Louise Derman-Sparks, author of the seminal Anti-Bias
Curriculum: Tools for Empowering Young Children (1989), has co-
authored a more recent book, "What If All the Kids Are White?"
Anti-Bias Multicultural Education with Young Children and
Families (2003). This title, written with Patricia Ramsey, is
packed with both conceptual and concrete guidance for doing
anti-bias work in all- or mostly-white settings. The title
question, the authors explain, "has been one of the most
frequently asked questions in our workshops ... over the past 2
decades. Almost always posed by white teachers, it echoes the
persistent confusion about the role of whites in the
multicultural movement and, in particular, the engagement of
white children, families and teachers in multicultural
education." This book discusses why an anti-bias curriculum is
essential for white children as well as children of color, and
how to create a school climate that gives all children the
skills to function in a diverse world. Critically, Derman-Sparks
and