| dc.contributor.author | Smith, Kara Michele | |
| dc.description.abstract | This research examines gender depictions in 20 current bestselling children's picture
books. I argue that children's picture books, specifically those aimed at children 0-5 years
of age, portray gender in a way that potentially limits girls in developing and achieving
their goals because of the limited options presented to them based on gender and also
constrains boys' emotional growth due to the rigid standards depicted for them. These
depictions are especially critical during the Sensorimotor and Preoperational stages in
children's development because they are developmentally primed for acquiring and being
socialized to gender knowledge. Extending the work of Hamilton et al., this research
reaffirms their findings, showing that nearly a decade later, in terms of gender depictions in
children's picture books, little progress has been made. Females are still largely
underrepresented in central roles and in illustrations, are passive, and are presented with
limited options in terms of occupations, while males are portrayed as active and
independent and have a variety of occupational choices available to them. Additionally,
this study employs a contemporary visual rhetorical lens to further enrich our
understanding of the gender depictions in children's picture books by analyzing
illustrations in terms of McCloud's definitions of the relationships between text and images
and Horn's notions of proximity, white space, placement, distance, and angle. This portion
of the analysis reinforces the findings and allows for a more articulated discussion of
gender depictions in children's picture books. | en_US |
| dc.publisher | North Dakota State University | en_US |
| dc.rights | NDSU policy 190.6.2 | en_US |
| dc.title | Enculturating Gender: Examining Bestselling Children's Picture Books | en_US |
| dc.type | Master's Paper | en_US |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-01-04T21:35:55Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-01-04T21:35:55Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2010 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10365/33570 | |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Picture books for children -- Criticism and interpretation. | en_US |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Children -- Books and reading. | en_US |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Children's literature -- Illustrations -- Themes, motives. | en_US |
| dc.rights.uri | https://www.ndsu.edu/fileadmin/policy/190.pdf | en_US |
| ndsu.degree | Master of Arts (MA) | en_US |
| ndsu.college | Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences | en_US |
| ndsu.department | English | en_US |
| ndsu.program | English | en_US |
| ndsu.advisor | Birmingham, Elizabeth | |
