Disabilities Portrayed in Picturebooks with the Pura Belpré Award

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study analyzed how disabilities were portrayed in picturebooks with the Pura Belpré Award. We used the pool of 67 picturebooks recognized by the Pura Belpré Award from 1996 to 2018 as the data for our systematic content analysis. The results showed that characters with disabilities and the types of disabilities were represented disproportionately in the books compared to the general PreK-2 population with disabilities in the United States. Only six characters whose presence impacted the story were identified to have a disability. More materials that mirror LatinX children characters with disabilities are needed in the U.S.