Designed to help move literature beyond the canon to include the works of many underrepresented Americans, this book contains a collection of writings which discuss multicultural literature for secondary classrooms. It attempts to bring together the literature written by people of color living in the United States. Themes which emerge in the book reflect the individual and the group struggle for personal identity in a foreign land and the desire to maintain cultural identity and affirmation while transgressing the waters of acceptability within Euro-American mainstream culture. Chapters in the book and their authors are: (1) "Multicultural Education, Minority Identities, Textbooks, and the Challenge of Curriculum Reform" (Cameron R. McCarthy); (2) "All the Colors of the Land: A Literacy Montage" (Linda Spears-Bunton); (3) "Celebrating African American Literary Achievements" (Arlette Ingram Willis); (4) "A Continuing Journey: The Puerto Rican Reality as Viewed from the Narrative" (Antonio Nadal and Milga Morales-Nadal); (5) "Asian/Pacific American Literature: The Battle over Authenticity" (Sandra S. Yamate); (6) "Conceptualizing Native American Literature" (Anna Lee Walters and Debbie Reese); (7) "Storying in the Mexican American Community: Understanding the Story behind the Stories and the Cultural Themes Shared in Chicano Novels" (Sylvia Y. Sanchez); (8) "Teaching Caribbean-/American Literature" (Carole Boyce Davies); and (9) "Negotiating the Classroom: Learning and Teaching Multicultural Literature" (Arlette Ingram Willis and Marlen Diane Palmer). An author index and a subject index conclude the book. (NKA)