Tri-Cities students write, illustrate multicultural books

 TRI-CITIES, Wash. — Students in Professor Deanna Gilmore’s “Developing Literacy in a Multicultural Setting” class will read from children’s books they have both written and illustrated during special public presentations Dec. 10 and 11 at Washington State University Tri-Cities.

“I wanted students in this graduate course to both learn how to write a children’s book, so they could then teach children in their classes how to do that, Gilmore says of the project. “They had to both write and illustrate their own multicultural book – which means they could look at their own cultural background and incorporate that in to the work.”

Gilmore says some students explored their family’s Scandinavian or German roots to enliven their books and several class members discovered they have Native American heritage.

Students will be reading from their bound books from 6 to 8 p.m. on Dec. 10 and from 3 to 5 p.m. Dec. 11. The public readings will take place in the Atrium of the campus’ West Building in north Richland.