Chapter 4: Connecting Home and School Values Through Multicultural Literature and Family Stories

The heart of school beats in the classroom. It is the place where students and teachers interact. (Danridge, 1998, p. 1)

Few would disagree with this statement, but all too often the classroom environment does not reflect the ideas, ethics, attitudes, and values of the people who live in it. These incongruencies make it more difficult for students and teachers to interact with each other (Edwards, Pleasants, & Franklin, 1999). We believe that educators can move closer to achieving the goal of providing a school environment that reflects the home cultures of its students by recognizing and appreciating the family values that students bring to the classroom. We feel that one way to accomplish this goal is by utilizing literature in the classroom, especially multicultural literature, to identify and discuss family values. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a model for using multicultural literature as a means of illuminating the universal values that exist among diverse families and communities.