Tommy, the tomato: A children's book on sense of belongingness and individuality with regards to mixed-race children in the Philippines

• Main Author: Tan, Reine Frances
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2018
• Subjects: Self in children > Philippines; Racially mixed children > Philippines; Belonging (Social psychology) in children > Philippines; Children's books > Philippines; Communication
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/2953
• Institution: De La Salle University

The proponent of the research and story is a Chinese born female who is living in the Philippines. She grew up confused about her own culture and personality--mainly confused about where she was supposed to be depending on what people around her told her. Her Chinese family told her she was part of the new country, but her classmates would tell her she wasn't and will never be. Because of this, she was often confused as she felt isolated and insecure about her own culture and history. This experience served as inspiration for her thesis project, a children's book entitles Tommy the tomato, which is about a tomato named Tommy trying to find a place to belong in a local supermarket. The objective of the story is to teach children about self-love and acceptance at an early age. With the use of simple stories and objects seen in everyday life such as fruits and vegetables, the child may be able to understand and relate to the story--especially if the child is of mixed-race decent just like the proponent. The target audience and age group of this story are children ranging from 4-8 years old from the ABCD classes. These demographics were chosen because of the proponent's survey findings (see Appendix J) wherein 63.4% of one hundred and one (101) parents stated that they prefer their children to learn about the topic of identity at 4-8 years old.