The topic of my HISTB398 capstone project is the analysis of female roles in 2000s U.S. children’s books. The two aspects I mainly present are female underrepresentation and gender stereotypes. Children’s books are the microcosm of mainstream culture. Therefore, I summarized some of the gender-related changes in the 1990s and early 2000s as context to imply how they influenced the creation of children’s books at that time, and how they, in turn, affected children at that time.

I chose children’s picture books from The Caldecott-Award-winning books and New York Times Best Sellers Children’s picture books from 2000 to 2010 to analyze.

The Caldecott Medal was named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children. It is the most desired prize for children’s picture books, because it ensures reputation and sales. The average sales of the Caldecott Award-winning book that year is 60,000. Others in the industry would consider what to publish according to the Caldecott Award-winning books. Even public libraries with limited funding will guarantee to have them. Teachers and educators recommend them, and conscious parents will seek them once they walk into bookstores.

I also chose primary sources from New York Times Best Sellers children’s picture books, because it shows transactions completed by retailers and individual end users from all over the United States during the period on or after the official publication date of a title. Therefore, this list will reflect the choice of a relatively wide range of readers.

See what I found directly, please click ↓

If you are curious about why I chose this topic, please click ↓

See what I did before I have findings ↓