This study explores how Indigenous children’s picture books published in Canada since 2000 represent cultural identity and resilience. It focuses on how stories and illustrations work together to communicate meaning and support children’s understanding of belonging, relationships, and culture. Picture books are understood as multimodal texts that shape children’s meaning-making through both visual and verbal elements (Crawford et al., 2024; Pantaleo, 2015).
The purpose of this study was to better understand how contemporary Indigenous picture books represent cultural identity and resilience in ways that are meaningful for children. Picture books are often one of the first ways children encounter stories about culture, relationships, and belonging. Early childhood research highlights that culturally meaningful learning experiences play an important role in supporting children’s sense of identity and belonging (Ball & Benoit-Jansson, 2024).
Picture books combine written text and visual imagery, making complex ideas such as identity, memory, and connection more accessible for young readers. As multimodal texts, they support children’s understanding of emotions, relationships, and cultural meaning (Crawford et al., 2024).
Understanding how cultural identity and resilience are represented in children’s literature can help educators, caregivers, and communities choose books that support meaningful and respectful learning experiences. Representation in literature also plays an important role in supporting children’s sense of belonging and positive identity development (Young et al., 2017).
This study was guided by the following question:
The study used a qualitative approach to analyze a selection of fifteen Indigenous children’s picture books. Both written text and visual elements were examined to understand how meaning is communicated. This approach aligns with qualitative document analysis, which allows for systematic interpretation of cultural texts (Bowen, 2009).
Each book was carefully read and reviewed as a document, including its narrative, images, and additional elements such as author notes. Document analysis supports the examination of how meaning is constructed within texts and visual materials (Bowen, 2009).
Patterns and themes were identified across the books through an iterative process, allowing key ideas about identity, relationships, and resilience to emerge. This process followed principles of reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2021).