B E L I N D A Y.

L O U I E

Guiding principles for teaching

multicultural literature
This article offers specific guidelines for based on strategies that may work for students in
grades 3 through 8.
teaching multicultural literature that are
designed to enhance student understanding
and response. Guiding principles
I have extracted elements from available class-

M
ulticultural children’s literature has bur- room studies to identify strategies to help students
geoned in the last decade. Although there respond to multicultural literature. The goals are
is much writing on booklists, rationale, to enhance students’ understanding and enjoyment
and criteria for selecting multicultural literature, of stories about diverse cultural groups.
limited review is available on instructional guide-
lines for teaching multicultural literature. Teachers Check the authenticity of the story. Berrera,
need principles to guide students toward under- Liguori, and Salas (1993) cautioned that, “from
standing multicultural stories with contexts, values, the standpoint of multicultural education, authen-
and perspectives unfamiliar to most readers (Soter, ticity of content and images in children’s literature
1997). Simply exposing children to multicultural is essential because inadequate representation sub-
literature may lead to indifference, lack of under- verts the very cultural awareness and understand-
standing, and even resistance (Beach, 1998; Beach ing that such literature can build” (pp. 212–213).
& Finders, 1999). There is much discussion on the We should not look at the ethnicity of the authors
and illustrators as a guarantee of authenticity.
benefits of using multicultural literature in the
Instead, cultural experience and research can help
classroom but little information on the types of un-
individuals gain insights on the heart of a culture
derstanding multicultural literature may enhance
(Mo & Shen, 1997). Edmiston (1998) argued that
when teachers use effective strategies to present
teachers should “raise questions, draw attention to
books to students (Bishop, 1997). The purpose of inconsistencies, and highlight implications” (p.
this article is to review studies on teaching multi- 63). Wolf, Ballentine, and Hill (1999) reminded
cultural literature, to provide suggestions for teach- teachers to examine historical and cultural accura-
ers on instructional principles, and to demonstrate cy. Teachers need to assess the story’s perspective
what types of understanding students may acquire and determine whether feelings are celebrated or
when teachers apply such principles in teaching exploited. They should also consider the complex
multicultural literature. issues regarding whether the stories were told from
The preliminary literature review involved an insider’s or an outsider’s perspective. To estab-
computerized searches of Education Resources lish the authenticity of folk tales, students can
Information Center (ERIC) for studies of instruc- examine the source notes in books, compare adap-
tional strategies for teaching multicultural literature tations to their printed sources, and examine what
in grades K–12. The reference sections of these ar- has been changed in tone and in content. They can
ticles were used to find other studies involving use Hearne’s (1993a, 1993b) scale to rate the qual-
multicultural literature. My recommendations are ity of the source notes.

438 © 2006 International Reading Association (pp. 438–448) doi:10.1598/RT.59.5.3

Understand the world of the ethnic characters. bring people’s beliefs into the open. Turner (1974)
It is natural for students to explain behaviors and contended that a conflict situation can serve as a
feelings based on prior experience in their own guide for understanding cultural values and mores:
world. In order to understand ethnic characters’ “Conflict seems to bring fundamental aspects of
actions and intentions, students have to realize that society, normally overlaid by the customs and
other cultural groups may think and act in ways habits of daily intercourse, into frightening promi-
that are different from their own group (Beach & nence” (p. 35). In a study of fourth graders’ re-
Finders, 1999). When students approach a multi- sponses to the Chinese American characters in
cultural text, they should seek to understand the Daniel Pinkwater’s Wingman (1992), Louie and
context in which the actions occur. Ethnographers Louie (1999) reported that at the onset of the in-
try to make sense of a group of people by linking structional unit students found the Chinese charac-
what is said or done with the actors’ intentions, ters’ ways of handling conflict strange. Students
with conventions of group life, or with both in wondered why the characters did not use verbal
some combination. In a similar way, readers are communication to resolve the issue. Their interpre-
also meaning makers, trying to make sense of story tation was grounded in the mainstream U.S. cul-
characters living in a world different from their ture, which is preoccupied with the importance of
own (Beach, 1998). Students can construct a chart using open, verbal communication to resolve in-
to describe characters’ work, characters’ interaction terpersonal conflicts. The teacher guided students
with family and friends, how characters play, and in identifying characters’ feelings and reasoning
how characters’ government affects their lives. behind their actions in order to understand the val-
ues and beliefs that shaped the problem-solving be-
See the world through the characters’ perspec- haviors of the Chinese characters. In classroom
tives. Emery (1996) commented that the affluent discussion, students can list the conflicts that char-
middle school children she once taught could not acters encounter, identify the options that charac-
understand the attitudes of characters different ters may have in resolving the conflicts, and
from themselves. “This tendency to project their explain the reasons behind the decisions that the
own responses onto story characters may be espe- characters make in conflict resolution.
cially apparent when the literature comes from a
culture different from the readers’ own” (p. 535). In Relate self to the text and critique the portrayal
her work with 9- to 11-year-olds, Emery helped of characters in the text and in popular media.
them to understand characters’ perspectives by Students need to examine characters’ ethnic pre-
considering how characters’ motives and reactions sentations in order to define their personal mean-
might not be like the ones the students would have. ings of difference between themselves and that
Emery and Mihalevich (1992) demonstrated that group. Enciso (1997) used teacher-directed discus-
after receiving instruction on discussing story char- sion to help fourth and fifth graders to explore their
acters’ perspectives, sixth-grade students would perspectives on the white and black characters in
consider the wider social context rather than mere- Jerry Spinelli’s Maniac Magee (1990). During the
ly the immediate situation. In a recent study, some discussion, students were allowed to talk back to
high school students began to empathize with multi- the text by questioning and disagreeing with the
cultural characters when they interpreted situations book on ethnic characterization. They developed
through the characters’ perspectives (Louie, 2005). their understanding by talking about themselves in
Students can use a Venn diagram to record their relationship with the characters and the characters’
responses from both their outsider perspectives and experiences. Books and media propagate a set of
their characters’ insider perspectives, an act that differences between the mainstream and the cultur-
helps students to understand themselves in rela- al group. Enciso discussed the significance of en-
tion to the culture represented in the text (Soter, couraging students to “talk back” to multicultural
1999). literature and popular media by questioning the
images and ideologies inscribed within them.
Identify values that shape the characters’conflict- Teachers can hold a focused discussion, encourag-
resolution strategies. Conflict situations tend to ing students to wonder whether ethnic characters

Guiding principles for teaching multicultural literature 439

 expressed their familiarity with the text. Others
TABLE 1
Variants of tales projected personal experiences onto the story.
Reading the variants of a story stimulates children
Tapestry to connect the language, story features, and illus-
Demi. (1994). The magic tapestry. New York: Henry trations with those of another text. Most important-
Holt.
Heyer, M. (1986). The weaving of a dream. New York: ly, students achieve a broader understanding of the
Viking. genre of the texts. Whitmore and Crowell (1994)
San Souci, R.D. (1987). The enchanted tapestry. New compared several versions of the Cinderella tale in
York: Dial Books.
an effort to help children understand different cul-
Cinderella
Adams, E.B. (1982). Korean Cinderella. Seoul, Korea:
tural versions of a similar tale. Teachers may pres-
Seoul International Publishing House. ent books suggested in Table 1, setting up a grid for
Cohlene, T. (1990). Little firefly. Mahwah, NJ: students to compare the texts. In order to enhance
Watermill Press. students’ schema of the culture, Cai (2003) advo-
Louie, A. (1982). Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella story from
China. New York: Philomel Books.
cated that students should read a collection of
Martin, R. (1992). The rough-face girl. New York: books across genres to attain a more balanced un-
Putnam. derstanding of the cultural group being portrayed.
Silverman, E. (1999). Raisel’s riddle. New York: Farrar
Straus Giroux.
Talk, write, and respond throughout the read-
Magic Brush
Bang, M.G. (1981). Tye May and the magic brush. New
ing of the multicultural texts. Multicultural
York: Mulberry. literature is a medium that spurs reaction to cultur-
Demi. (1980). Liang and the magic paintbrush. Austin, ally based issues (Muhammad, 1993). Miller
TX: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. (1993) asserted that when teachers initiate a di-
Hong, X. (2000). The magic brush Ma Liang. Pasadena,
CA: Hope. alectic of critical reflection in classroom discus-
Xing. (1981). Ma Liang and his magic brush. San sion and provide support at points of need,
Francisco: China Books & Periodicals. students will become “more powerfully literate in
Yep, L. (2003). The magic paintbrush. New York: our complex, multicultural world” (p. 262). Purves
HarperTrophy.
(1993) recommended that students must talk,
Gingerbread Boy
Amoss, B. (1995). The Cajun gingerbread boy. New write, and be given other opportunities to display
York: Hyperion Books for Children. their responses to the multicultural literature that
Compestine, Y.Y. (2001). The runaway rice cake. New they have read. These responses are not simply
York: Simon & Schuster. summaries of the text but expressions of their un-
Egielski, R. (2000).The gingerbread boy. New York:
HarperTrophy. derstandings, attitudes, beliefs, and judgments—
Kimmel, E.A. (1994). The gingerbread man. New York: opportunities to reflect, to respond, and to allow
Holiday House. cultural communication between reader and the
Takayama, S. (1997). Musubi man: Hawaii’s ginger-
bread man. Honolulu, HI: Bess Press.
text as well as among readers themselves. In jour-
nal entries, students can respond to issues such as
the characters’ world, their feelings, their conflict-
resolution strategies, or their internal struggles.
These journal entries may serve as discussion
approve of the way they are portrayed in books and starters. Students can also write to capture their
other types of media. personal responses after a class discussion.
Use variants of the same story or collection of
stories to help students to build schema. When a
teacher read aloud variants of the Rapunzel story to Context for this project
a combined first- and second-grade class, Sipe I invited Dorothy (all names are pseudonyms),
(2001) reported that students actively engaged in a classroom teacher, to design a unit using five vari-
discussion to make sense of the texts. As a group, ants of the Mulan tale. I chose Mulan because it is
the students demonstrated various kinds of connec- a well-loved tale among the Chinese people. The
tions during the meaning-making process. Some multiple print and film versions of the tale provide

440 The Reading Teacher Vol. 59, No. 5 February 2006

opportunities for reflection and discussion. The translation and a set of intricate illustrations
popularity of Disney’s Mulan movie (Coats, Cook, showing details of Mulan’s world, was presented
& Bancroft, 1998) and its fabrication of Chinese next. Jiang’s The Legend of Mulan was introduced
values make it educational for teachers and stu- as the third version because it claimed to be a
dents to examine the film, comparing it with the translated story. The fourth book version present-
more authentic book versions (Giroux, 1995). ed was Fa Mulan, which was a retelling of the
Dorothy’s school is located in a small town of tale. The Disney version was presented last be-
15,000 people in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. The cause it assumes the greatest distance from the
nearby Navy bases are the area’s major employers. original text.
Eighty percent of the residents are Caucasians. The instructional plan consisted of 10 hourlong
Among the 23 students (13 girls and 10 boys) in sessions over a three-week period. In order to de-
her class, 12 were Hispanic or African Americans. termine what kinds of understanding the students
Dorothy considered her fourth-grade class in the might develop, we collected various types of in-
year of the study more diverse than the average of formation throughout the unit, including video-
the 456-member student body, where 70% of the taped records of all the instructional sections, my
students were Caucasian. Parents were active par- field notes, teacher journals, student journals, and
ticipants in a variety of school activities, such as student projects. We obtained additional informa-
Math Olympiad, Sports Zone, Chess Club, and Star tion at the end of the unit by interviewing students
Watchers. Approximately half of the students came individually about their learning. The audiotapes of
from military families, with parents on active duty student interviews and videotapes of classroom in-
or working in the nearby naval shipyard. According struction were transcribed so that we could ana-
to Dorothy, although these students lived in a pre- lyze students’ learning.
dominantly Caucasian town, their military connec-
tions made them aware that there were different
cultural groups living elsewhere in the world.
After teaching for 22 years, Dorothy planned
Student learning in the classroom
to retire in the following spring. Nevertheless, she Most of the fourth-grade students had watched
still tried to “look for special ways to enrich the stu- the Disney video before this unit. They were very
dents’ lives.” Dorothy especially wanted to help her excited about reading so many versions of Mulan.
students learn about the diversity of cultures be- Dorothy read the stories aloud to the class. As in
yond their own neighborhood. Although she al- Sipe’s (2000) study of first and second graders’ oral
ways looked for ways to enhance her students’ responses to picture books read aloud, the fourth
learning, she acknowledged that she had not done graders paid close attention to both text and illus-
much to promote their understanding of multi- tration. A duplicate set of Mulan books was avail-
cultural literature other than the occasional reading able for students to use during small-group
aloud of multicultural picture books. Multicultural activities. Some students revisited the texts to look
literature had not been an important part in the at the illustrations again or to compare specific el-
school district’s curriculum. Teachers seldom pro- ements in the texts across different versions of the
vided instruction using multicultural literature. I story. Throughout the unit, students’ enthusiasm re-
collaborated with Dorothy to design a plan that in- mained high; they were engaged during the dis-
corporated the guiding principles for multicultural cussion time, and they were on task when they
literature instruction, using four versions of Mulan worked in small groups to display their responses
and the Disney video in the following order: (1) through projects.
The Song of Mulan (Lee, 1995), (2) The Ballad of When we planned the unit, Dorothy was very
Mulan (Zhang, 1998), (3) The Legend of Mulan concerned that she was not an expert on the Chinese
(Jiang, 1992), (4) Fa Mulan (San Souci, 1998), and culture. In addition to consulting with me, a
(5) Disney’s Mulan video (Coats et al., 1998). The Chinese American, Dorothy worked diligently to
Song of Mulan was presented first because it is a examine the authenticity of the various versions by
literal translation of the ancient Chinese sonnet on teaching herself and her students to scan the books
Mulan. The Ballad of Mulan, with a less literal carefully. Because almost all of the students had

Guiding principles for teaching multicultural literature 441

 TABLE 2
Critical, empathetic, and conceptual understanding categories for students’
cross-cultural understanding through reading Mulan versions
Understanding Understanding
category subcategory Description Examples

Critical Evaluating authenticity Students evaluate the “This book didn’t say
authenticity of the illustra- much about the sources of
tions and the texts. the story.”
Discovering values in Students recognize the “Mulan would not do
conflict resolution values of the ethnic things without her
characters. parents’ permission.”
Considering characters’ Students decide whether “Mulan had to go so that
perspectives the characters’ perspectives her sick father did not
and actions are reasonable need to go to war.”
and appropriate.
Questioning portrayal of Students question the “Disney had a lot of made-
character ways that the media por- up stuff.”
tray ethnic characters.
Understanding versus Students settle their like “Disney’s Mulan is like a
preference and dislike in light of their fairy tale...it is fake.... I like
cognitive understanding. it because it is funny.”
Empathetic Perspective taking Students evaluate feelings “Mulan did not have a
and actions from the choice but to go to war in
ethnic characters’ points order to protect her family.”
of view.
Sharing emotional Students experience “My dad misses us a lot
responses emotions similar to those whenever he is away with
of the ethnic characters. his ship.”
Conceptual Understanding the Students accept that people “We shouldn’t judge other
implications of culture may act, think, and feel people because they are
differently in different different from us.”
cultural groups.

watched the Mulan video before this unit, Dorothy Critical understanding
took advantage of this common knowledge, asking Students developed a critical understanding of
students to do two things as she read different ver- the Mulan stories when they went beyond literal
sions to the class: (1) Check source notes and (2) comprehension to analyze and to evaluate various
compare the book versions with the Disney video versions (see Table 2). They untangled the literal
version. Dorothy explained that an authentic Mulan details in source notes, texts, and illustrations; in-
version was one that was very similar to the folk tale ferred motivations of the characters; and analyzed
that Chinese people knew throughout the years; the various episodes of the story.
illustrations should reflect the world in which
Mulan lived. She reminded students that non- Checking authenticity. Throughout the unit,
Chinese authors and artists who studied the Chinese Dorothy guided students to examine text authentic-
culture and customs could also create very authen- ity according to Hearne’s (1993a) suggestions of
tic stories and illustrations. Although the authors’ analyzing the source notes, comparing story ver-
and the illustrators’ backgrounds and training were sions, and examining changes in tone and changes
important to know, students also needed to check in the illustration content. She encouraged students
whether authors and illustrators had conducted re- to reflect on issues in their journals and to voice
search for the Mulan book. their thoughts in classroom discussions. Students

442 The Reading Teacher Vol. 59, No. 5 February 2006

discovered that some authors and illustrators con- from outside: Mulan’s father was drafted to fight
ducted substantial research in preparing the books. in a war. Dorothy asked students to consider a hy-
The students respected Song-Nan Zhang, a pothetical situation in which a disagreement oc-
Chinese author, who knew the story well yet did curred between Mulan and her parents: Would
not take it for granted. His in-depth study of culture Mulan resolve the conflict by leaving without per-
and arts resulted in a detailed visual presentation of mission, asserting that she wanted her way?
the living environment of Mulan’s world. Through
research and study Robert San Souci, a non- Dorothy: Why does Mulan want to go to the war?
Chinese author, retold the ancient tale with authen- Angie: She wants to help her family.
tic description and details while making the story Sandy: Her father is old, and she does not want her
more accessible and enjoyable to students. father to die in the war.
Students learned that research, not ethnicity, helped Megan: Her father’s name is on all the name lists. If
authors and illustrators establish authenticity for he doesn’t report to the military, the whole
their works. family will be punished.
As students analyzed various versions of the
text, they made a large comparison chart using Dorothy asked students to write in their jour-
butcher paper. Students named categories such as nals about two items: (1) Mulan’s feelings and rea-
title, author, illustrator/illustration, characters, sons for her decision to fight in the war and (2)
Mulan’s name, source notes, notifying the family, whether it be acceptable and honorable for Mulan
parents’ permission, military training, length of to go to war without her parents’ permission. In
war, emperor’s name, and revealing being a her journal, Megan wrote,
woman. Similar to Sipe’s (2001) findings, these Mulan probably would have gone without permission
“text-to-text” comparison items focused on lan- because she finally cares for her family, especially her
guage, story details, and illustrations. father. Because her father was the weakest and be-
The class discussion suggested that students cause any small things could hurt him because he’s
were aware of the tension between authenticity and weak and frail. So she probably asked first. But if her
audience appeal. Students indicated that although parents said she couldn’t go, she would probably go
The Song of Mulan (Lee, 1995) could be the most anyway because she cares.
authentic because it was a literal translation of the
Chinese text, they preferred the retelling of Fa Many students wrote statements similar to
Mulan (San Souci, 1998) and The Legend of Mulan Megan’s in their journals. They used reasons such
(Jiang, 1992) because these stories included more as “It is the right thing to do,” “She has to save her
details to make the life of Mulan more interesting. family,” “It is her duty to fight for her family,” “She
Additions in these two versions did not distort the loves her family too much,” and “Her father is too
tale but rendered it more accessible to audience old to go” to justify their arguments that Mulan
members, such as children in the United States who would go without permission. Only two students
had no prior knowledge of the character and her indicated that they did not think Mulan would dis-
world. Students understood that Disney’s imagi- obey her parents and go without parental permis-
nary characters compromised the authenticity, but sion. Dorothy noted in her teacher’s journal, “The
they loved watching the Disney video. family is so basic to what drives our understand-
ing of relationship and the culture.... I am not sure
Identifying values that shape the characters’ that the students could comprehend the impact of
conflict-resolution strategies. After Dorothy fin- family roles and rules prevalent in Mulan’s time pe-
ished reading aloud all the text versions, she direct- riod. The students did not understand that a child
ed students’ attention to the discrepancy between was expected to be obedient in Mulan’s world.”
Disney and the text versions in the area of parental During our meeting about the progress of the
permission. All of the students agreed that Disney unit, Dorothy expressed her concerns about students
was inaccurate in having Mulan run away from using their worldview—that it is an individual’s
home to join the army. In all the text versions, right to follow his or her own heart—to interpret the
Mulan and her family faced a common problem story. Many students believed that Mulan would

Guiding principles for teaching multicultural literature 443

think and act like them. Students used their values & Shen, 1997, p. 90). Although many students in
of individual decision making to assume that Dorothy’s class focused on gender issues, Mulan
Mulan’s love for her father and her desire to be true is not really about gender issues but that of “cul-
to herself could override the need for permission. tural obligation by a dutiful daughter for her par-
Most students did not understand that in an ancient ents.... In China there has never been a law or
Chinese family, loving one’s parents meant obeying tradition of banning girls from going to war” (Mo
them. Even after substantial discussion in class, & Shen, 2000, pp. 132–133). Many U.S. readers
many students still allowed their worldviews and find it difficult to accept a heroine who is sacrificial
value systems to guide their interpretations. The (Hearne, 1993b). Most of the students could not ac-
fourth graders believed that it was acceptable for cept the concept of an obedient daughter willing
Mulan to disobey her parents when she believed to sacrifice her life for the family.
that she was doing the right thing.
Critiquing the portrayal of characters in the
Understanding the world of the ethnic charac- text and in popular media. Dorothy ended the
ters. After reading students’ journals on parental unit by showing the Disney video to the class. We
permission, Dorothy decided to discuss the mean- wondered how students would respond to the video
ing of honor in Chinese culture on the following after the critical examination and thoughtful dis-
day. She asked the class whether Mulan was an cussion of text versions. As suggested by Enciso
honorable character. Many students said that (1997), Dorothy encouraged the students to exam-
Mulan was honorable because she was willing to ine Disney’s presentation of Chinese values and the
go to war to protect her family and her country. images of Chinese people. In her own journal,
However, some students were concerned about Dorothy revealed her discovery of adult jokes and
Mulan’s lying to the government. Students ana- images with sexual overtones in the video.
lyzed and evaluated Mulan’s decision based on Previously, she had not stopped to think about the
their own understanding of U.S. law. Kelsey won- inappropriateness of the Marilyn Monroe-like
dered, “She lied to the government. Wasn’t she snow sculptures. Dorothy was surprised that she,
afraid that the government would do something to like her students, was callous to Disney’s distortion
her at the end when they found out that she lied?” of cultural images and ideology. Before this unit,
Kim wrote, “Mulan’s action was not acceptable to she also had admired Mulan’s sensibility to choose
me because she broke the law.” James added that the right path by deciding to fight for her family
Mulan “lied about her name and lied about her be- when her father was too weak to make that deci-
ing a man and stuff.” This group believed it was sion. Wolf, Ballentine, and Hill (2000) emphasized
honorable to disobey one’s parents if one chose to the necessity for teachers to examine their cultural
do the right thing. However, it was wrong to lie to biases before they lead students to develop cross-
the government even to protect one’s family. In cultural understanding. Dorothy guided her stu-
their journals, many students expressed under- dents to critique the Disney video as she reflected
standing for Mulan’s disguise but were deeply con- upon her own cultural biases. Students expressed
cerned about Mulan’s violation of the law. some of their thinking in classroom discussion.
Although Dorothy patiently guided the stu-
dents to consider Mulan’s actions in the context of Don: Chinese people may not like the part when
her world, some remained unwilling or unable to the ancestors dance with rock music.... I think
that Chinese people respect their ancestors a
understand Mulan’s decisions through her point of
lot.... They may not like to see their ancestors
view. Jay, Kay, and Dean discussed the ambiva- acting silly and dancing and stuff.
lence of Mulan’s gender identity and used the
Kim: And the part that Mulan tries to spit...but the
yin–yang symbol in their story map to illustrate her saliva hangs onto her mouth and doesn’t
dilemma. They analyzed Mulan as a woman striv- really come out.... Disney added this part to
ing to assert her will on the battlefield where only make fun of a famous person like Mulan.
men were allowed. They could not accept such val- Other authors and illustrators did not do that.
ues as the “neglect of individuality implied in the Clara: Chinese people think that dragons are very
human relationships of Confucian ideology” (Mo powerful. But in the video, Mushu really looks

444 The Reading Teacher Vol. 59, No. 5 February 2006

 like a lizard, more funny than powerful.... I sions. It was gratifying for us that eight students
don’t know whether Chinese people think it allowed critical knowledge to transform their
is funny.... Disney turns what Chinese people thinking after only 10 days’ instruction.
think is powerful into something that cracks
jokes and acts silly.
Empathetic understanding
In their critical analysis of the Disney video, Students demonstrated empathetic understand-
students relied on their value of respect as a filter to ing when they took the perspective of Mulan, sym-
capture possible distortions. Students understood pathized with Mulan’s decision, and felt the
that people should not make fun of grandparents, emotions similar to those of Mulan. Broome (1991)
national heroes, and cultural icons. They found it defined empathy as “identification with another in-
disrespectful to belittle people and items that the dividual...and as communicating a sense of under-
Chinese deemed important. When Don posed the standing to another” (pp. 235–236). Athanases,
question about the possibility of offending some Christiano, and Lay (1995) advocated the need for
Chinese people, he was adopting an insider’s per- students to “explore points of connection” as a way
spective, pondering how a person of the character’s to foster empathy through literary study (p. 26).
ethnicity would perceive the situation.
Seeing the world from the characters’ perspec-
Weighting understanding and preference. At the tives. Dorothy encouraged students to take the per-
end of the unit, we wanted to find out whether cog- spective of Mulan by understanding what a woman
nitive understanding would shape students’ prefer- could do in her world. As the unit proceeded, some
ence, for example, to reject multicultural materials students demonstrated surprise and confusion
with low cultural authenticity. Students stated that when they had problems understanding Mulan and
China, based on their own life experience in the
the book versions were pretty accurate overall.
United States. They found Mulan somewhat
Some authors added details to make stories fuller,
strange because she lied to the government. They
filling in the gaps to help students understand. The
questioned whether Mulan’s father loved her be-
Disney version added many imaginary items to
cause he let Mulan go to war in his place. Students
make the story “more enjoyable.” The students re-
felt uncomfortable with the faults they found in the
alized that Disney’s additions compromised the au-
heroine. They were unused to questioning a brave
thenticity and accuracy of the story. During
and admirable protagonist about negative elements
individual interviews, many students identified the
in her life. Dorothy sensed the students’ discom-
liberties that Disney had taken with the Mulan sto- fort; she engaged them in thoughtful reflection and
ry. However, when students were asked to identify further questioning to reexamine their perceptions.
their favorite version, two thirds of them chose the Students started to connect with Mulan using dia-
Disney version, explaining that it had more char- logue, by imagining how she might have felt or
acters and more fun. Don commented that, “al- how they might act in her place.
though Disney added a lot of fake stuff in the story,
they made the story funny.” Another student re- Carol: My brother got a phone call. If you didn’t go,
vealed in her interview that she preferred the they would put you in jail. The only reasons
Disney version because “the other stories were that you could have for not going were reli-
gious reasons or health reasons.
more like in their country [China], and the Disney
one is more like our country.” She enjoyed the Kim: But Mulan’s dad was not strong enough. At
least in China at that time, they allowed a
comic action and the music in the movie. Students’ substitute. But my dad, when he was young,
preference for the Disney story, despite their objec- he and some of the kids that he knew had to
tions to its distortions, demonstrated a case of “pre- go to the army, too.
eminence of heart over head” (Goleman, 1995, p.
4), showing that their emotional responses might Dorothy encouraged students to think about
not follow their rational minds. One third of the options that Mulan’s family had in this time of
students continued to express their displeasure with trouble. Many wrote in their journals that Mulan’s
the Disney’s version and preferred other book ver- father would die in the war because he was old and

Guiding principles for teaching multicultural literature 445

weak; whereas Mulan, being young and strong, solution to the crisis. Participating in Mulan’s
might have a chance to survive the war. Although dilemma and struggle, students became less judg-
students still disliked the fact that Mulan had to mental of Mulan’s decisions. As the students em-
deceive the government by disguising herself as a pathized with Mulan’s love for her family and the
man, they realized that the government might not necessity of her deception, they developed an em-
have allowed Mulan to replace her father if she had pathetic understanding across ethnicity, time, and
enrolled as a woman. If nobody answered the call for some, gender lines.
to arms, the whole family would be punished. In
their journals, students indicated that they loved Conceptual understanding of culture
their families just like Mulan loved hers. Conceptual understanding is the awareness that
Connecting with Mulan by sharing her love for the culture is a social construct and that there are indi-
family and accepting the limited alternatives that vidual differences within a culture (Matsumoto,
her family had, students began to understand 1996). It also involves the acknowledgement that
Mulan’s dilemma and to empathize with her. we look at the world through our cultural filters and
that we act according to our cultural norms. When
Relating self to the text. During the last day of students acquire this type of cross-cultural under-
instruction, Dorothy asked students whether going standing, they begin to accept the range of values
to war was an easy decision that Mulan could make and behaviors among different cultural groups
without much thinking. Students said that the de- (Cotton, 1996). Only a few students in Dorothy’s
cision must be difficult because Mulan might fear class demonstrated conceptual understanding at the
that she would die in the war, she would miss her end of the unit. During the final discussion, students
family, and she would get punished if other soldiers discussed their abstract understanding of culture.
discovered her secret. Kim expressed that “Mulan
might be afraid to go to faraway places that she did James: People think differently.
not know. At her time, people did not travel much Angie: People had different points of view.
because of transportation problems.” Some stu- Jay: People from different cultures may think
dents shared Mulan’s fear, frustration, and home- differently.
sickness. Dorothy: Why might people from the same culture
have different points of view?
James: My dad told me that when he went to the Gulf
Gary: People have different things happen to them.
War, he missed us a lot. There was so much
bombing around him, he really wished that Carol: People have different experiences.
the war would end and he could come home.
Carol: Just like Mulan. She was far away from home.
Toward the end of the unit, Kim wrote, “Mulan
All she could hear was the neighing of ene- valued trust. One way it is alike in our culture is that
my’s horses. She missed her parents a lot. we value people’s trust, too. We try to keep it. The
way it is different for us is that trust sometimes
Some students in military families connected with means something different.” In Kim’s case, she was
Mulan’s joy when she arrived home. beginning to understand that even the word trust
meant different things in different cultures. Later in
William: Sometimes when you are a long way from the interview, Kim reiterated this point by asserting,
home, you don’t want nothing, but just to
bring yourself home. Well, they should keep in mind that the people in China
Jay: Just like Mulan. She doesn’t want any gifts have a different culture than we do because they might
from the emperor. She wants to go home. think that it is weird that they have to bow to their par-
ents first, and that if they think it is funny, they should
When students were asked to look for alterna- keep in mind that it is a different culture.
tives for Mulan’s family, they found themselves
facing the challenges that Mulan faced. Students In her interview, Angie said,
imagined the frustration and the fear that Mulan Not all countries are the same, and they have things
might have felt when she realized that she was the to us that we think are weird; but to them our things are

446 The Reading Teacher Vol. 59, No. 5 February 2006

 weird because we have different cultures. Kids should students, leading to the development of empathet-
know that learning about another culture means learn- ic understanding. Gradually, several students real-
ing a different kind of stuff. So they shouldn’t make ized that Mulan lived in a world with values
fun of it because it is weird to them.
different from their own. They began to understand
the concept of culture, accepting that they should
Kay and Amy repeated similar statements in
not judge other people on the basis of their own
their interviews. Don summed up his conceptual
values. As the unit came to an end, Dorothy wrote
understanding of culture by saying, “We shouldn’t
in her journal that it was the beginning of cross-
judge other people because they are different.” The
cultural studies in her classroom. She realized that
transformation in cross-cultural understanding oc-
not every student acquired all three types of under-
curs when people begin to accept that there are dif-
ferent ways of thinking and different values in standing. Students grew up in different cultural
other cultures. These students acknowledged that communities, which affected their readiness to un-
there were different cultures. Because people living derstand multicultural texts. She hoped that the
in other cultures face different constraints, students cross-cultural understanding that her students ac-
cannot expect people living in another environment quired in this unit would enhance their future read-
to act and to think like they do. Therefore, if they ing of multicultural literature.
want to understand others’ motivations and actions,
they need to look inside others’ cultural value sys- Louie teaches at the University of Washington,
tems for explanation. Tacoma. She can be reached there at 1900
Commerce Street, Tacoma, WA 98402, USA.
E-mail blouie@u.washington.edu.
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