Whose eggs are these? Gender in ocean-themed picture books

Abstract

Ocean-themed picture books are important educational resources that promote marine science literacy. At the same time, these picture books also carry messages about gender to child readers. Through an analysis of 100 ocean-themed informational and narrative non-fiction picture books, the authors uncover various ways in which ideas about gender are communicated to child readers, whether in relation to human or animal characters or animals with human traits and qualities. The article tests the hypothesis that marine science picture books educate children about gender in traditional, normative and binarized ways. The findings suggest that marine science picture books are male-dominated, with narrow, often stereotyped gender roles ascribed to both human and sea animal characters. Despite a male-dominated presence, the authors describe ways in which contemporary picture books might begin to fill the gaps in diverse gender representation in this genre.