resistant capital.
This project shows how non Latinx teachers can, and I believe should, include books with narratives that are specific to these children’s cultures, allowing room for discussion about their lives. Teachers of non Latinx backgrounds can create safe spaces for children to see themselves and be themselves more fully – by bringing their families, language, and cultures into the classroom, and sharing about their lives at home.