Eyes on the prize-winners – a descriptive study of radical change in five contemporary award-winning Arabic picturebooks

Abstract: Radical change theory (RCT) was conceived in a North American context in the mid-1990s, in order to explain changes in contemporary literature for youth related to the digitization of society. This study uses directed qualitative content analysis (DQlCA) to look at a select sample of contemporary award-winning Arabic picturebooks through the lens of radical change theory. The aim of the study is to ascertain whether and to what extent these acclaimed and promoted books display radical change characteristics (Dresang 1999). Children’s books that embody many such characteristics may be seen as products of an underlying ideology of childhood that is arguably gaining traction in contemporary societies–one in which children are seen as capable and seeking connection rather than innocent and in need of protection or depraved and needing to be controlled. All books in the present study were found to contain radical change. This can be viewed as revealing of larger trends affecting and perhaps changing the societies in which these books were published, distributed and promoted. In addition, radical change books are thought to be especially attractive to digital age children (by creating more interest and an elevated understanding), which is of special interest in the context of Arabic children’s literature because of the hurdles to accessibility that the use of literary Arabic creates.