Abstract
Children are crucial to the future of climate change leadership, and even as youth, they have the ability to make a difference in achieving climate equity. Explorations of children’s climate change literature is limited, despite the push from experts to involve children in climate change education and action. A thematic analysis of picturebooks books on the topic was conducted. Data were identified from online websites and accessibility was confirmed via academic and internet search engines. Findings suggest that children’s books about climate change lack informational material and overlook the human consequences of the climate crisis. Implications for environmental health communication are discussed.
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Acknowledgements
The author thanks Ned O'Gorman, Cabral A. Bigman, Matthew C. Pitchford, and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable feedback on earlier drafts of this manuscript. The author also extends a special thanks to the Henry C. Lea Kindergarten Class of 2019 for inspiring this project.
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This manuscript has not been previously submitted nor is it under review at a different journal. A similar version of this manuscript was accepted to the 2021 International Communication Association conference. There are no conflicts of interest and this project did not receive any funding.
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Benevento, S.V. Communicating Climate Change Risk to Children: A Thematic Analysis of Children’s Literature. Early Childhood Educ J 51, 201–210 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-021-01294-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-021-01294-y