An analysis of recent Newbery Award winning and honor books for themes regarding the representation of female protagonists

The reputation of Newbery books for quality and their popularity among librarians, teachers, and students all but insures their exposure in elementary and junior high schools across the nation. This study reviewed how female protagonists were portrayed in recent (1985–2000) Newbery books.; A qualitative content analysis was employed to analyze the sample of twenty-three books. The research questions driving data collection analyzed how the female protagonists evaluated their abilities as well as how other characters evaluated the female main characters. Two questions reviewed the instances of success and failure and the instances of guidance and support encountered by the female main characters. Following data collection, the data were coded and sorted into categories. The categories were then refined and the data often reorganized until the findings were clear.; Findings revealed that female main characters evaluated their abilities in physical, cognitive, social, domestic, and emotional terms. Other areas included the evaluation of personality characteristics and self-esteem issues. Overall, the characters focused on relative physical shortcomings but exhibited positive perceptions regarding their academic abilities. The female protagonists were evaluated by others on physical and academic issues in addition to being evaluated based on societal norms for gender roles.; Results showed that female main characters were described negatively based on body type or other physical attributes but often received praise for their academic achievement. Analysis of instances of success and failure revealed that female protagonists were recognized for their heroic feats while struggling with a variety of social problems. Finally, a review of the instances of guidance and support revealed that female main characters received support in several ways including encouragement, compliments, direct guidance, and academic support.