In a couple of weeks I am starting a project. The main focus of this project will be to survey and study children's literature, mostly picture books, from the mid to late 20th and early 21st centuries. I will be studying classics from the canon of children's books written in English, as well as more contemporary, popular books. I will also be looking at the small section of books available that have a more overt socially conscious message or agenda. I will be looking at these books with an eye to their relationship with class, race, gender, sexuality, ability issues, ecology, capitalism and consumption.
I will to attempt to illustrate the ways in which we pass along certain cultural memes through the stories and images we aim at children, both consciously and unconsciously. How a large section of children's books are passing along a very narrow set of values and lifestyles. How there is a marked need for children's literature that offers more diversity in presenting politics, lifestyle and values, whether subtly or overtly.
I will be documenting my research by blogging about the books I am reading, and addressing the social messages they convey.
My goal is to compile my research in a few months time to be self-published as a zine.
Another part of this project will be to come up with an a list of books that show diversity in gender, race, class, ways of living and working and family structure as well as more progressive and radical ideas around these issues. I will also compile a list of books that should be noted for the racist, classist, and sexist ideas they present.
To support my research, I will be reading and researching other work previously done in and around this topic. A few of these books include, "Tales for Little Rebels :A Collection of Radical Children's Literature," "Should We Burn Babar?: Essays on Children's Literature and the Power of Stories," "Waking Sleeping Beauty: Feminist Voices in Children's Novels" and "Stories for Free Children."
