Playing tug of war: The tensions of teacher candidates and their instructor during interactive picturebook read-alouds

This article examines the tensions that surfaced as teacher candidates and their instructor engaged in three interactive read-aloud discussions. The discussions were designed to help participants ponder issues of inequity and social injustice that may be embedded in otherwise “innocent” picturebooks for children. Framed through reader response and critical multicultural lenses, the video-recorded sessions were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis (RTA). Findings indicate that while participants experienced various tensions in maintaining conversations about power, race/ethnicity, class, gender and otherness, they were also ultimately able to collaboratively seek more profound understanding and to co-create meaningful interpretations of the texts.