Goyangi Means Cat by Christine McDonnell

Goyangi Means Cat is about a young girl named Soo Min who moves to America from Korea. Soo Min is adopted by an American family and does not speak their language. She feels out of place and everything is new and strange to her. Soo Min finds a friend who happens to be her new family's pet cat. Goyangi the family cat goes missing one day, and Soo Min is forced to realize that home is where the heart is. In this book there are Korean words you can share with your student. It is also important to show your student how difficult it is sometimes for immigrants to feel comfortable in America. You could explain how we should help to welcome other cultures and to show them our culture too. This is a great way to explain how some people might speak differently or feel differently than we do, but it is up to us to accept them. It can really help them adjust to our culture and feel welcomed. We can discuss how it is important for foreign people to have more friends than just a cat and that we can enjoy a new friend and new culture instead of judging or seeing them negatively. After this discussion it might be a good idea to entertain questions.

Book Cover copied from http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10774284-goyangi-means-cat

I Love Saturdays y domingos by Alma Flor Ada

I Love Saturdays y Domingos by Alma Flor Ada is a story of a young girl who enjoys a diverse family background. She has English-speaking and Spanish-speaking grandparents. It shows two very different cultures and all the fun times and love that comes with both. I enjoyed this book very much because it does include Spanish words that you can share with your students. It compares the two backgrounds not only with language, but it also describes the different foods, different pets, different hobbies, and many other differences between the cultures. The grandparents enjoy many of the same things, but enjoy them a little differently. One set of grandparents are American whose family came here long ago from Europe and California. The other set is a combination of two people, one who came from Mexico and the other who is Native-American. These diverse backgrounds show so much culture in the book. The book ends describing the young girl's birthday party. She has such a large and unique family, but they all love her and that is what is so important. This book would be a great way to engage your student(s) in conversation about how different we are from our friends and sometimes even in our own family. I think this book would call for a little debriefing and conversation, but it is a great way to share the benefits of different cultures with the students.

Book Image borrowed from http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=i+love+saturdays+y+domingos

You Can Be a Friend by Tony and Lauren Dungy

You Can Be a Friend by Tony and Lauren Dungy is a wonderful book showing how to accept children who might look a little different than you. In this book, the Dungy's get new neighbors. When Hannah moves in, Jade is startled to see her in a wheelchair and does not want to be her friend. She instantly fears Hannah will not be able to play and do things like her other friends. Jade is encouraged by her family to give Hannah a chance. Jade struggles with inviting Hannah to her birthday party at the water park because she does not want worry about her. Jade asks her older brother for advice and in the end plans a birthday party at the zoo so that all of her friends will have a good time, including Hannah. The book closes with this thought "Sometimes we see people and we dont' think they'll be friendly or fun because of the way they look. We don't try to make friends with them because they are different. Jade almost made that mistake with Hannah because of her wheelchair." If this is the point you would like to get across to your 4 - 7 year old, this book is perfect. Everyone is different and this is what makes them so special. Tony and Lauren Dungy do a terrific job of showing us this through this great children's book.

Book image copied from http://www.borders.com/online/store/TitleDetail?sku=1416997717 .