Fire alone: A critical analysis of disaster-related learning in children's literature

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to critically evaluate how readers perceive natural hazards portrayed in children’s literature, specifically through the Warriors middle school fantasy series about groups of feral cats living in the wild. The central research question is: what lessons can be learned from the natural hazards presented in Warriors? This study is informed by interpretivism and an inductive system of logic. This study is twofold: a qualitative narrative analysis was conducted on 81 of the Warriors books and identified five themes. After, a web-based self-completed questionnaire was distributed to members of the Warriors fandom. Participants were asked to read one of three passages from Warriors: River of Fire, Warriors: Bramblestar's Storm, and Warriors: The Fourth Apprentice over fires, floods, or droughts, and to analyze the hazard’s depictions and the characters' behaviors and emotions. Four themes were identified from the qualitative content analysis over the questionnaire. The characters' anthropomorphism allows them to display human emotions, and both the Warriors books and the participants identified instances of disaster preparedness and response, and disaster characteristics. Resiliency was identified when characters and groups took care of each other despite their continued conflicts and competition for resources during times of crisis. Participants also identified positive and negative behaviors and emotions from the characters during the disasters. However, respondents also noted various inaccuracies within the books. This research demonstrates the capabilities of children's literature to educate about positive and negative responses during a disaster and disaster resiliency within communities despite inaccuracies or instances of slight fantasy.