Why Writing Multi-Culturally is So Much Fun

Today, my guest blog post went up over at Ellen Oh’s blog, Hello Ello. She’s doing a series on What Diversity Means to Me. As I was brainstorming about what I wanted to write in answer to Ellen’s questions, I was inspired to compose a list of reasons why I enjoy writing a multi-cultural cast in my books. I had originally intended to use this list somehow in the blog post for Ellen, but instead I went another direction (as you’ll read if you pop on over there).

But I thought it might be fun to post the list here on my own blog. Why I enjoy writing multi-culturally:

• I get to use so many cool names for my characters
• I get to write about so many different versions of beautiful
• I learn some fascinating stuff about other cultures
• I sometimes stumble across a fabulously delicious recipe to try
• It gives me many new places to dream about traveling to
• I get to give a wide range of kids a chance to see themselves within my book and on its cover
• I get to learn about new languages
• I get to meet some very awesome cultural experts

Certainly not all-encompassing. So how about some more reasons? Let me know in the comments.