Representations of Food Insecurity in Contemporary Picturebooks

Abstract

In the United States, about 11 million children live in households that struggle with accessing food (Coleman-Jensen et al.). Despite food insecurity (FI) being a global issue of high proportions in the United States, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, few contemporary realistic fiction picturebooks explicitly address the experience of not having enough food. This research employs critical multicultural analysis as a theoretical framework and methodology to examine representations of FI in four contemporary realistic fiction picturebooks.