This engaging study examines diverse genders and sexualities in a wide range of contemporary fiction for children and young people. Mallans insights into key dilemmas arising from the texts treatment of romance, beauty, cyberbodies, queer, and comedy are provocative and trustworthy, and deliver exciting theoretical and social perspectives.

How do you select the best recent works of fiction, oral tradition, and poetry about African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic-American, and Native-American Indian experiences and traditions from the profusion of titles being published today? This annotated bibliography of titles for children and young adults published from 1985 through the end of 1993--with 60% published since 1990--provides a one-stop selection tool. Appraisals of 559 titles, as well as information about an additional 188 recent books and 90 earlier ones of importance, are provided.

Each entry features a plot summary incorporating themes, critical comments with a judgment of the book's value as an example of its genre, suggestions of other books by that writer, and related books of importance. The authors, who are recognized authorities in children's literature, and an advistory board of librarians and teachers, each of whom specializes in the literature of a particular ethnic group, have provided insightful critical appraisals and expertise and guidance in the selection of titles. Helpful subject, grade-level, author, title, and illustrator indexes are organized for ease of use. Titles in the grade-level and subject indexes are also identified by ethnic group.

"German Children's and Youth Literature in Exile 1933-1950," contains biographies of 101 authors and illustrators of children's and youth literature as well as bibliographies of the books written and illustrated by them that were published in exile between 1933 and 1950. Included are authors who were born before 1918 in Germany or in areas of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, who were forced to flee and live through the Nazi dictatorship in exile. Among them were prominent authors such as Bertolt Brecht, authors of "classics" in children's and youth literature like Kurt Held ("Die rote Zora und ihre Bande"; 1941), Irmgard Keun ("Nach Mitternacht"; 1937) oder Felix Salten ("Bambi"; 1923), and also authors less known today. Each bibliography also includes the translations of the author's works into languages from all over the world. Recorded in the bibliographies are all forms and genres of children's literature: narrative literature and poetry, fiction and non-fiction. Every bibliographic entry contains a short overview of the contents, a description of the graphic techniques used for the illustrations, and if known, a commentary on the historical origins of the book, as well as information on the place where the copy of the book was examined. The handbook includes two indexes. The name index lists the names of authors, illustrators, editors, translators and designers, the private owners of the copies examined, as well as the names of other authors in exile listed in the biography. The title index lists all the books that are described in the bibliographies.

Re-reading Harry Potter is the first extended analysis of the social and political implications of the Harry Potter phenomenon. Arguments are primarily based on close readings of the first four Harry Potter books and the first two films, and a "text-to-world" method is followed. This study does not assume that the phenomenon concerns children alone, or should be lightly dismissed as a matter of pure entertainment as the amount of money, media coverage, and ideological unease involved indicates otherwise. The first part of the study provides a survey of responses (both of general readers and critics) to the Harry Potter books. The second part examines the presentation of certain themes, including gender, race, and desire, with a view to understanding how these may impinge on social and political concerns of our world.

Representing Agency in Popular Culture: Children and Youth on Page, Screen and In-Between addresses the intersection of children's and youth's agency and popular culture. As scholars in childhood studies and beyond seek to expand understandings of agency, power, and voice in children's lives, this book places popular culture and representation as central to this endeavor. Core themes of family, gender, temporality, politics, education, technology, disability, conflict, identity, ethnicity, and friendship traverse across the chapters, framed through various film, television, literature, and virtual media sources. Here, childhood is considered far from homogeneous and the dominance of neoliberal models of agency is questioned by intersectional and intergenerational analyses. This book posits there is vast power in popular culture representations of children's agency, and interrogation of these themes through interdisciplinary lenses is vital to furthering knowledge and understanding about children's lives and within childhood studies.

This book looks at the changing shape of children's literature in English from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. In particular it examines the dialect between 'enclosure' and 'exposure', control and freedom of both fictional child and child reader, how the balance of these forces has altered over time, and the possible reasons for these changes. It also looks at the representation of the child in the English novel from the 1830s to the 1860s - the period preceding the publication of Alice in Wonderland , the first major work of literature for children - and the influence of such representation in later children's books. Writers as well known as Lewis Carroll, Louisa M. Alcott, Rudyard Kipling and Charlotte Bronte are examined in the course of this work, but this study also considers works which have been (unfairly) neglected till now and which deserve to be better known; this list includes the Marlow series by Antonia Forest, Jane Gardam's Bilgewater and Henry Handel Richardson's The Getting of Wisdom .

Being literate increases a person's chances of enjoying good mental health, but many of today's teenagers come from backgrounds or circumstances that interfere with their literacy development. This unique resource for teachers, librarians, counselors and parents combines the expertise of two professionals: literacy experts and therapists. Together they provide guidance, through the examination and analysis of characters in young adult literature, to those working with troubled teens. Thereby helping professionals and parents gain insight into the inner workings of teenagers and encourage them to deal with their family issues and emotional problems while improving their reading and writing skills.

A young adult literature expert and a therapist, including such authors as Chris Crutcher and Anne LeMieux, team up for each chapter. They provide possible treatment options for young adult protagonists in popular novels that address issues associated with families. These issues include divorce, parental illness, alcoholism, foster care, eating disorders, gay and lesbian teenagers, and suicide. Readers are provided with the insight into helping teenagers with similar problems, and with the tools to get teenagers reading and addressing their problems. Extensive annotated bibliographies in each chapter help the reader choose the best sources for each particular case.

First published in 1980. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Reissuing works originally published between 1981 and 2000 this set offers an outstanding small collection of scholarship. It includes volumes on Victorian fiction for children, boys' school stories, heroes in children's literature, boyhood and children's literature as art and how criticism developed for the genre.

This book investigates major linguistic transformations in the translation of children's literature, focusing on the English-language translations of Janusz Korczak, a Polish-Jewish children's writer known for his innovative pedagogical methods as the head of a Warsaw orphanage for Jewish children in pre-war Poland. The author outlines fourteen tendencies in translated children's literature, including mitigation, simplification, stylization, hyperbolization, cultural assimilation and fairytalization, in order to analyse various translations of King Matt the First, Big Business Billy and Kaytek the Wizard. The author then addresses the translators' treatment of racial issues based on the socio-cultural context. The book will be of use to students and researchers in the field of translation studies, and researchers interested in children's literature or Janusz Korczak.

Children's literature is a rapidly expanding field of research which presents students and researchers with a number of practical and intellectual challenges. This research handbook is the first devoted to the specialist skills and complexities of studying children's literature at university level. Bringing together the expertise of leading international scholars, it combines practical advice with in-depth discussion of critical approaches. Wide- ranging in approach, "Children's Literature Studies: A Research Handbook: " * Considers 'children's literature' in its fullest sense, examining visual texts (such as picturebooks), films, computer games and other 'transformed' texts, as well as more traditional modes of writing for children* Offers a step-by-step guide to devising, starting and carrying out a research project (such as a dissertation or thesis), and advice on what kinds of research it is possible and profitable to undertake* Surveys the different methodologies and theoretical approaches used by children's literature scholars* Includes case studies, questions and exercises to reinforce ideas discussed in each chapter* Provides lists of further reading and a specialist glossary that will remain a useful reference resource. This handbook will be an essential companion for those studying children's literature, whether as undergraduates, postgraduates, or beyond.

Young adult readers have special needs and concerns, and librarians have become increasingly interested in selecting books suitable for them. This reference provides information about 290 books for young adults. These books received major awards between 1997 and 2001, reflect the voices of 242 different authors, and range from new to familiar themes. Included are nearly 750 alphabetically arranged entries for individual works, authors, characters, and settings. Many of these books were originally written for adults but have become popular among younger readers. Entries for works provide plot summaries and critical assessments, while author entries focus on those aspects of the writers' lives most relevant to literature for young people. The reference is a valuable selection tool for librarians and teachers and a useful guide for students.

Children, Film and Literacy explores the role of film in children's lives. The films children engage in provide them with imaginative spaces in which they create, play and perform familiar and unfamiliar, fantasy and everyday narratives and this narrative play is closely connected to identity, literacy and textual practices. Family is key to the encouragement of this social play and, at school, the playground is also an important site for this activity. However, in the literacy classroom, some children encounter a discontinuity between their experiences of narrative at home and those that are valued in school. Through film children develop understandings of the common characteristics of narrative and the particular 'language' of film. This book demonstrates the ways in which children are able to express and develop distinct and complex understandings of narrative, that is to say, where they can draw on their own experiences (including those in a moving image form). Children whose primary experiences of narrative are moving images face particular challenges when their experiences are not given opportunities for expression in the classroom, and this has urgent implications for the teaching of literacy.

J. K. Rowling's popular series of books about the boy wizard Harry Potter has captivated readers of all ages around the world. Selling more than 400 million copies, and adapted into highly successful feature films, the stories have attracted both critical acclaim and controversy. In this collection of brand new essays, an international team of contributors examines the complete Harry Potter series from a variety of critical angles and approaches. There are discussions on topics ranging from fairytale, race and gender, through to food, medicine, queer theory and the occult. The volume also includes coverage of the films and the afterlife of the series with the opening of Rowling's 'Pottermore' website. Essential reading for anyone with an interest in the Harry Potter phenomenon, this exciting resource provides thoughtful new ways of exploring the issues and concepts found within Rowling's world.

This book allows philosophers, literary theorists, and education specialists to come together to offer a series of readings on works of children's literature. Each of their readings is focused on pairing a particular, popular picture book or a chapter book with philosophical texts or themes. The book has three sections--the first, on picturebooks; the second, on chapter books; and the third, on two sets of paired readings of two very popular picturebooks. By means of its three sections, the book sets forth as its goal to show how philosophy can be helpful in reappraising books aimed at children from early childhood on. Particularly in the third section, the book emphasizes how philosophy can help to multiply the type of interpretative stances that are possible when readers listen again to what they thought they knew so well.The kinds of questions this book raises are the following: How are children's books already anticipating or articulating philosophical problems and discussions? How does children's literature work by means of philosophical puzzles or language games? What do children's books reveal about the existential situation the child reader faces? In posing and answering these kinds of questions, the readings within the book thus intersect with recent, developing scholarship in children's literature studies as well as in the psychology and philosophy of childhood.

'Internationalism in Children's Series' investigates 'internationalism' through various cultural, historical and theoretical lenses in series created for a child readership. Using the familiarity of the series character and format to form a bridge to the wider world, authors from the 19th century to contemporary times have expanded the definition of internationalism. This volume examines these definitions as they vary from series to series and even book to book in a rapidly changing, ever-shrinking world.

The search for one's identity is an ancient quest reflected throughout history in stories where human glory and conquest are often layered with great pain and self doubt, meant to help people discover themselves and who they are. Today, this quest is found prevalently in young adult novels, where characters wrestle with modern dilemmas in order to find themselves. This reference resource provides a link for teachers, media specialists, parents, and other adults to those novels and how to use them effectively. Educators and therapists explore the literature where common identity issues are addressed in ways intriguing to teens. Using fictional characters, these experts provide guidance on how to encourage adolescents to cope while improving their reading and writing skills.

Twelve novels are examined from both a literary and psychological perspective, allowing the readers to meet the central figures as if they were living human beings. Each chapter is written by a literature specialist who has teamed up with a therapist and confronts a different identity issue, examining such dilemmas as body image, the father/son relationship, bigotry, and peer relations. This pair of experts tries to define the central character's struggle in each novel to discover who they are and to become self-actualized individuals. Each chapter also provides an annotated bibliography of other works, both fiction and nonfiction, that explore these same issues to give readers not only the insight into helping teenagers with similar problems, but also the tools with which to get teenagers reading and addressing these problems. This innovative approach is meant to provide the opportunity for adults and adolescents to better understand each other.

Today, traditional illnesses and high risk behaviors of adolescents have become interrelated through the multitude of physical, social and emotional changes young people experience. Good literature which gives adolescents the truth has incredible power to heal and to renew. This reference resource provides a link for teachers, media specialists, parents, and other adults to those novels that can help adolescents struggling with health issues. Educators and therapists explore novels where common health issues are addressed in ways to captivate teens. Using fictional characters, these experts provide guidance on encouraging adolescents to cope while improving their reading and writing skills.

With the advancement in medicine, traditional types of health issues such as birth defects, cancer, and sensory impairment have shifted to more behavior related problems such as depression, alcoholism, and eating disorders. All of these issues and others are examined from both a literary and psychological perspective in thirteen chapters that explore health issues through fiction. Each chapter confronts a different health issue and is written by a literature specialist who has teamed up with a therapist. In each novel, these experts define the central character's struggle in coming to terms with an issue and growing in response to their difficulties. Annotated bibliographies of other works, both fiction and nonfiction, explore these same issues give readers insight into helping teenagers with similar problems, and provide the tools with which to get teenagers reading and addressing these problems.

Must a folktale be connected to its culture? Can a tale with universal applications be transmitted from one culture to another without loss? Does a teller from one culture have the ability--or even the right--to relate a tale from another culture? What happens to a tale when it leaves the oral and adult arenas and appears in print for children? Is it legitimate for a reteller to create variants to suit a child audience? Children's literature is today the major conduit for folklore, and professionals in the field must consider these questions. Editors Gary Schmidt and Donald Hettinga have brought together twenty-three writers of children's literature, illustrators, storytellers, and literary critics, who explore the issues and offer their experiences and views. The scope of the volume is the North American folktale, a rich amalgam of four major distinct traditions: the Native American folktale, the African American folktale, the retold Western European folktale, and the American tall tale. Each tradition is separately presented with an introductory survey and a selection of essays by the writers and critics. This focused collection will be valuable to scholars and professions in folklore, anthropology, American literature, and children's literature and useful also as a text in courses on children's literature and folklore.

Bringing together the voices of leading and emerging scholars, this book provides an innovative and accessible guide to using theory to study children's literature and film. Integrating key theoretical approaches and thinkers from across feminism, ecocriticism, postcolonialism and poststructuralism, the book shows how these can be used as tools to analyse a range of contemporary children's literature and film texts. The book will be at the cutting-edge of scholarship, combining new approaches to not only locate children's texts within changing social, cultural and political contexts, but also to help navigate a changing 'post-theory' era.

Applying a range of critical approaches to works by authors including Susan Cooper, Catherine Fisher, Geraldine McCaughrean, Anthony Horowitz and Philip Pullman, this book looks at the formative and interrogative relationship between recent children's literature and fashionable but controversial aspects of modern Paganism.