Investigation of the Commercial Children's Picture Storybooks for the Age Grades A and B

The main purpose of this study was to identify the type and the extent of hurtful elements in commercial picture storybooks which have been published in Iran for the children grades of A and B. These elements were categorized into two groups: i.e., carelessness in specifying book features, such as the title page, the information page, etc. and other elements (i.e., Attractive features, low quality of content and pictures, and high economic profit).
This survey research was based on the content analysis methods. The population of this research consisted of 960 picture books for the children grades of A and B. The sample of the research was 100 story books. In order to collect the data, three checklists were designed.
Findings: The analysis of the collected data shows that the commercial picture story books for children were not published according to the publishing criteria. Many problems including the lack of title page, information page, proper book layout, or the lack of page number were identified. In terms of other inappropriate elements, the results indicate that in most commercial books (nearly 78%), the intellectual property rights have not been respected. In terms of the content, the theme of the most stories has been based on some ancient stories and fairytales. Some other translated stories are introduced as new books without referring to original book and its author. In addition, carelessness could be realized in assigning the story books to a specific age group and the quality of the pictures in the sample of the research.