Making A Multicultural "Keeping Quilt"－－Patricia Polacco''''s Picture Books

• Main Authors: Ya-Han Yang, 楊雅涵
• Other Authors: 楊茂秀
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2002
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/70912282427264528662

碩士 === 臺東師範學院 === 兒童文學研究所 === 90 === Although the term “multiculturalism” is widely used in many different fields, its ideas and practices are also constantly debated. Does a multicultural society simply mean juxtaposing people of different cultures, ethnic groups, or political statuses? How can we reach the optimal concordance and righteousness under the awareness of multiculturalism? What should we do to bring the idea of understanding multiculturalism into children’s literature? To get a clearer picture, this thesis aims to find out the applications of multiculturalism in children’s literature, and uncover the characteristics, intentions, and impacts to readers by doing an in-depth research of Patricia Polacco’s picture books. Patricia Polacco is a children’s book writer and illustrator who especially centers on cultural issues and has created many works with multicultural concerns. This thesis discusses the meanings and changes of multiculturalism first, with a follow up of an introduction of Patricia Polacco’s backgrounds to learn more about her motives on creating such unique works. We will view Patricia Polacco’s works in a broader aspect to understand her overall content and artistic qualities before we focus on her multicultural characteristics. We will then observe how Patricia Polacco’s multicultural characteristics are registered in her picture books by examining the factors that influence readers’ feelings, such as texts, pictures, and relations between texts and pictures. As the most frequently told story by herself,《The Keeping Quilt》, her works patched another “keeping quilt” by giving people of different origins, cultures, groups their own places which stand side by side, and through Patricia Polacco’s patching hands, we will be able to see more beautiful, interesting, and touching stories.