When I went to my library at home I found a similar display. The featured books were all Christmas with a few Hanukkah books on the bottom shelf. I searched in the "Holiday" section of the library and found exactly what I was looking for. There were books from every culture and holiday on the shelf. As I started reading the books about different holidays, I found myself very interested in these books. I think libraries should display books from all religions and cultures because it could really enrich a child's knowledge.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Holiday Literature
For our application assignment we critiqued books from different holidays around the world. Everyone loves the holidays, and there are so many books on them, or so we thought. When we went to Barnes and Noble to start looking at book we learned very quickly that their "Holiday" section consisted of Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter books. There weren't any books about Ramadan or Rosh Hashanah. I found this interesting because I assumed that the book store would at least try to have some literature on most of the holidays. It was ironic how all of the books we needed were shown online, but not in the store. This made me wonder why there were only Christian holidays featured at the store. Holiday celebrations from other cultures or religions are equally as important, and children should be exposed to literature about these holidays.
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I am actually really surprised that you were not able to find any holiday books besides those about Christian holidays. I understand that their would not be books about holidays from religions that are not as common as others, but I feel that even to not have any Jewish holiday books is not right. Even though Christianity is probably one of the most prominent religions in the United States, many more religions are becoming more prominent because the United States is becoming more and more diversified every day. In my opinion, it is important for book stores and libraries to feature a wide variety of religious holiday books because it is important for children to learn at a young age to be accepting of all religions.
ReplyDeleteIt is surprising and disappointing to hear the low number of books that focus on the holidays of cultures and religions other than Christianity. This is especially shocking due to the wide range of cultures within out society. However this accurately depicts the lack of knowledge our general population has of other holidays outside our own. I remember as a kid back in grade school telling people to have a Happy Christmahanakwanzika but not knowing what any of the holidays were except for Christmas. If the library and bookstore displayed books discussing these different holidays on display they are will more likely catch the eye of a passer by and may spike interest. Rather than having them tucked on a bottom self where you have to be specifically looking for this a book on that topic. This could happen in both the adult and the children’s literature section of the library or bookstore.
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