Imagining the World: Young Children’s Engagement with Picturebooks about Family Diversity
Submitted by:
Angela Wiseman
Abstract:
Angela M. Wiseman, Ph. D.
Bethany P. Lewis
Corrie Dobis
North Carolina State University
In this presentation, we share data from a qualitative research study that documents young children’s responses to picturebooks that depict family diversity. Our work is informed by critical approaches to consider ways to humanize the literacy practices and identities of children and families (Paris & Alim, 2017). Critical literacy provides a lens for inclusivity and for dismantling deficit perspectives regarding the social, cultural, and historical perspectives of families' experiences (Compton-Lilly et al., 2012); but the notion of humanizing relates to the way of representing the experiences of communities that are marginalized through societal inequalities related to factors such as race, ethnicity, and gender.
Our presentation will focus on five readaloud sessions conducted with young children (ages 5-7 years) where we engage in interactive readalouds with picturebooks that reflect family diversity. After reading the books, children sketched pictures and labeled their images. Sessions were audio recorded and children’s artifacts were collected. Visual qualitative research methods (Serafini, 2022) and thematic analysis (Braun & Clark, 2022) were used to develop findings. Findings reflect how responding to children's literature has the potential to affirm family diversity while providing opportunities for children to consider their own experiences and also understand each other. An important starting point for humanizing families from different backgrounds is to incorporate children’s literature that reflects their experiences. While we are not claiming that representation solves larger-scale issues in our society that result in these problems (and that is beyond the scope of this presentation), we advocate that hearing and seeing children and adults (Dutro, 2019) and using stories that reflect “windows and doors” (Sims Bishop, 1990, p. xi) can provide humanizing experiences for the many families. Ultimately, children need to see themselves in the books they read. We advocate for using picturebooks to humanize - to promote equity, solidarity, and social justice for children, families, and communities - by cultivating supportive and inclusive approaches with young children.
References
Paris, D., & Alim, H. S. (Eds.). (2017). Culturally sustaining pedagogies: Teaching and learning for justice in a changing world. Teachers College Press.
Compton-Lilly, C., Rogers, R., & Lewis, T. Y. (2012). Analyzing epistemological considerations related to diversity: An integrative critical literature review of family literacy scholarship. Reading Research Quarterly, 47(1), 33-60. https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.009
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2022). Thematic analysis: A practical guide. Sage.
Dutro, E. (2019). The vulnerable heart of literacy: Centering trauma as powerful pedagogy. Teachers College.
Serafini, F. (2022). Beyond the visual: An introduction to researching multimodal phenomena. Teachers College.
Sims Bishop, R. (1990, March). Windows and mirrors: Children’s books and parallel cultures. In California State University reading conference: 14th annual conference proceedings (pp. 3-12).