“Don’t Judge Me By the Cover, ‘Cause I’m A Real Good Book”: A Critical Content Analysis of the Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Book Collection, 2021

Within children’s picturebooks, race representation is lacking in many ways. The benefits of including diverse characters in children’s literature is well known, and yet children’s literature remains a largely all-white world (Larrick, 1965; Cooperative Children’s Book Center, 2021). Furthermore, the pervasive whiteness of children’s literature can be seen not only in the large number of white characters, but also in the ways that whiteness is represented within children’s literature. The purpose of this study is to examine aspects of whiteness within a text disseminated by the Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. This study was guided by the following research question:

1. How is whiteness represented and reproduced in a select DPIL book?

This study engages Critical Whiteness Studies as a lens to examine a random text from the Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, and includes a critical content analysis of this text in an effort to examine the aspects of whiteness and white culture within the text. Findings indicate that several aspects of whiteness appear within the selected text, and in a variety of both hidden and more visible ways. Findings also suggest that whiteness remains largely un-named within children’s literature. Implications for the Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library and future children’s literature and race representation researchers are included.