Critically Reading Race in Picture Books
This forthcoming book chapter provides an overview of a workshop on critically reading classic and contemporary picture books to identify explicit and implicit bias, stereotypes, and damaging tropes about characters of color.
Below is a list of picture books critiqued for inauthentic racial representation with links to in-depth reviews of those books. These resources can help you become more familiar with the elements of inauthentic representation and guide discussion on evaluation of texts.
Critiqued Picture Books (pdf)
Title: A Day’s Work written by Eve Bunting and illustrated by Ronald Himler
Brief Notes: Distorted depictions of Mexican migrant day laborers, including the lack of cultural markers and inaccurate depictions of Mexican culture, Spanish language, and the relationships between day laborers and contractors
Review Source: De Colores: The Raza Experience in Books for Children’s review of the book
Title: A Fine Dessert written by Emily Jenkins and illustrated by Sophie Blackall
Brief Notes: Presents smiling slaves and oversimplification and dishonest treatment of slavery.
Review Source: Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, Debbie Reese, and Kathleen T. Horning’s article “Much Ado About A Fine Dessert The Cultural Politics of Representing Slavery in Children’s Literature.” in the Journal of Children’s Literature 42 no. 2 (2016): 6–17.
Title: The Five Chinese Brothers written by Claire Huchet Bishop and illustrated by Kurt Wiese
Brief Notes: Utilizes the stereotype that all Chinese people look alike and are yellow.
Review Source: Fuse 8 n Kate’s podcast review of the book
Title: The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses written and illustrated by Paul Goble
Brief Notes: Issue of authority and whether this is an actual Native story or an invented one.
Review Source: Debbie Reese’s review of the book
Title: If I Ran the Zoo written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss
Brief Notes: Stereotypical depictions of various ethnic groups.
Review Sources: School Library Journal’s blog post “Surprise! It’s Racist! Unwanted Children’s Book Surprises,” Katie Ishizuka and Ramón Stephens’ article "The Cat is Out of the Bag: Orientalism, Anti-Blackness, and White Supremacy in Dr. Seuss's Children's Books" in Research on Diversity in Youth Literature 1, no. 2 (2019), and Philip Nel’s book Was the Cat in the Hat Black?: The Hidden Racism of Children's Literature, and the Need for Diverse Books
Title: If You Lived in Colonial Times written by Ann McGovern and illustrated by June Otani
Brief Notes: Inaccurate colonial history book.
Review Source: Social Justice Books’ blog post “Whitewashed Colonial History Children’s Book Still in Print”
Title: Monkey Not Ready series written and illustrated by Marc Brown*
Brief Notes: Anthropomorphic monkeys have been used in history to represent and dehumanize Black people. The use of anthropomorphic monkeys can lead to Black caricature and stereotypical representations.
Review Source: Edith Campbell’s review of the book
*Numerous additional anthropomorphic monkey titles and reviews can be found on Edi Campbell’s “Monkey Business” blog post and Elisa Gall’s “Knowing Better, Doing Better” blog post
Title: Natalie’s Hair is Wild written and illustrated by Laura Freeman
Brief Notes: Contributes to the stigmatization of Black hair being unkempt, unhygienic, and in need of taming through less wild styles. Also includes questionable illustrations depicting a fire hose used on a Black child.
Review Source: Blackacademia’s blog post, “Why every book made for our Black girls ain’t a good book” provides additional review
Title: Painting for Peace in Ferguson written and illustrated by Carol Swartout Klein
Brief Notes: Absence of explanation or images connected to the systemic racism and violent events that occurred in Ferguson.
Review Source: Lena Amick’s blog post “Painting for Peace in Ferguson Paints Over the Truth”
Title: A Passion for Elephants written by Toni Buzzeo and illustrated by Holly Berry
Brief Notes: Uses tropes of Africa as one homogeneous place and white savior narrative of Westerners saving African animals with little geographical and cultural context.
Review Source: Africa Access’ review of the book
Title: Skippyjon Jones written and illustrated by Judy Schachner
Brief Notes: Contains Mexican stereotypes and culturally appropriates Spanish language and culture.
Review Source: De Colores: The Raza Experience in Books for Children’s blog post “Skippyjon Jones: Transforming a Racist Stereotype into an Industry”
Title: Stolen Words written by Melanie Florence and illustrated by Gabrielle Grimard
Brief Notes: Contains an oversimplification and almost magical representation of residential school experience.
Review Source: Debbie Reese’s review of the book
Title: The Secret Project written by Jonah Winter and illustrated by Jeanette Winter
Brief Notes: Contains inaccurate depictions of empty land inhabited by Native Americans.
Review Source: Debbie Reese’s review of the book
Title: Ten Little Rabbits written by Virginia Grossman and illustrated by Sylvia Long
Brief Notes: Issues of authority, inaccurate tribal information, and stereotypical depictions of bunnies racially coded as Native Americans
Review Sources: Teresa L. McCarty’s article "What's Wrong with “Ten Little Rabbits”?" in New Advocate 8, no. 2 (1995): 97-98 and Debbie Reese’s blog post “Indian Bunny. No! Now it is Brave Bunny --- And Ten Little Rabbits”
Title: There is a Tribe of Kids written and illustrated by Lane Smith
Brief Notes: Use of the word tribe to describe non-Native children dressed in primitive leaf clothes, recognizable as the children playing Indian.
Review Source: Debbie’s Reese’s blog post “Lane Smith's new picture book: There Is a Tribe of Kids (plus a response to Rosanne Parry)”
Title: Voices in the Park written and illustrated by Anthony Browne
Brief Notes: Anthropomorphic monkeys have been used in history to represent and dehumanize Black people. The use of anthropomorphic monkeys can lead to Black caricature and stereotypical representations.
Review Source: Jane Kelley, Mari Stir, and Paula Price article “Anthropomorphic veneers in Voices in the Park: Questioning the Master Narratives Through a Socio-historical Analysis of Images and Text” in The Dragon Lode 31, no. 2 (2013): 44-53.