Language, Identity and Diversity in Picturebooks

Book excerpt: This book presents a range of perspectives on the way language, diversity, and identity are reflected in New Zealand children’s literature, based on the published research of Nicola Daly, an associate professor in the Division of Education of the University of Waikato, and her colleagues. The book is organised into two sections. The first section examines the use of Te Reo Māori and English in the text of New Zealand picturebooks, exploring the linguistic landscape of Māori-English bilingual picturebooks. The second section, The Pedagogical Potential of Picturebooks, explores how picturebooks featuring Māori, English, New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL), and Pacific languages reflect identity and support diversity in society. Research from several educational contexts, ranging from kindergarten to university, where picturebooks are used to support learning language and learning about language is also discussed. Themes of language, identity, and diversity are explored throughout the two sections and brought together in the concluding chapter’s discussion of the power of picturebooks. This book will be of interest to scholars in children’s literature and education; it may also be relevant to scholars in linguistics library and information studies, cultural studies, and media and communication studies.