"!Ole!" Locating capital and community cultural wealth within multicultural children's literature

Latinx students engage with informational and narrative texts that ennoble the White middle class and neglect the rich experiences and resources found within Latinx communities. A critical content analysis of 16 Pura Belpre picture books revealed characters strongly rooted in notions of interdependent family and community relationships, collaboratively and resourcefully working towards shared goals of equity, positioning what it meant to be Latinx as additive community cultural wealth. Implications challenge educators to critically analyze how the omission of diverse perspectives serves as a racial microaggression, urging engagement in deliberate critiques of the ways racial protections for White folks have been imbedded across the curriculum.