Once upon a time I
Our project focuses on the dysfunctional societal gender norms found in children’s literature. We researched these problems by analysing available children’s books and exploring relevant pieces of literature. Our objectives were to reflect on these issues in children's books and to explore how to represent gender more accurately by creating children's books that challenge these norms. In light of what we learned, our final deliverables are four different children’s books that take these issues into account and turn them into fun and educational stories.
Group 1
For the project Once Upon a Time we focused on the representation of genders in children’s books, what are the norms and with this information we tried to create a book that is more representative. Our main character in the book is non-binary, as we found that this is not portrayed a lot in children’s books. The story follows the adventures of Robin who along the way finds out the true values of friendship.
Group 2
For this project, we wrote a story about a non-stereotypical young boy, who loses his sheep. On the way, he meets other non-stereotypical characters that address some gender issues. We chose to write this story to subtly show children different genders in non stereotypical roles, so they learn that this is also normal.
Group 3
Today, you can still find many children's books filled with sexist gender stereotypes on the shelves of your local bookstore. For our project "Once Upon a Time" we created a picture book that aims to break the rules and avoid stereotypes, encouraging children to be who they want to be. In this video, we take you on our journey leading to the creation of "The Tale of an Extraordinary Prince", a fairy tale about a sensitive prince looking for love and a strong female protagonist who comes to save the day.
Purple Cat
For our project, we wanted to explore gender roles in children’s books. Throughout our story, we explored the issues of exclusion and what the values are of overcoming exclusivity. We also created non-human characters in order for both boys and girls to relate more easily to the story. Our story follows a cat that is judged for having a different coloured fur than others and explores the challenges that he faces.