Having different kinds of literature is an important part of the education in school and schoolbooks, in shape of reading-books, are common in the first year of primary school. The texts pupils encounter in school are important for how they form their identity and thoughts about what is right or wrong and what is natural or unnatural. People of other ethnicity than Swedish, or with another skin colour than white, have often in the past been portrayed negatively in reading-books as if they are of less worth. According to the Curriculum for the Compulsory School System (Lpo94) the school shall act for understanding of all people and every person’s equal value.

The study analyses how ethnicity is portrayed in reading-books for pupils in the first year of primary school. I have also compared these books to see if they differ from each other and, if this is the case, how they differ. In addition, I have investigated if the books follow the curriculum of the Swedish school system according to ethnicity. The books I have chosen to analyse are four different schoolbooks published 1995-2008 which are used in Swedish schools in a specific community. The method I have used is text analysis.

My results show that some reading-books still portray people with ethnicity other than Swedish in a demeaning way and that “white” people often are shown as the norm. The study also shows good examples of a more diverse inclusion of different settings, characters with other ethnicity and their role in the reading-books. The diversity gives the possibility for a more individual interpretation and gives room to show the multicultural society as the new norm.