Picturebooks, part 6 - Mirrors and windows

Emily Drabble, head of children’s books promotion and prizes at BookTrust and former co-editor of The Guardian’s children’s book section, describes diverse picturebooks as ‘books by and about all kinds of people, as the UK and the world are full of all kinds of people. So that means boys, girls, all different colours, all different races and religions, all different sexualities and all different disabilities and anything else you can think of – so our books don’t leave anyone out.’

In 1990, children’s literature scholar Rudine Sims Bishop wrote that ‘books are sometimes windows, offering views of the world that may be real or imagined, familiar or strange. These windows are also sliding glass doors, and readers have only to walk through in imagination to become part of whatever world has been created or recreated by the author. When lighting conditions are just right, however, a window can also be a mirror. Literature transforms human experience and reflects it back to us, and in that reflection we can see our own lives and experiences as part of the larger human experience. Reading, then, becomes a means of self-affirmation, and readers often seek their mirrors in books.’

The 2018 ‘Reflecting Realities’ survey conducted by the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE), however, found that of the 11,011 children’s books published in the UK that year, only 4 per cent featured a non-white hero.

As the proportion of children from ethnic minority backgrounds enrolled in UK schools stands at 33.1 per cent, it is clear that there is a significant gap between the lives and experiences of our children and the stories and characters reflected back at them at storytime.

Donna Ferguson pointed out in a 2018 study for The Observer that male characters are twice as likely to speak as their female counterparts in picturebooks: early years educators can do well to challenge this bias by ensuring the availability of high-quality texts with strong female characters, especially as children return again and again to beloved stories and the themes and messages, both implicit and explicit, that they embody.

DIVERSITY IN THE EARLY YEARS

Early years researchers Iram Siraj-Blatchford and Priscilla Clarke describe the importance of children ‘learn[ing] to be tolerant, [to] challenge unfair generalisations [and to] learn inclusiveness and positive regard for diversity’ in the early years. The role of the early years practitioner is especially important, as ‘the process by which all children develop their self-esteem and identity rests heavily upon the type of interactions and relationships people form with young children’.

An early years environment that values and celebrates diversity is one in which children learn respect and tolerance, two of the fundamental British values which all schools and settings have a duty to ‘actively promote’ under Government guidance. As Andrea Turner of the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years (PACEY) points out, ‘it is our job to help children to appreciate and respect their own culture and the culture of others…

‘This means that for children to truly learn the importance of tolerance, they need to be given lots of opportunities to practise tolerance and to challenge stereotypes. For example, through sharing stories that reflect and value the diversity of children’s experiences and providing resources and activities that challenge gender, cultural and racial stereotyping.’

Researchers Lindsey Cameron and Adam Rutland evidenced in a 2006 study how reading stories that show characters with disabilities develops greater acceptance and reduces prejudice in child readers.

The revised EYFS

In its consultation document on the revised EYFS, the Government maintains that ‘by listening and talking about stories, rhymes and poems, and non-fiction books, children develop knowledge of themselves and the world in which they live’, and that ‘listening to a broad selection of stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems will foster their understanding of our culturally, socially and ecologically diverse world’.

In addition to bolstering their development in communication and language, literacy, personal, social and emotional development, appreciation for expressive arts and design, and their experiences in understanding the world, the picturebook offers children in the early years another important lesson in the power of respect for diversity and collaboration.

As children’s literature researcher Emma Joy Reay points out in her review and interview with the author of a beautifully illustrated picturebook which places inclusion at its heart (Hands Up!by Breanna McDaniel), ‘the picturebook format itself testifies to the power of collaborative conversations – the author and the illustrator have each brought something key to the creation of the text’.

Not only is the relationship between author and illustrator brought to the fore by picturebooks, but the conversation generated between practitioners and children can celebrate the value and diversity of personal responses and reflection on a shared text.

ORGANISATIONS

Various organisations and projects seek to increase diversity and awareness of its importance in the worlds of picturebooks:

• Seven Stories, the UK’s National Centre for Children’s Books, set up an independent panel of experts to select a reading list as part of its Diverse Voices programme (see box, page 52).
• In response to its Reflecting Realities project, the CLPE partnered with Letterbox Library, ‘a children’s bookseller celebrating equality and diversity’, to create a reading list.
• The BookTrust Represents project promotes children’s authors and illustrators of colour, and includes a picturebook selection.
• The American organisation We Need Diverse Books compiles links to sites that recommend diverse titles, as does Mirrors, Windows, Doors.
  
  

CHALLENGING STEREOTYPES

While you may need to expand your library to ensure greater representation of characters, authors and illustrators from diverse cultural backgrounds, you may be able to start inclusive conversations about stereotypes and diversity using books you already have in your setting.

Gender Can you challenge gender stereotypes you might encounter in which girls are illustrated in pink, and boys in blue? I’ve included Not Every Princess Dresses In Pink and Julian is a Mermaid in my diversity picks as a reminder that recognition of children’s diverse interests is as important as remembering their heritage and home culture (see box, page 53).

Social class is an important differentiator in our children’s backgrounds, and I recommend Kate Milner’s It’s a No Money Day as a sensitive and insightful book which tackles the experiences of families struggling with poverty. Despite working hard, a mother and daughter find themselves without money and have to head to the food bank. Mum feels ashamed, but her daughter can still see the good in her day.

Home life Highly recommended, too, is The Great Big Book of Families by Mary Hoffman and Ros Asquith, which celebrates diversity in its widest sense and reflects the families (single, mixed sex, single sex, blended and adoptive) and home cultures of children not used to seeing themselves in picturebooks.

Disability The Great Big Book of Familiesalso includes subtly inclusive images such as wheelchairs, walkers and leg braces, embedding difference in a great big tapestry of images in which there is no normal and no strange.

I spoke to Anna Purkiss, a researcher in representation of disability in children’s literature. She said, ‘Although representations of disabled characters in children’s literature are increasing, they are still relatively scarce in comparison to non-disabled characters, which highlights the need for children with disabilities to see themselves reflected in the books that they read.

‘By recognising characters like themselves in the pages of a book, they may see that their lived experiences matter, are valued and are shared to differing extents with others: they are part of a community rather than on their own.’

Anna’s emphasis on the importance of community is especially resonant with respect to storytime. It might be the only time of day that a whole class or group comes together, and seeing it as an opportunity to celebrate our whole shared classroom society in all of its wonderful difference is an exciting and inclusive practice in which we can all participate.

Ten picturebooks to celebrate diversity

• Susan Laughs by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross – Susan may be in a wheelchair, but she is no different from any other child.
• Look Up!by Jung Jin-Ho – A girl has only a bird’s eye view of the world from her balcony. Realising the problem, a boy lies flat on the pavement. Then others do the same.
• My Name is Not Refugee by Kate Milner – A young boy discusses the journey he is about to embark on with his mother.
• Hands Up! by Breanna McDaniel, illustrated by Shane W Evans– A black girl raises her arms for many reasons throughout her life, from greeting the sun as a baby to taking part in a protest march as an adult.
• Deep in the Sahara by Kelly Cunane, illustrated by Hoda Hadadi – Growing up in Mauritania, Lalla learns about the importance of the malafa, the cloth Mauritanian women wear to cover their heads and clothes, both in public and in prayer.
• And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, illustrated by Henry Cole – Two male penguins fall in love and start a family by taking turns sitting on an abandoned egg until it hatches.
• Julian is a Mermaid by Jessica Love – Julian wants to dress up like the spectacularly dressed women on the subway. But what will his grandma think about the mess he makes – and how Julian sees himself?
• Not All Princesses Dress in Pink by Jane Yolen and Heidi EY Stemple and illustrated by Anne-Sophie – Proof that princesses can jump in puddles, climb trees, play sports and use power tools!
• It’s Okay to be Different by Todd Parr – Delivers important messages of acceptance and confidence through bold colours and silly scenes: it’s okay to dance by yourself, be a different colour, and eat macaroni in the bath.
• The Pirates Next Door by Jonny Duddle – When a family of pirates move to a seaside town, neighbours are aghast and soon spreading rumours, while the family next door wishes their daughter would play with ‘normal’ girls and boys.
  
  

The Guardian’s top ten

The Guardian’s Top Ten Culturally Diverse Picturebooks is curated by Eileen Browne and Letterbox Library

• Handa’s Surprise by Eileen Browne – Handaleaves her village with a basket of fruit, but how many will still be there when she reaches her friend’s house?
• So Much by Trish Brown, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury – An uncle, auntie, cousins and grandparents all arrive eager to hug and kiss the baby.
• The Silence Seeker by Ben Morley, illustrated by Carl Pearce – When Joe’s mum says their new neighbours are asylum seekers, Joe hears ‘silence seekers’ and decides to help their son find a quiet place in the noisy city.
• Leon and Bob by Simon James – When Leon asks his new neighbour to go to the park with him, his imaginary best friend Bob suddenly disappears.
• Lulu reads to Zeki by Anna McQuinn and Rosalind Beardshaw – Whatever the problem, Lulu’s solution is to read to her new baby brother, Zaki.
• The Animal Boogie by Fred Penner, illustrated by Debbie Harter – A rhyming text, a musical score and an easy-to-learn dance routine.
• Freddie and the Fairy by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Karen George – Will a hard-of-hearing fairy be able to grant Freddie’s wish for a pet, particularly when he tends to mumble?
• Fussy Freya by Katharine Quarmby and Piet Grosler – One day, Freya says no to dahl and then to all her favourite foods, but her grandparents have a solution.
• My Sister is an Alien by Rachel Bright – Space-mad Alfie is convinced his new sister is an alien and sets about returning her to the moon.
• Tucking in – Just Like Me! by Jess Stockham – Babies will love lifting the flaps in this board book to find out all about themselves, and their tastes.
  
  

MORE INFORMATION

Lists of recommended books that celebrate diversity can be found at:

• www.sevenstories.org.uk/learning/projects-and-partnerships/diverse-voices-2014
• www.letterboxlibrary.com/acatalog/Early-Years-0-5yrs.html
• www.booktrust.org.uk/booklists/r/represents-picture-books/
• https://diversebooks.org/resources/where-to-find-diverse-books/
• http://mirrorswindowsdoors.org/wp/reading-lists/
  
  

Andy McCormack is an Early Years Teacher studying for his PhD at the Centre for Research in Children’s Literature, University of Cambridge