Newbery Acceptance By Matt De La Peñ Article Analysis

After reading 2016 Newbery Acceptance by Matt de la Peña, I concluded that the article is about the lack of diverse representation within novels. I agree with what he says because a lot of books and many articles lack attention to diversity. If you look at most books, you will see majorly white main characters and a black side character if we’re lucky. He expresses this in a way that shows a new lens on how diversity isn’t shown enough in books. “I cringed and told her, “Actually, ma’am, most of my books are about not feeling Mexican enough.” (par. 25)” . After reading de la Peña’s speech about diversity not being shown in books, his life story supported my belief that we need to normalize diversity in books. Diverse books can serve as mirrors

25). He found frustration also in how the books were almost always settled in the “diverse section” which made him feel that there shouldn’t be a specific section for diversity as it shows it is “different” and “abnormal” from other books. (par. 22) . People enjoyed his books, but when reading I found that more people were more excited that it was a diverse book as if they’ve never seen a book like that before (par. 28). He found that to be a struggle, the woman even openly admitted they don’t get kids like that which made him want to push his books

Good literature has the power to capture us as readers. You can really feel the emotions of the characters, immerse yourself in their thoughts, and experience the physical environment. This creates empathy and makes students more aware of the world around them and the many people who live in them. Matt also said, “This frustrated me. And why was it so common for me to see a class full of Mexican kids reading The Great Gatsby when I almost never saw a class of white kids reading Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass?” (par. 22). That claim expressed his annoyance with how the school was also part of the problem of diversity. In many ways, I think Matt's main goal in diverse literature was to expose children to untold stories. Diverse literature gives children the opportunity to meet people who may be different from themselves or who may be experiencing other challenges they may not