Ethnic diversity in New Zealand children's literature published between 1986 and 2000 : a content analysis

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to determine how accurately ethnic diversity in New Zealand children's literature reflected the diversity of the population. It also aimed to determine the proportion of children's literature with multicultural information woven into the story and the proportion with a clear New Zealand setting. Content analysis has been used to examine picture and fiction books, published between 1986 and 2000, and these results are compared to the census results over the same period of time. This study found that in almost all cases, the ethnicity of main characters under-represented the major non-European ethnic groups identified in the census results, and that diverse ethnic groups were more often represented in picture books than in fiction books. The study found that children's literature with multicultural information woven into the story increased over time, as did the proportion of literature clearly set in New Zealand. Child development is affected by many variables, and multicultural children's literature is considered to be one of them. The findings of this study are important to those interested in the development of young New Zealanders.