The image of minorities, particularly blacks, in children's literature has been evolving since World War II when authors' sensitivities to the unjust treatment of such groups were aroused. The implications of this evolution for the critic of children's literature today are important. Passing through the "Age of Awareness" of the forties and…

A survey was made of all children's books about Chinese, Chinese Americans, or China for pre-kindergarten through third-grade reading level to determine how the books represent the Chinese or Chinese American to the young child. Books included in the study were identified by one or more of the following factors: (1) book title and bibliographic…

This guide, comprised of three lessons, is designed to train teachers to select children's books with a multicultural perspective. The preliminary lesson introduces and describes the learning unit and states the objectives. Objectives are to understand the importance of judging books for their inclusion of minority culture experience based on…

An investigation of children's books reveals that a few classic examples of minority characterization are found in children's books written prior to and at the turn of the century. A survey of materials shows that most bibliographies are not annotated; that those which are annotated usually tell the plot and theme, omitting mention of the…

The 10 guidelines in this guide to analyzing children's books serve as a starting point for evaluating children's literature from the perspective of racist and sexist attitudes. (1) Check the illustrations. Look for stereotypes, for tokenism, and for who's doing what. (2) Check the story lines. Look for subtle forms of bias in such approaches as…

This publication lists multi-ethnic reading, audio, and audio-visual materials for young children in day care center programs and homes. The listing, it is held, is by no means a complete one. The need for listing these materials arises from the fact that, historically, children's literature on minority races has been written from a prejudiced…

Children's fiction written between 1945 and 1962 was analyzed for current stereotypes of minority Americans, and the results were compared with related studies of adult fiction and school textbooks. Two analytic instruments were applied to 114 minority characters selected from 42 children's books about American Indians, Chinese, Japanese, Negroes,…

Various articles include the following concerns: a year-long study shows that 66 books about Asian Americans are elitist, racist, and sexist; practical guidelines for selection of nonracist, nonsexist books are provided; a noted playwright looks at the image of Asian Americans in children's books and finds it racist science fiction; the…