The Nature of Mexican American Third Graders' Engagement with Culturally Relevant Picture Books

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe how bilingual, Mexican American third graders engaged with culturally relevant picture books during whole-group book discussions and then to further examine how culture (specifically) was reflected in efferent and aesthetic responses. Engagement was defined as the nature in which the readers interpreted by connecting with a specific literature selection. Participants in the study demonstrated that engagement with all the picture book texts was high, with culture observed to be a key common denominator for which cues were selected and either extracted in terms of storybook interpretations or lived through in terms of personal experiences.