What Are in the Bookstores? The Diversity of New York Times Best-Selling Children's Picture Books

• In Event: Section 1a, Poster Session 1. Literacy: Literacy Processes and Practices

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the genre, instructional concepts, and cultural diversity of New York Times best-selling children’s picture books, which are the main resources for educators and parents to choose but have not yet been examined. We coded 441 Children’s Picture Books compiled from 2010 to 2020 NYT best-selling books in terms of genre, instructional concepts, and cultural diversity. We found: 1) narrative is the dominant genre; 2) occurrence of instructional concepts in the books was at generally low rates; and 3) cultural diversity is an issue for the NYT children’s picture books. Implications of the results are discussed.

Authors

• Sen Wang, Florida State University

• Keting Chen, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

• Mary Campbell

• Sonia Cabell, Florida State University