The Day I Became A Canadian

Bannatyne-Cugnet, J. (2008). THE DAY I BECAME A CANADIAN. N.p.: Tundra Books of Northern New York.

The Day I Became A Canadian is a book about a family's day of citizenship. The family is originally from China, and then passes the citizenship test and celebrates their big day. 

I struggle with the fact that this book is high quality literature. Sure, it says a great deal of what someone's day might be like when they pass a citizenship test, but most of the book seemed to be just a big party; I suppose it would be, however it really just shows one example of someone's life becoming a Canadian, so I feel that it is very stereotypical in that manner. Also, I know that a Chinese person wrote this book, however, the cover shows a Chinese girl with a white face- in reality Chinese people do not have white faces, they only paint their faces white, and not all the time. The painting could be symbolic of a celebration, however, it's not specified and is confusing.

The book's illustrations of the other cultural groups in the book are actually very accurate. The facial features and qualities all seem to fit the different racial backgrounds well. The overall story gives out a lot of information about Canada including their songs and the oath you have to say when you are a citizen. This book would be good for someone who wants to become a citizen of Canada. 

In the classroom, I would have student's talk about their heritage- where their grandparents came from and have them collect or draw pictures related to that.

Literary Elements:

Tone: Glad, Joyful, Happy

Setting: Canada, at a school

Character: Happy, Proud, Excited

Lexile: n/a