Who Belongs On The Field?

To begin my inquiry, I wanted to examine what messages current children’s books are conveying to their young readers. Although children’s books related to rugby are commonly marketed as neutral, they often convey a hierarchy of belonging. This raised an important question for me: Who is the default athlete in children’s literature, and who needs to earn their place on the field?

What Story Are We Telling?

Children’s books about rugby are limited, and rugby books that showcase women and girls are even fewer. 

I started my inquiry by reviewing current children’s literature on rugby. Scouring the internet, I found mainly nonfiction rugby books about the history of the game, its rules, and inspiring athletes. There are very few fictional rugby books, especially picture books. It was quite challenging to find children’s books related to rugby in general, and finding rugby-related books that also had female athlete representation was even harder.

A quick search on Indigo tells a similar story. When searching “Rugby books for kids”, only 78 results pop up. When searching children’s books for other sports, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of results. Doing a deeper dive into the rugby books available on Indigo, I found that only five of the 78 rugby-related kids’ books available were geared towards girls or women. All five of the children’s rugby books with female athlete representation were nonfiction-based books.

The front page of some of the books I looked at reveals underlying biases in sport. All these children’s books, while not overtly geared towards boys or girls, primarily showcase boys in the central visual space, with girls represented in the background or periphery. Boys are featured as the main athletes, with girls appearing as supporting characters. This highlights powerful subliminal messaging about who belongs in contact sports such as rugby. Consistently centering boys in these children’s books indirectly reinforces the notion that rugby is a “boys game”, and girls participation in a physical team sport such as rugby is supplementary as opposed to normative.

As previously mentioned, I also noticed that the majority of books featuring female rugby players are nonfiction. To me, this feels like a significant distinction. Women who play rugby are seen as the exception, not the rule. In other words, women who play contact sports are different from ordinary women; they are exceptional, they have proved themselves as athletes, and risked their beauty and femininity to play a contact sport. Stories of women in rugby are seen as noteworthy because they have strayed from traditional gender norms of what it means to be a woman. They have “sacrificed” their femininity, and thus, can be legitimate athletes. These women have “proved themselves” in a male-dominated sport that is traditionally not meant for them.

Learning the history of women in rugby and highlighting the stories of female athletes is important. Understanding the impact women have had in the rugby world is essential. Seeing real-world examples of people who look like you exceeding in sport matters. However, it shouldn’t be the only form of literature children have the option to access. Girls playing rugby should be seen as regular athletes, not incredible exceptions to societal norms.

A significant gap remains in children’s literature regarding the representation of female athletes in rugby. Not only are there limited fiction books representing young girls in contact sports, but existing books also tend to frame female athleticism as exceptional, rather than normalize it. Both the type and quality of representation for women in contact sports leave something to be desired.

“Reading or listening to tales can be considered significant community practices, capable to impact on young generations, empowering and preparing them for the future.”

– Pulimeno, Piscitelli, & Colazzo

Literature plays an important role in children’s development. An article by Pulimeno et al. discusses how reading or listening to stories can enhance children’s comprehension, vocabulary, and language skills, help them learn about the world around them, and strengthen their socio-emotional development.

The more books children read (or have read to them), the greater the variety in vocabulary and sentence structure they can learn. This also helps children develop general knowledge about the world around them, providing a wider base of background knowledge to draw on when learning new things in their education. This can mean students pick up new concepts faster and have an easier time learning about different topics.

The fictional narratives from stories can line up with challenges children may face in their lives, and help them develop methods to deal with these struggles. Children are able to learn to identify and describe their feelings, and are better able to cope with difficult emotions when they arise. In particular, reading aloud with a parent, teacher, or other caregiver can give children the opportunity to talk about their feelings and practice using these coping strategies. Reading also helps students expand their perspectives and empathize with other people. Children need to access literature that illustrates stories where they are represented, and stories where different perspectives (cultures, lifestyles, etc.) are told.

Next in my inquiry journey, I aim to dive more into the details related to creating my own children’s book. This next stage of my inquiry involves a lot of planning related to the age/grade, competencies, and narrative focus/storyline of my book. I will determine the type of book I plan to create and the literary elements I will include so that my book is an educational tool for students.