Children’s Picture Books about Refugees and Campbell’s Monomyth

This book explores the portrayal of refugee experiences in children’s picture books using insights from Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Chapter 1 considers this emerging genre of children’s literature within its social and educational context and explains how the narratives embedded within these books were examined. Chapter 2 cites key studies in the field of children’s picture books about refugees to uncover common narrative arcs, characterisations, themes and educative value. Remaining chapters detail the three core elements of Campbell’s canonical narrative arc to review how the experience of refugees is presented in modern picture books using this familiar narrative structure as a means of exploring a humanitarian issue with overt political overtones. In so doing, the authors employ an innovative means of analysing picture books that deal with refugees by positioning them within a familiar narrative arc that belies the fear of difference they may otherwise represent.

Eseta Tualaulelei is an associate professor in the School of Education at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. She teaches literacy education and intercultural communication to early years and primary pre-service teachers, and her research specialises in intercultural education, early literacy and the professional development of teachers.

Martin Kerby is an associate professor (curriculum and pedagogy) at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. Awarded numerous awards and grants and widely published, his research focuses on historical and educational areas, with a focus on children’s picture books, multiliteracies, biography, military history, and artistic and cultural responses to conflict.

Margaret Baguley is a professor in arts education, curriculum and pedagogy and the Associate Head Research for the School of Education at the University of Southern Queensland. She has published extensively, and her acclaimed research encompasses the arts, visual analysis, creative collaboration, creative leadership, and historical commemoration.

Alison Bedford is a senior lecturer in curriculum and pedagogy at the University of Southern Queensland. Her research investigates the ways in which ideas move through societies, and specifically, how the teaching of national histories supports the development of democratic dispositions and how diversity is represented in children’s picture books.