Raising Bilingual-Biliterate Children in Monolingual Cultures

Caldas’ book is a great bilingual acquisition book that provides a valuable text for a college-level course on bilingual development.

-- Natasha Ringblom, Stockholm University, in the International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, Vol 11: No. 5, 2008

This book reminds us of the value, benefits, and need for bilinguals in our society, and it shows how we can pass on our multiple heritages in the home in a positive manner, even while political policies fail to support languages in our schools and elsewhere. In this sense, this research provides an important example that can help parents and others find the way.

* Alvino E. Fantini, School for International Training, in the Modern Language Journal 92:1 *

The study provides excellent insight into a number of factors affecting familial bilingualism and raising children who are bilingual and biliterate. It is commendable that Caldas is willing to share his family’s experiences in such detail, as the study is a valuable contribution to the field of bilingualism.

* Kara McAlister, Arizona State University in Linguist List 18.1036 *

Through the highly praised success story of his own family project on rearing bilingual and biliterate children in monolingual sociocultural contexts, Caldas weaves rich personal experiences with nuanced theoretical insight and rigorous analysis to examine the relationship between bilingual proficiency and academic achievement. This beautifully written work illustrates the power of the family, school, community, and peer group in shaping children’s linguistic abilities and sensitizes the reader to profound lessons surrounding bilingualism and the politics of bilingual education. Min Zhou, Professor and Founding Chair of the Department of Asian American Studies,

* University of California, Los Angeles *

A successful example of a mixed-methods approach to longitudinal research, this book presents a comprehensive study of the development of biliteracy and bilingual proficiency that accounts thoroughly for the combined influences of home, school, and community. Steve Caldas succinctly illustrates how evolving bilingual identities fluctuate as they interact to varying degrees with age, geographical setting, and peer versus parental influences. A pleasure to read from beginning to end, this is one of those books that’s hard to put down. While the narrative unfolds as an intriguing tale of the trials and tribulations of striving to raise bilingual children mainly in the US, it provides thought-provoking data allowing the reader to confront a range of theoretical perspectives. The narrative’s happy ending is certainly an added bonus.

* Roy Lyster, Associate Professor, McGill University (Montreal) *

This is a beautifully written book about an extraordinary experiment—successfully raising three children French-English bilingual in an English-speaking world. I was kept on the edge of my seat for the entire spell-binding account of the ups and downs of this 18 year experiment and rewarded by its triumphant finish. I am as much in awe of the book and the family, and captivated by the story, as I would be if this had been about their scaling Mt. Everest.

* Christine H. Rossell, Professor, Political Science Department, Boston Universi