Danbi Leads the School Parade

This book tells the story of Danbi, a young Asian girl. She is starting her first day of school in America and is really nervous. She doesn’t speak English very well, and she begins to have a hard time adjusting to her new classroom. All of her classmates stare at her when she first walks in, she writes her name in Korean, which none of the other students understood. The students then listen to music and dance, to songs and dances that Danbi has never heard. The students then play games, and Danbi has a hard time because she doesn’t understand the rules. Danbi starts to feel sad because she doesn’t understand this culture until the teacher calls for lunchtime. When lunchtime rolls around, all the students are amazed at Danbi’s lunch. Her mother has packed her foods from her country, food the other students had never seen or heard of. Danbi offers a classmate one of her snacks, and of course, everyone else wanted to try as well. While they are practicing using chopsticks, Danbi has the idea to have a parade. She leads her classmates around making music out of their lunch. After the parade, she introduces herself to a girl named Nelly and they become friends, Nelly even teaches Danbi how to write her name in English. When Danbi goes home she tells her parents she met a new friend and that they’ll play again tomorrow.

Danbi Leads the School Parade in the Classroom

All students can relate to this story in one way or another. Whether it's the first day of school fears or feeling like an outsider in the classroom. This story shares what can happen when people of two different backgrounds share their cultures and invite each other in.

This story is meant for kindergarten to third-grade readers. The illustrations are a bit more sophisticated so it may need some explanation prior to reading.

This story could be used to describe student's experiences in the classroom having different backgrounds from one another. This story can begin the conversation about including everyone's cultures in the classroom.

Additional Resources

Penguin Classroom - Danbi Leads the School Parade Resources

https://penguinclassroom.com/books/danbi-leads-the-school-parade/