Children’s Picture Books about Refugees and Campbell’s Monomyth

This book explores the portrayal of refugee experiences in children’s picture books using insights from Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Chapter 1 considers this emerging genre of children’s literature within its social and educational context and explains how the narratives embedded within these books were examined. Chapter 2 cites key studies in the field of children’s picture books about refugees to uncover common narrative arcs, characterisations, themes and educative value. Remaining chapters detail the three core elements of Campbell's canonical narrative arc to review how the experience of refugees is presented in modern picture books using this familiar narrative structure as a means of exploring a humanitarian issue with overt political overtones. In so doing, the authors employ an innovative means of analysing picture books that deal with refugees by positioning them within a familiar narrative arc that belies the fear of difference they may otherwise represent.