Childrens books and the negative effect they can have on a childs psyche

The Negative Effects of Children 's Books on a Child 's Psyche

One of the biggest influences on a child 's development is literature Children 's author and Coretta Scott King Award recipient Virginia Hamilton once said , Literature gives us images with which to think (2000 ) This is true the most for children 's literature because of how important reading is to the development of many skills for children . At a young age , a child 's personality , self-image and perception of the world around them is still developing . This is affected by what images

br and expressions a child is exposed to . Children 's books that are non-inclusive , lack multi-cultural ideas and are gender biased have been found to be damaging to a child 's psychological development

In the past , most children 's books were written by members of one particular group or class , mainly from the white middle class . Because most of the authors were from the same background and social class , they obviously shared very similar points of view . This resulted in many of our children 's books lacking diversity . Older books from the 1960s and earlier often failed to portray a multiracial and non-gender biased society

Some children 's books contain negative overtones without using images Children 's literature that uses loaded words can have just as negative an impact on a child as a negative image A word or phrase is loaded ' when it has a secondary , evaluative meaning in addition to its primary meaning . Some children 's authors will use loaded words like animalistic instead of beastly when describing a minority group . Loaded words can also be sexist like forefathers instead of ancestors or manmade instead of manufactured (Fallacy s

In a review of children 's literature , Kira Pirofski stated that books for children still contain gender stereotypical behavior , and most of the characters in literature for children are males . Ernst (1995 (2 She also cited research which documented that a recommended children 's reading list generated by Jim Treslease and former U .S . Secretary of Education William Bennet did not contain any Asian , Hispanic , or African-American characters . The books that did feature minorities relied heavily on stereotypes of African-Americans , Hispanics , and Asians . Reimer (1992 (2

In 2006 , the U .S . Census Bureau reported that one in three U .S residents is a minority (Bernstein 1 . This is reflected by the mix of races and cultures seen in our elementary and secondary schools . This is one of the reasons why it is important to have diverse literature in our schools and libraries . Children 's literature that fails to reflect multiculturalism and non-gender biased ideals is unhealthy because children identify very strongly with images that look like them

It 's also detrimental if a majority group is often portrayed in roles that are in a position of authority or high esteem like a judge or doctor while other minority groups are portrayed in more subservient roles such as a waiter or a maid . Pirofski explains how , for...