Through the Lens of Children's Rights: A Discourse Analysis of Popular Children's Literature

 Adopted in 1989, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) delineates the inherent, equal, and indivisible rights that all children hold. However, almost 30 years after the establishment of the UNCRC, there is still a lack of awareness of children’s rights. Through the lens of children’s right, this study examined if, how, and to what extent children’s rights are communicated in the lexical and pictorial narratives of ten popular preschool children’s storybooks. Findings show that although children’s rights discourses are plentiful in varying degrees in children’s storybooks, these discourses are primarily implicit. Implications from this study suggest that early childhood educators may adopt a “right-integrative” (Di Santo & Kenneally, 2014, p. 396) lens when selecting, reading, and discussing storybooks with young children, with an aim to increase awareness of rights. 

Keywords: children’s rights; children’s literature; United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child