Gender representation in children's literature has been researched and discussed extensively since the early classic studies by second wave feminists in the 1970s and 1980s (Ullah, Ali and Naz, 2014). These early studies asserted that children literature is gender bias, which led to the two major conclusions that are referred to the dominance of male characters and the assumption of male and female traditional gender roles. Since picturebooks are primary source of literature for children, their function is to encourage or reduce gender stereotypes. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper was to establish the representations of gender stereotypes in traditional and contemporary picturebooks and to recognize and analyse certain patterns and trends. Traditional picturebooks that were chosen due to the saturation of gender stereotypes are Gustav Krklec: Što se dobiva od mlijeka, Ana Đokić: Tri sestre, Stan and Jan Berenstain: Medvjedići i kućanski poslovi and Zdenko Mikša: Mali Miha na farmi automobila. Gender stereotypes were studied in the text and the illustrations themselves. The analysis of traditional picturebooks confirmed the presence of gender stereotypes in the picturebooks and patterns established according to various authors were discovered. In each of the picturebooks, a particular pattern was dominant, and the following patterns were observed: the assumption of traditional male and female gender roles with regard to the occupations of people in rural areas, the emphasis on the physical appearance of women, the stereotypical way of portraying male and female roles with regard to the distribution of household chores and attributing dynamic and active roles to the male character. Male and female characters are most often presented in accordance with their traditional gender roles. On the other hand, analysed picturebooks like Horst Eckert-Janosch: Tata lav i njegova sretna djeca, Pika Vončina: Emilija u zemlji kotača, Petra Lončar: Čudesan cvijet and Andrea Beaty: Rosie Zakovica, izumiteljica are considered contemporary since they challenge the analysed dominant patterns in traditional picturebooks, emphasizing gender equality. However, considering a detailed analysis, a subtle presence of gender stereotypes is noticed, which draws attention to deep rooted traditional values and worldview of today's society.