Assessing Children's Books By Tomie Depaola

Throughout the children’s literature class I have learned how to appropriately analyze and comprehend children’s books. Learning these skills will help me immensely as future educator choosing which books to integrate into lessons and how I can integrate a variety of topics, including multicultural topics. My inquiry research paper will discuss the personal and social values of Italian culture and influence within six books wrote by Tomie dePaola. I choose to focus on this aspect of his work because as teachers we influence our students and having the ability to teach cultural competence in a multicultural world is critical. I also choose to focus on this author after being intrigued by his work through a group project I am working on. I believe it is important to expose our students to new cultures and ways of thinking. It is important for them to understand each country is different in their own unique way but that we are all equal. This will also allow students to be open to potential immigrants within a classroom setting or of students of varying races or beliefs. The books I analyzed contained Italian cultural aspects ranging from language, to geography and famous landmarks, to foods and an Italian Christmas story. It is important to not
This story exposes children is an Italian Christmas story. For students who are unfamiliar with other Christmas stories from other cultures this is a great chance to expose them to a multicultural holiday. It is a story that follows a grumpy old woman, Befana, who lives in the outskirts of a small village in Italy. She visits all the children of Italy and leaves them candies, cookies and gifts as she is searching for the Christ child. “Old Bafana never caught up, alas. She never found the Child in Bethlehem. But she is searching still, to this day. Every year on the Feast of the Three Kings, January the sixth, Old Befana runs across the sky.” (dePaola, 1980, p.