Baring Teeth or Bearing Teeth?: Stereotypical Visual Representations in Informational Picturebooks

ABSTRACT Informational picturebooks aim to provide information and facts to child readers. However, few studies investigated how informational picturebooks portray and describe animal subjects. The current study explored the content depicted in children’s informational picturebooks, concentrating on visual representations in view of common features in both sharks and polar bears. This study analyzed a total of 22 books focused on a target audience of Grades PreK-1 children. The results showed distinctive differences in visual representations of each animal. The study contended that educators, publishers, and caregivers should acknowledge such stereotypical descriptions contained in children’s informational picturebooks.