The Depiction of Disability in Children’s Literature: Changes for the Better, with Particular Attention to Three New Titles; Mama Zooms (Cowen-Fletcher, 1993), The Race (Mattingley, 1995), and No Time At All (Sallis, 1994)

Abstract

Children’s literature has the power and potential to reflect societal attitudes. Changes in attitudes towards disability in Western literature can be traced by “turning the pages” through the history of children’s books. This paper addresses issues concerning children’s literature published during the past few decades. Have there been improvements since Baskin and Harris’ (1977) major review of children’s fiction depicting characters with disabilities written between 1940 and 1977? This study revealed that stereotypical portrayals of characters with disabilities were common. Furthermore, have there been attempts to move away from the educative properties of “quasi-fiction” used to promote integration of children with disabilities into regular schools? This paper concludes that many recently published children’s books of the 1980s and 1990s are presenting a more realistic and positive picture of characters with disabilities. Three new titles have been examined in detail. The success of these books in creating a climate of tolerance and empathy towards characters with disabilities is due to their high standards of literary merit and attractive, sophisticated presentation.