Post-multicultural+CCI

Post- Multicultural Collaborative Critical Inquiry
Tools: Blogs, The Bookhenge Directions: Prepare for culmination of the Collaborative Critical Inquiry by reading, blogging, and commenting on colleagues' blogs.

Prompt and Readings
So are we post-multicultural?

For this seminar preparation, you will read one of Aronson's most famous and controversial essays from Horn Book (May/June 2001) on identity-based book awards (Coretta Scott King, Pura Belpre‚, etc.), Andrea Davis Pinkney's response, also from Horn Book (September/October 2001), and Aronson's response to his critics. **Both of these readings are from Section 1, pp. 3 - 23 in our textbook, //Beyond the Pale//.**

**Step 1:** Before you read the essays, consider how you personally feel about the value of book awards such as the Coretta Scott King Award for African-American Literature and the Pura Belpre Award for Hispanic Literature. Reflect briefly on this and use it to begin your forum post. Then read to reflect on your position and decide if you have found compelling arguments that influence your opinion.

**Step 2:** Read and reflect on the contributions of colleagues and identify any compelling arguments that support your opinion or may cause you to rethink your opinion.

**Step 3**: Finally, there are no Best Books for Teens on the ALA site for Multicultural Literature. Is this an oversight, do you think? What is the best way to make sure we expand the canon to include literature that represents the wider experience of the people of our communities, local and global? Why is it important?

Respond to these questions or similar ones that resonate with you in your blog and then read and comment on colleagues' blogs to prepare for the seminar in the Bookhenge.