A descriptive study of how African Americans are portrayed in award -winning African American children's picture books from 1996--2005.

摘要

Children learn about their world through books used in the classroom. Research about the portrayal of African Americans in children's picture books is essential because picture books introduce some children to African American culture, and all children need to see characters like themselves in books.;Since previous studies analyzed the characterizations of African Americans in children's picture books from 1900 through 1995, the significance and purpose of this study were to add to the literature by examining children's picture books from 1996 through 2005. The research questions were: (a) How are African Americans portrayed in the written texts of African American children's picture books awarded the Coretta Scott King Award or distinguished as Caldecott Medal honor books or Coretta Scott King honor books from 1996 through 2005? (b) How are African Americans portrayed in the illustrations of African American children's picture books awarded the Coretta Scott King Award or distinguished as Caldecott Medal honor books or Coretta Scott King honor books from 1996 through 2005?;To be included in the sample of books, (a) each book had to be an African American children's picture book, (b) all characters or the protagonist had to be African American, and (c) each book had to be an award-winning book, which had been awarded the distinguished Coretta Scott King Author or Illustrator Award or noted as Caldecott Medal or Coretta Scott King Award honor books during the years 1996 through 2005. The sample consisted of 28 books. The instrumentation consisted of nine evaluation criteria which were used as categories.;The data yielded documentation used to conclude that African Americans were portrayed positively in most of the African American children's picture books employed in the study that were awarded the Coretta Scott King Award or distinguished as Caldecott Medal or Coretta Scott King honor books from 1996 through 2005.