Examining Depictions of Bullying in Children’s Picturebooks: A Content Analysis From 1997 to 2017

ABSTRACT

This article examines how bullying is portrayed within children’s picturebooks published in the last 20 years. Two overarching questions guide this research: (a) How is bullying defined and portrayed in children’s picturebooks published from 1997–2017? (b) What are specific features/qualities in picturebooks about bullying published from 1997–2017? Descriptive statistics and narrative accounts of bullying characteristics are presented. Findings indicate verbal bullying by Caucasian males toward other Caucasian males in the school setting is the most predominant form found in children’s picturebooks. Various responses of victims, bystanders, and adults are further described.

KEYWORDS:

• Bullying
• children’s literature
• content analysis