Author(s): Anne M. Dolan

Around the World | Diversity & Tolerance

This book shows how appropriate picture books can bring the world into the primary classroom and promote development education and children's intercultural understanding. It responds to the research by the United Kingdom Literacy Agency in 2007 which revealed that many teachers are unaware of such books, feel unable to select contemporary literature for children and tend to rely on the books they enjoyed as children.

You, Me and Diversityis based on research funded by the Development Education Unit of Irish Aid designed to offer teachers approaches for teaching development and intercultural education in primary schools through the use of picture books. It critiques a selection of the books identified and advises on how to use them in the classroom. It provides a directory of picture books published since 2000 which feature development and intercultural themes such as culture, climate change, migration and gender. The framework used for categorizing the picture books gives teachers a planning tool to ensure they offer children a full range of development and intercultural perspectives while also adhering to literacy guidelines.

Every primary school teacher needs to read this book so they can widen their pupils' horizons while developing their literacy.