ABSTRACT

Described as everything from a melting pot to a mosaic, America has long been viewed as a land of opportunity by immigrants from diverse ethnic backgrounds. Over the past 20-25 years, an increase in multicultural populations in the United States has resulted in a dramatic change in student demographics in schools. Currently, approximately 40 percent of the US K-12 school population is composed of students of color (NCES, 2003), and this number is growing annually. Teachers and educators are now more consciously aware than ever of the importance of introducing multicultural knowledge to their students from culturally, ethnically, and socially diverse backgrounds who might otherwise seem disengaged from academic content. Furthermore, to prepare our next generation for a more globalized world, students should not only gain awareness of their own cultural backgrounds but learn to understand and appreciate the cultural experiences of other ethnic groups; that is to say, they should be encouraged to “cross the borders” from their known cultures into the less familiar cultures of others (Noel, 2008; Stewart, 2008; Van Dongen, 2005). English language arts teachers have long argued that literature depicting varying cultural groups may serve as an important resource to meet such educational needs in secondary classrooms.