Agora: Red Deer Polytechnic Undergraduate Journal
Volume 16:1 2025 Agora Conference Proceedings

Picturebooks: Children’s Mental Health
Misrepresentations
Samantha Shortt
The topic of children's mental health has been avoided
for centuries, because of the deep-rooted beliefs about children’s
purity and innocence. Philosopher John Locke advocated that
children were born a ‘blank slate’ that needed to be carefully
imprinted upon through their education (Understanding
Childhood 82). Jean-Jacques Rousseau expanded upon this idea
by stating that children are, “(n)aive and yet unworldly, [and] the
child was, in Rousseau’s view, susceptible to the corruptions that
emanate from the social world” (Rousseau qtd. in James and
James 68). Presently, the innocent-child perspective encourages
the assumption that children cannot suffer from anxiety and
depression. Consequently, open discussions with children about
mental health are frowned upon, as these conversations could
‘ruin children’s innocence’. It is only natural for this ingrained
belief to extend into present-day children’s literature. Through
personally conducting a case study on nine mental healthpromoting picturebooks, three levels of emotional distance can
be identified from the child reader. This disconnection reinstills
the romantic-child belief that children are incapable of having

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mental illnesses. My picturebook case study argues that
representing mental illness as an outside being offers the least
emotional distance. This divide is furthered through representing
emotions as objects. Overall, the most abstract form is emotional
representation through colour. I contend that some picturebook
creators, who objectify or personify emotions, are both
promoting mental health awareness and informing the younger
generation about coping strategies. On the other hand, I will also
argue that the romantic child belief is still entrenched within
these books, and the use of abstract language instead of explicit
language often hinders children’s ‘real world’ application.
Emotional Distance through an Outside Being Representative
Within my case study, the most immediate form of
emotional distance when representing mental health are
picturebooks that depict an outside being as a representative of
emotion. Eva Eland’s When Sadness is at Your Door (hereafter
called Sadness) portrays a blue presence to embody the child’s
personal sadness. This blue character provides an outside
identity for the child character, and ‘protects’ the child reader
through providing emotional detachment by externalizing the
emotion. Sadness should be commended for the interwoven
display of practical coping mechanisms. The child character
leads their sadness into activities like walking, drawing, and is

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even encouraged to talk with their sadness. Eland succeeds in
teaching the reader to ‘guide’ their emotions, and this empowers
children to pursue autonomy within their mental health. In
relation to this, in his book Reading Contemporary
Picturebooks, David Lewis discusses how picturebook theory
can infer meaning as face, use, or as custom. Lewis states “[w]e
do not have to think about it ...We simply read off it’s meaning
in the act of recognition” (Lewis 127). This indicates that
meaning can be subjective, and more specifically that adults and
children may see the character of ‘Sadness’ differently. A child
may understand Sadness to be as real as any other fictional
character, whereas an adult may more clearly see Eland’s
authorial intention. Instead of understanding that Sadness is an
extension of the protagonist, the child reader may misunderstand
the initial disconnection of the two. Consequently, the child
reader may disconnect themself in the same way that the book
detaches Sadness and the main character. Furthermore, in
analyzing the text’s illustrations, we see Sadness enact the action
of crying. Alternatively, the child character never cries which
further separates Sadness from the protagonist. The author
further confuses the concept as the child is illustrated to be
‘consumed’ by Sadness. Eland states, “[s]ometimes it feels like
you have become sadness yourself” (Eland 9). To ‘become
sadness yourself’ enacts the most intense form of sadness, and

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within adult language we would address this as depression.
Eland slips into the romantic child idealism, as the picturebook
uses the word ‘sadness’ as a blanketed term for ‘depression’, and
as a result creates emotional distance between the emotion and
the child.
In The Color Thief, Polly Peters, Andrew Fusek Peters,
and illustrator Karin Littlewood, explore the effects that a parent
struggling with depression may pose upon their child. The book
not only brings awareness to parental depression, but informs
the child reader that healing takes time. On the other hand, The
Color Thief furthers the stigma that depression is an adult issue,
and consequently remains in accordance with the ‘romantic
child’ ideal. Eland’s Sadness better addresses the child’s
individual ‘sadness’, whereas The Color Thief places the child
reader at an even further emotional distance. The protective
nature of the book manifests itself through the father character
taking on depression, and the child’s emotions being viewed as
inconsequential. Additionally, similar to Sadness, depression is
protected through the use of abstract descriptions. This is
highlighted within the author’s personification of the outside
world, “Soon everyday became a sad day for dad. He only saw
the sun sulking, the clouds frowning, rain crying…outside the
trees stood silently shaking their heads” (Peters and Peters 5).
An adult reader would understand that the father’s depression is

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linked to pessimism, but the use of personification may confuse
the child reader even further. The use of abstract language within
The Color Thief highlights the protective nature of the ingrained
‘romantic child’ belief.
As well, The Color Thief fails to provide children with
enough clarity of what depression is, and how to cope with
others’ and one’s own. One may argue that the father is
exemplifying positive self-preservation tactics for the child by
attending therapy, and talking to a professional about his
condition. On the other hand, the child is left to deal with their
own feelings, and is placed in the ‘caregiver role’, “I gave him
hugs…he put them in a box”, “I made a cup of tea for him, and
he said it tasted good…I asked Dad if he wanted to go for a little
walk. He said yes and I held his hand” (Peters and Peters 12).
Even though it is important for children to learn sympathy, they
should not be held responsible for their parents' coping
mechanisms. The child in the story states “I felt lonely. There
was a heavy feeling inside me and I missed my dad…”(Peters
and Peters 14). Unfortunately, the book never gives a tangible
way for the child to cope with their own feelings of loneliness
and sadness. Instead, the child is emotionally abandoned, and
left to constantly wrestle with the father’s cause for depression:
“I thought I had done something wrong, but he reassured me that
I hadn’t” (Peters and Peters 8). The authorial choice, of creating

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the father’s depression to be ambiguous, leaves the child with a
feeling of responsibility for the father’s mental illness.
Ironically, the child adopts the expectation to play the ‘caregiver
role’, but is perceived to be too innocent to address his own
feelings.
The

Color

Thief

rejects

fragmentation

within

postmodernity, as the text “ties the unanswered ends” of the
father and child relationship (Lewis 89). Most noticeably, Peters
and Peters end the book with “[m]y dad was back. He smiled
and the colors were bright all around us” (Peters and Peters 22).
It is crucial for children to understand that depression does not
simply ‘vanish’ when colours become ‘bright’ for a time.
Furthermore, the phrase ‘my dad was back’ assumes that the
father was not present when his actions communicated his
depression. Conversely, in attempting to simplify the father’s
lack of emotional ‘presence’, it may confuse the reader to think
that any sense of emotional distance means ‘disappearance’. The
Color Thief fixates on educating children about parental
depression by encouraging them to be caregivers, but the text
fails to provide children with coping mechanisms for their own
mental health.
Picturebook writers and illustrators use animals as
symbolic human voices to ‘protect’ children. Around 600 BCE,
animal fables were employed as concealed messages for hidden

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protests (Samuelson). Today, animals are still used within
literary coded communication but are utilized as children’s
emotional protection barriers. Cori Doerrfeld’s The Rabbit
Listened presents the demolition of a child’s building block
project and the animals who attempt to comfort him. The child’s
sadness is felt by himself, which brings awareness and
importance to children's feelings. Alternatively, every animal
also represents human behavior, but most are illustrative of
insensitivity, and they consequently ‘make the situation worse’.
Through this unwanted animal behaviour, young readers are
supposed to identify that the Rabbit’s listening is the best way to
address an emotional situation. In addition, child readers are
expected to apply these strategies when they feel upset, or to
support another distressed individual. The story provides
practical applications, but potentially veils the Rabbit’s positive
actions from the child reader by using animal representation.
Similarly, Dr. Suess’ My Many Colored Days uses the
same animal characterization, but additionally displays
emotions through colours,“Then come my black days. Mad. And
loud. I howl. I growl at every cloud” (Suess 23). Suess’ concept
of choosing animals to represent emotions is flawed because
animals can experience all emotions. While using animal
representation is interesting from a literary point of view, Suess
never gives any practical applications for children to live by in

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dealing with these different emotions. In both Seuss’ and
Doerrfeld’s texts, if the child viewer is not pursuing the
concealed meaning, it is difficult to decode the intended animal
representation. In choosing an animal to act as a human, the child
reader is placed at a further distance from the emotionality they
are learning. The choice of characterizing an animal
representative, in an effort to protect, may cause the intended
meaning to be lost to the young reader altogether.
Emotional Distance through Emotions’ Objectification
By using objects to symbolize depression, the
representation of children’s emotions is even more removed
from the reader. Objects have no ‘life’ within them, and are even
less comparable to children’s mental health than an ‘outside
being’. In Whimsy’s Heavy Things, Julia Kraulis voices
depression through circular, heavy objects. Whimsy attempts to
hide and relocate these ‘burdens’, but they ultimately make their
way back into her life. She learns that she must ‘break down’
each object, and create something beautiful in order to be ‘free’.
Additionally, the coping strategy of ‘breaking down complex
emotions’ is also very abstract and not tangible enough for
children to implement. For example, Whimsy’s Heavy Things
finishes with the words “[a]nd she (Whimsy) kept the pieces of
the last heavy thing as a reminder not to get weighed down by

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heavy things. Because Whimsy discovered that heavy things are
just light things in disguise” (Kraulis 18). Here children’s
emotions are overtly simplified, showing the belief that
children's feelings are not as complex as adults’ feelings and thus
is another example of the romantic child belief. The story
simplifies the emotions of the child in a demeaning manner. If
children are told that the core of their depression is a simple fix,
we are reinstilling the idea that children are not susceptible to
having mental health disorders. In an attempt to conceptualize
children’s depression, objects only push the child reader further
from mental health education.
Emotional Distance through use of Colour
The most abstract concept is to constitute children's
emotions as a colour. Inadvertently, each book within the case
study followed this notion. All of the texts identified sadness and
depression to follow the same blue, grey, and black colour
scheme, and in some cases, colour may take away from any
straightforward interpretation. The Color Thief follows this
palette through illustrations, but dually expresses these ideas
through imagery. Authorial intent is evident through the
contrasting phrases: “My dad’s life was full of color” and “[h]e
said all the colors were gone. Someone had stolen them away;
just taken them one by one” (Peters and Peters 2-7). Similarly,

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The Red Tree by Shaun Tan follows the same contrasting theme;
that what seems grey and black coloured can be made ‘vibrant’
and colourful again “... suddenly there it is right in front of you
bright and vivid quietly waiting” (Tan 28). Tan’s text echoes the
idea that children’s emotions are not complex and can be
suddenly fixed. The Red Tree is abstract in it’s use of illustrations
and verbiage, which potentially deters his intended meaning.
Tied to this, Suess states in My Many Colored Days, “On Bright
Red Days how good it feels to kick my heels” (Suess 6). The
illustration depicts a smiling red horse in a green background
which confuses the phrase even further. Furthermore, Lewis
addresses that “…the ways in which readers and viewers use the
illustrations substantially affects how they understand them and
what they are doing” (Lewis 132). This corresponds with Suess’
use of colour, as a child may misinterpret the author’s intended
use of colour. Even though colour is widely used in picturebooks
to convey emotion, it detaches and confuses the child reader
even further.
The personification and objectification of children’s
emotions is progressing children’s mental health awareness, but
this method tends to confuse children and take away from the
potential education aspect. The embodiment of a child’s emotion
through an outside entity still discredits the child from their
personal feelings. Not only is young peoples’ mental health

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belittled in comparison to an adult, but the intention to protect
the child reader may induce misunderstood meaning. The
symbolization of children’s depression, through the use of
objects, takes away the ‘living’ representation and demeans the
child's complex emotions. Finally, colour is the furthest
portrayal of children’s emotions, and consequently disconnects
and muddles understanding for a young reader. Instead of
fixating on comparing children’s mental health to another being,
object, or colour, our society should support and allow young
individuals to write their own stories.

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Works Cited
Doerrfeld, Cori. The Rabbit Listened. Penguin Young Readers
Group, 2018.
Eland, Eva. When Sadness is at Your Door. Random House
Children's Books, 2019.
Fergus, Maureen. InvisiBill. Penguin Random House, 2015.
James, Allison, and Adrian James. Key Concepts in Childhood
Studies. 2nd ed., Sage, 2012.
Jones, Lloyd. The Princess and the Fog: A Story for Children
with Depression. Jessica Kingsley
Publishers, 2015.
Kehily, Mary Jane, et al. Understanding Childhood: A Cross
Disciplinary Approach. The Policy
Press, 2013.
Kraulis, Julie. Whimsy's Heavy Things. Penguin Random
House, 2013.
Lewis, David. Reading Contemporary Picturebooks: Picturing
Text. Routledge, 2001.
Malcolm, Deborah. Meh. ThunderStone Books, 2015.
Peters, Andrew F., and Polly Peters. The Color Thief: A
Family's Story of Depression. Albert
Whitman & Company, 2014.
Dr. Samuelson, Anah-Jayne. Fables. ENGL 306, 27 Jan. 2025,
Red Deer Polytechnic. Lecture.
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Dr. Seuss. My Many Colored Days. Alfred A. Knopf, 1996.
Tan, Shaun. The Red Tree. Lothian Children's Books, 2001.

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