| This research centres on the reactions of a group of 20 first grade Black students to the illustrations in a collection of "Black picture books." The findings suggest that the working-class Black emergent readers in this study preferred illustrations of Black characters in a detailed realistic style of drawing with backgrounds, settings, situations and content that were familiar and recognizable to the children. The students rejected illustrations that portrayed the Black characters; in a less than realistic fashion, in unusual or unfamiliar clothing, with bare feet, that used very dark colours, contained unfamiliar backgrounds or settings, or situations that were unfamiliar or in conflict with the students' reality. When the students came across books with any of these attributes, they lost their motivation to read and avoided or refused to read the books with these types of illustrations.;Teachers can help address this issue by involving their students more in the review, selection and critique of classroom reading materials. Children's literature can serve as a tool to teach students to detect and critically analyze bias as they read. Teachers should also take into account the student's particular experiences, background and frames of reference when introducing and presenting books to the students. (Abstract shortened by UMI.). |
