Confetti: Poems for Children by Pat Mora

• Title: Confetti: Poems for Children
• Author: Pat Mora 
• Publishing: Lee & Low Books. May 1st, 2006.
• Synopsis: This book is a colorful collection of poems that revolve around the culture and natural beauty of the Southwestern region of North America. There are a collection of free verse poems written from the perspective of a young Mexican American girl, and imbedded in each poem there are Spanish words. In carrying out the theme of the title, there is a piece of confetti on each page, making reading the book into a celebration. The book covers many topics that are interesting to children such as sun rises, the desert, dancing and many more. 
• The illustrations in this book are bright and colorful and embody the spirit and culture of the SouthWest, which really adds meaning and complements the poems nicely. This book is also written in free verse and uses two different languages throughout, which makes it unique from other books. 
• I really enjoyed this book and thought it was perfect for adding a multicultural aspect to learning. This book gives the unique perspective of a Mexican American girl who has different views then a lot of the children I will be having in my future class room. Due to the fact that there will undoubtedly be Mexican American students in my classroom, it is important to address and make these children feel included in lessons and in the classroom. This book does a great job of showing a different perspective which is important for young students and also shows a different culture. For that reason, this is an excellent book and an important one to use in the classroom. 
• This book could be used for multiple multicultural purposes in the classroom. This book could be used as an introduction to a unit on the South West portion of the United States and the influence having a border with Mexico has made. I can use this book to open up a lesson on what it is like to be a Mexican immigrant in the United States. I could also use this book to simply introduce a unit on Mexico and teach some new spanish words to my students. 
• In creating a lesson plan, I would use this book as an introduction to a unit on Mexico. I would then introduce a research project in which I would assign a different aspect of Mexico (food, clothing, religion, geography) to different groups and then have those groups each present their findings to the class. This lesson would help children to learn about a different culture from their own and the book Confetti would be an excellent introduction. 
• In addition, the author also has a wonderful website with a section entitled "kid fun" in which kids can play games and take quizzes related to Mora's works. Her website can be found here: http://www.patmora.com