Phositiv The Always Prayer Shawl By Sheldon Oberman

Multicultural Literature should play a big part in our classroom library and with class activities. With the increasing numbers of diverse students in our schools, we need to be able to show these students depictions of themselves and their culture in literary work. Students should have access to these books in our classroom libraries, the schools libraries and we should be encouraging the students to read this type of literature. The challenge in multicultural literature is finding books that authentically show and represent the culture and diversity of the individuals they are trying to represent. The definition of multicultural literature is defined in four different ways. According to Tunnell et al., (2015), multicultural literature fosters an understanding and appreciation of different people, presents a
Adam’s family moved to the US from Russia but had to leave his grandfather behind. Before they left, Adam’s grandfather gave him a shawl that Adam wears every Sabbath (A Jewish Holiday). Adam takes on the role that his grandfather used to have. He tells the family stories that have been passed down. Adam feels like the shawl connects him to his culture and to the past. Eventually, he will have his own grandson, also named Adam, and he will pass on the stories and shawl to him. I think this book is a good way to show diversity not only in the Russian culture but for the Jewish religion. It also shows the importance of family and tradition that these individuals hold dear. Students from different religions would love this book because they would be able to see that not all religions in America are the same and some other students practice different religions to. It would also show the other students how to tolerate individuals with different religions and it would explain why some students have different holiday and traditions than