Researchers from a number of universities, including the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Bloomsburg University, conducted studies of images in 296 award-winning children’s books published from 1938 to 2008. Their aim was to see if the portrayal of the images, photos and illustrations of natural environments (jungle, forest), built environment (house, school, office) and modified environments (lawn, park, farm field) decreased and increased respectively.
(Before we delve into the results a quick disclaimer, the sample size is relatively small and from our understanding they only researched books published by Caldecott.)
However, the findings are still interesting and the short answer, as to whether images of built and modified environments increased and those of natural environments decreased over time, is they did. Today’s children are exposed to less images of the natural world and more to images of built environments. The findings, published in February’s Social Inquiry, state:
- Early in the study period, built environments were the primary environments in about 35% of images. By the end of the study, they were primary environments about 55% of the time.
- Early in the study, natural environments were the primary environments about 40% of the time; by the end, the figure was roughly 25%.
The study says the natural environment and wild animals have all but disappeared in modern award-winning children’s books. That’s a scary thought. As we continue to migrate into bigger cities, our kids already have less exposure to the natural world and wild animals. If they’re not exposed to nature and don’t read about forests, jungles and wild animals, what does that teach our kids about the environment and animal conservation?
I thought I’d turn to a children’s nature writer close to home for an opinion. Jannifer Powelson, has written a recent guest blog for us about how to find the time to spend more time outdoors and she’s introduced her wonderful nature-loving books and characters to us.
Here’s what Jannifer had to say:
“If I understand the study correctly, only Caldecott books were analyzed, so that certainly limits the books viewed. The study tracked the books that were set in natural settings vs. books that were set in more non natural settings. The subject matter of the books studied may or may not have dealt with nature, even if the books were set in natural environments. For example, a book could have been written about two cute animals having a picnic in the forest, but the actual topic was not nature related. Although, I do think it is important for children to see books with outdoor and natural settings to get their imaginations working in that direction.
I think that living in the modern world, most of us are exposed less to natural environments, and many books mirror contemporary lifestyles. So while fewer books may be set in natural settings, I think that the "Green" trend is very common, and I would say that more books are available that deal with environmental topics. (This is only my opinion, as I have not done any actual research.) Some of those books are fun and fictional, and some of them are nonfiction and very educational.
If a family visits a state or national park, nature center, botanic garden, zoo, or other natural area, there are usually educational centers and gift shops that contain a great selection of books that deal with nature. Using the search tool when shopping online will also provide a large variety of nature books. These books are great resources to use when taking outdoor field trips or just read at home.”
Thanks Jannifer for delving in.
What do you think? When you look at the picture books on your child’s book shelves – how many nature pictures and illustrations of nature and wild animals are they exposed to?
