Representations of Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Rural Ways of Being in Picture Books for Children

This critical content analysis examines representations of rural life in a sample of 52 picture books by Indigenous and non-Indigenous authors and illustrators. While the United States and Canadian governments use quantitative measures to designate rurality, in this study rurality is conceptualized more broadly as an interaction between geographical, cultural, and social characteristics. Three sets of findings about the representation of rural people in Indigenous and non-Indigenous picture books are offered: the representation of human-to-human relationships, the relationships between people and the natural world, and the problems and challenges faced by rural people in the books. While there is increasing attention within children’s literature scholarship about the importance of culturally relevant picture books and representations of diversity, less is understood about representations of rurality in children’s literature and still less is known about textual representations that engage the intersection of rurality and minoritized groups such as Indigenous peoples.