Familiar Vocabulary for little curious eyes. A research on families’ narrative rappresentations about illustrated books for children between 0-6 years

Abstract

Between 1960 and 1980, publishing houses brought out a lot of new picture books for early childhood which showed innovative family representations: those books described fathers who were tender and loving like mothers; or they told stories where a little girl enjoyed living so much with three brigands that she turned this relationship into a new family. Writers and illustrators like Annette Tison, Altan, Leo Lionni and Tomi Ungerer created picture books where they told us about new family representations. Their books partly picked up the strains and the hopes of the underground movements which shook the world forty years ago. Even in an age where new media and new books are constantly issued, those ”ancient” and “unconventional” picture books are still published. Which are the historical, pedagogical and cultural reasons for the permanent success of these children books? Report shows the present results of a research which is analyzing this matter.