Kindergarteners’ Responses to Children’s Literature About Diverse Families

• In Event: Families and Diversity in Children's and Young Adult Literature

Abstract

This study examined kindergarteners’ responses to children’s literature featuring diverse families. After interactive readalouds, children responded through drawing, writing, and describing multimodal compositions. Qualitative inquiry and visual analysis examined how children represented and demonstrated sameness and difference in their representations of family. Findings included that children represented families with feeling, focusing on positive emotions and experiences, and their representations of family expanded beyond their immediate family, including extended family, friends, and book characters.

Authors

• Jill Grifenhagen, NC State University

• Corrie Dobis, North Carolina State University

• Bethany Lewis, NC State University

• Angela Wiseman, North Carolina State University