When constructing the literary content of a Mother Goose program for infants, cultural diversity is a consideration. It is important that Mother Goose programs include songs and rhymes from a variety of cultures. Not only do all children have the right to find their own lives reflected in the literature to which they are exposed, but all children need to be exposed to a variety of cultures.

In her article, "The Need for Cultural Diversity in Preschool Services" (1993), Janice N. Harrington, speaks eloquently of the need of all children to encounter multicultural materials from the beginnings of their experiences with literature:

"The purpose of preschool programs. . . is not just to prepare children for literacy or for academic success. . .[but] to prepare them for life, to give [them] the experience and skills necessary to build successful human relationships in a world that is diverse and multicultural" (1993, p. 176).

Further, when discussing the canon of children's literature, Harrington comments that "Cultural diversity means that we make room for the rhymes and chants that come from multicultural traditions, as well as make room for the rhymes of Mother Goose" (1993, p. 177).

Writing to an audience of librarians, William H. Teale, a scholar of emergent literacy, makes a similar point:

Word play and rhyming are clearly the province of librarians, and I encourage you to make poetry and songs an integral part of your library storytimes and of any other outreach programs with young children. All forms, from nursery rhymes to fingerplays to jumprope rhymes to rap songs, are important experiences for young children. And don't forget about songs and rhymes in Spanish. . . and other languages for children whose native language is something other than English (Teale, 1995, p. 127).

The inclusion of the Japanese, French, Spanish and German rhymes in the Mother Goose Time program at White Plains (NY) Public Library (Marino and Houlihan, 1992, p. 86-89) and the sharing of family folklore at the San Francisco Public Library infant storytimes (Jeffery and Mahoney, 1989, p 37-38), though not presented as attempts to foster multiculturalism, can be seen examples of ways to address this issue.

It is also important for librarians to recognize and honor the fact that many people and cultures, both outside the United States and within them, do not take an emergent literacy perspective and would prefer that children be taught 'correct' ways of responding to literature even at a very young age. Anderson and Gunderson, for example, found dramatic differences in expectations of parents and teachers with regard to how children interacted with books in a classroom because teachers valued emergent literacy behaviors, while parents often wanted their children to focus on specific skills (1997). On the one hand, librarians can address the issue by assuring all parents that their babies' responses--or moments of non-response--to Mother Goose time are appropriate and useful. On the other hand, librarians can also be aware that not all parents will agree with, or even recognize, the assumptions upon which the program is based and may themselves be responding to the program from the perspective of a very different paradigm.