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Four Books for Teens that Address Multicultural Issues
These four books are all really solid stories that explore multicultural themes including integration into new environments, alternative lifestyles, and embracing other cultures' differences while realizing and appreciating shared experience. They all feature a female protagonist who is independent and has a lot of personality. They are great alternatives to The Gossip Girls or the A-List (books I find to be anti-feminism and anti-diversity).
In Lydia, Queen of Palestine by Uri Orlev, Lydia is a teenage girl who is forced to move into a kibbutz because of the Holocaust. She has a vivid imagination and deals with her parents' separation as well as the chaos around her by dramatizing their lives through her dolls. As a child, I admired her ability to get through situations I would have found frightening with only her sense of humor and strong will to guide her. It is a unique take on the Holocaust that focuses not on the war itself but on how a child during the time might have perceived the chaos going on around them. I also found Orlev's description of Lydia's life in the kibbutz to be extremely fascinating. Kibbutzim is a movement that began in the 40's in Israel as a communal way of life based on socialism and agriculture. At the time I first read this book, I had never heard of it, and it seemed very exotic and foreign. The idea of a community working together almost as a family seemed very appealing especially during a time where it was so important to watch out for each other.
One More River by Lynne Reid Banks also deals with kibbutzim; however, Lesley is a girl moving from the very American state of Missouri to live in Israel (the country her parents are from) on a kibbutz. It is a classic story of the upheaval and frustration that teenagers may feel when forced to leave behind established and familiar school, friends, and lifestyles. In Lesley's case, her family is quite wealthy, and her parents' decision to exchange luxury for a life of working in a commune is one that is baffling to her. I really enjoyed seeing Lesley transform from a girl who is immature and spoiled into a girl who is beginning to understand that life isn't about possessions and "being popular".
Habibi by Naomi Shihab Nye is similar in that Liyana's family is uprooting her and her brother from the Midwest to move back to Jerusalem where their father is from. This is one of my favorites because Nye writes in a shimmering, lyrical prose that brings to life all of the mixed feelings of adolescence and confusion about identity Liyana is experiencing. She questions everything and draws some beautiful conclusions about racial prejudice.
Bloomability by Sharon Creech is what I think of as a guilty pleasure. I have a penchant for books about boarding schools. I think it has to do with the whole idea of being separated from your parents and having adventures and exploring the world at your own pace. Dinnie is sent to one such school in Switzerland where she is immersed into a social dynamic that is teeming with children from around the world who speak three or four different languages and are much more worldly than she. Initially, she struggles with assimilating all of the new strangeness of this new environment and eventually realizes how exciting it is once she embraces it. Creech has a unique talent in that she can draw meaning out of every situation and reinforce her themes of connectivity and diversity.
