Understanding the Puzzle Behind the Pictures

Azano, Amy Price; Tackett, Mary; Sigmon, Miranda L.

doi:10.1177/2332858417701682

Cited by 13 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 14 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…At the time of analysis, Pop"n"Olly only had these five picture books available for purchase that focused on LGBTQ issues. When analyzing the picture books, codes were divided between picture and words as Azano et al (2017) has shown that both pictures and words can depict varying meaning and content. Prior to consolidating the initial codes that emerged from the five picture books, initial inter-rater reliability was calculated based on initial, independent coding.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Content Analysis of LGBTQ Picture Books for Elementary Education Through an Intersectional Lens

Leung

Adams-Whittaker

2022

Front. Educ.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Diversity and inclusion have become a critical topic in contemporary society. Children engaging in story time with their family members and teachers can use stories from picture books as an educational tool to illustrate various social settings which provide a window into the wider outside world and a reflection of their own world, a concept known as “mirror and window”. However, LGBTQ representation has not been consistently perceived equitably compared to the heterosexual population, often dehumanized or unrealistic. Many LGBTQ students mentioned the need to see more portrayals of LGBTQ families and increasingly positive and realistic portrayals of LGBTQ characters. One independent publisher, Olly Pike, produces LGBTQ-inclusive picture books to support educators in providing representation and promoting an inclusive space in schools for diversity discussions. This case study utilizes content analysis of five LGBTQ-inclusive picture books from Olly Pike to understand the emerging themes that arise related to the support for LGBTQ and heterosexual students and foster an inclusive space in schools, leading to themes of diversity and representation that benefits critical discussions in schools and classrooms. Inter-rater reliability was established between the two authors for validity of emerging themes. Results revealed seven emerging themes: 1) Diversity and Inclusion (e.g. family structures, sexuality, ethnicity), 2) Daily Life, 3) Anthropomorphism, 4) Stereotypes, and 5) Overarching Educational Goals. Implications of findings reveal the benefit of incorporating LGBTQ-inclusive picture books to facilitate all students’ learning and understanding of SEL skills that largely tie with becoming responsible citizens that is respectful of diversity and specifically for LGBTQ students to see themselves positively represented, fostering a sense of belonging.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Content Analysis of LGBTQ Picture Books for Elementary Education Through an Intersectional Lens

Leung

Adams-Whittaker

2022

Front. Educ.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For some readers, this transformation from rejection to acceptance may be inspiring. For others, encountering non‐autistic characters who (even temporarily) express negative views of autism may be detrimental because these views emphasize “otherness” and frame autistic behaviors as undesirable (Azano et al, 2017; Gilmore & Howard, 2016). Such negativity could be especially harmful for young readers, who may retain negative themes independent of the broader narrative context.…”

Section: Differencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The past three decades have seen an exponential increase in the publication of children's books about autism (Azano et al, 2017; Barrio et al, 2021; Gaffney & Wilkins, 2016; Kelley et al, 2015; Lemoine & Schneider, 2021). This increased availability is exciting because children's books have the power to promote understanding, acceptance, and appreciation of neurodiversity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Children's books that feature autistic characters may serve both as mirrors, reflecting and affirming young autistic readers' views of themselves as neurodivergent people, and as windows, increasing non‐autistic readers' understanding of autism and neurodiversity (Bishop, 1990; Lian et al, 2020). Indeed, as autism touches the lives of more and more people (Maenner et al, 2023), educators and clinicians are increasingly using children's books about autism as a tool to promote neurodiversity (Azano et al, 2017; Barrio et al, 2021; Dyches et al, 2006; Gilmore & Howard, 2016; Kelley et al, 2015; Lemoine & Schneider, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A commentary on children's books about autism: What messages do they send about neurodiversity?

Venker,

Lorang

2023

Autism Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The past three decades have seen an exponential increase in the publication of children's books about autism. This increased availability of children's books is exciting because they have the power to promote understanding, acceptance, and appreciation of neurodiversity. However, growing concerns have been raised by both autistic and non‐autistic people that some children's books about autism may work against neurodiversity, rather than promoting it. This Commentary discusses the strikingly different ways in which children's books about autism portray key concepts related to neurodiversity, including autistic differences, agency, abilities, and communication. We present concrete examples (including books by autistic authors); highlight the views of autistic and non‐autistic parents of autistic children; and discuss how different books may leave readers with different impressions of autism and neurodiversity. Given the vastly different themes that emerge across different books, we conclude that it is important for educators, families, and other members of the autism community to make informed and individualized choices about what books they use for what purpose. We emphasize the need for systematic, high‐quality research on children's books about autism, including content analyses and studies that determine what messages these books send to their intended audience: children. It is vital that autistic people continue to shape this conversation, contributing unique insights that inform research priorities and the methodological approaches used to investigate them.

show abstract

“…The context and conceptual framing for our analysis was the social model of disability (Oliver, 1990). Recent content analyses of children's picture books that include characters with disabilities have been related to disability broadly (Emmerson, et al, 2014) have considered the intersections of race, gender, and disability (Koss, 2015) or have been focused on specific disabilities (Azano, et al, 2017;Golos & Moses, 2011). Because we were interested in strengths-based representations and how these could help teachers and young children analyze and disrupt ableist views, we selected picture books written for children ages 5 to 8 from the IRIS curated booklist.…”

Section: Content Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Disrupting ableism: Strengths-based representations of disability in children’s picture books

Hayden

Prince

2020

Journal of Early Childhood Literacy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Children’s literature is a powerful influence on the social construction of perceptions and narratives, and it is critically important that all children see themselves represented in the books in their classrooms. However, strength-based views of characters with a disability are rare in children’s picture books, meaning that children with a disability may not see themselves reflected in the books on their classroom shelves. Even worse, books may reinforce limiting, ableist stereotypes and myths about people with disabilities and their lives. Representing characters with disabilities in strength-based ways in children’s literature, where “the person’s own abilities and strengths are explicitly considered [and] empowerment of the person has a high priority”, could educate able-bodied students about disability, promote attitudes of acceptance and strengthen perceptions of self-worth among students with disabilities as well as their typically-developing peers. We conducted a qualitative content analysis of 34 exemplar picture books featuring a main character with a disability. Low occurrence disabilities such as visual impairment were more frequently represented than high incidence disabilities such as a specific learning disability, but the main characters in our highest rated books modelled self-awareness, agency and acceptance. These books disrupted ableist myths about disability and provided the reader with tools to push back against both implicit and explicit stereotyping, teasing and bullying. By incorporating children’s picture books with strength-based representations of disability into research and teaching for primary classroom literacy instruction, we can reinforce valuable social emotional skills that foreground respect for the humanity and dignity of all students.

show abstract

Understanding the Puzzle Behind the Pictures

Cited by 13 publications

References 14 publications

Content Analysis of LGBTQ Picture Books for Elementary Education Through an Intersectional Lens

Content Analysis of LGBTQ Picture Books for Elementary Education Through an Intersectional Lens

A commentary on children's books about autism: What messages do they send about neurodiversity?

Disrupting ableism: Strengths-based representations of disability in children’s picture books

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About