“…Numerous scholars have called for increased empirical research on how best to support children whose parent is incarcerated (Botelho & Rudman, 2009; Guerrero, 2015; Nichols et al, 2016; Oades‐Sese et al, 2014). However, recent attempts to understand support mechanisms (Arditti & Johnson, 2022; Brown, 2020) tend to focus on children of all ages (Hames & Pedeira, 2003) or sample a smaller array of books published over a shorter span of time (Hart‐Johnson et al, 2022). As a result, few studies focus exclusively on portrayals of children in picture books authored over decades for very young readers in a manner they can easily relate to (Botelho & Rudman, 2009; Guerrero, 2015; Nichols et al, 2016; Oades‐Sese et al, 2014; Rozalski et al, 2010).…”