Voices in the Library: Curating New Zealand Children’s Literature

Abstract

ABSTRACT Children’s literature is one of the most important ways that children learn about each other and themselves, and has often been linked to nation- building. Studies by Daly have shown the importance children’s books are perceived to have with regard to developing national identity by parents reading to their children, and how picturebooks can impart new cultural knowledge to readers. However, children’s literature has historically privileged the voices of white middle class authors and characters. Thus, understanding how national collections of children’s literature are curated is important knowledge in order to ascertain whether and how diversity is being achieved in these collections. This research presents thematic findings from the analysis of interviews with eight New Zealand curators of children’s literature for New Zealand children (librarians, publishers and award committee members) to explore how collections of children’s literature are curated for New Zealand children. Findings show that in their decision making around choosing books for their collections, many curators make links to the educational curriculum, and also value books which allow children to understand themselves and others. They value diversity in their collections, in particular in relation to languages, but are clear about avoiding tokenism.