question / pregunta:
I am searching for analyses of socially-motivated, politically-informed photo-illustrated children's books of mid to late 20th century. The genre appears to have peaked in the 1970's and then collapsed. I am writing a speculative article regarding this and would like to be, well, less speculative.
Many Thanks.
Socially-Motivated Photo-Illustrated Children's Books (50's. 60'
Hi,
My first thought was that ALSC might have some resources for you, but it seems like their reading lists are fairly limited as far as the sources you're after. If you or someone you know has ALSC membership, you might consider posting to their listserv and tapping the professional knowledge that they have.
From what I know, most of the library and information science scholarship in this area has focused on the portrayal of characters in children's books, for example in terms of race, gender and able-bodiedness. For example, here's an article on depictions of race in children's books, and I also found this book on depictions of sexuality - according to Google Scholar, the book has been cited 13 times, indicating it has some academic clout.
This seemed a little closer to what you're after, it's an article on environmental ideology in children's books. And this article discusses political ideologies in children's literature, with the intent of offering a conceptual framework for further criticism. You might continue the search by looking at the references in these articles to see if there are other helpful sources.