Matching or Clashing? Teachers Analyzing Picturebooks Using an Equity‐Focused Text Analysis Tool

Abstract

As of May 2022, 42 state legislatures had introduced bills that would limit how (and whether) teachers can address inequities based on race, gender, and other marginalized identities. At the same time, book bans are becoming increasingly common across the country. Given the importance of providing children opportunities to critically engage with texts from a variety of perspectives and representing a diversity of experiences, teachers should use picturebooks to facilitate critical discussions with children as young as kindergarten. This study reports findings from an activity in which K‐8 in‐service teachers used an equity‐focused text analysis tool to critically analyze the picturebook Marisol McDonald doesn't match/Marisol McDonald no combina. I conducted thematic analysis on a key component of critical literacy teachers addressed—identifying stereotypes the author and illustrator both disrupt and perpetuate in this book. This work helps us understand how teachers themselves learn to engage in critical analysis of picturebooks.