This book highlights the multi-dimensionality of the work of British fantasy writer and Discworld creator Terry Pratchett. Taking into account content, political commentary, and literary technique, it explores the impact of Pratchett's work on fantasy writing and genre conventions.With chapters on gender, multiculturalism, secularism, education, and relativism, Section One focuses on different characters' situatedness within Pratchett's novels and what this may tell us about the direction of his social, religious and political criticism. Section Two discusses the aesthetic form that this criticism takes, and analyses the post- and meta-modern aspects of Pratchett's writing, his use of humour, and genre adaptations and deconstructions. This is the ideal collection for any literary and cultural studies scholar, researcher or student interested in fantasy and popular culture in general, and in Terry Pratchett in particular.

Evolutionary theory sparked numerous speculations about human development, and one of the most ardently embraced was the idea that children are animals recapitulating the ascent of the species. After Darwin's Origin of Species, scientific, pedagogical, and literary works featuring beastly babes and wild children interrogated how our ancestors evolved and what children must do in order to repeat this course to humanity. Exploring fictions by Rudyard Kipling, Lewis Carroll, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Charles Kingsley, and Margaret Gatty, Jessica Straley argues that Victorian children's literature not only adopted this new taxonomy of the animal child, but also suggested ways to complete the child's evolution. In the midst of debates about elementary education and the rising dominance of the sciences, children's authors plotted miniaturized evolutions for their protagonists and readers and, more pointedly, proposed that the decisive evolutionary leap for both our ancestors and ourselves is the advent of the literary imagination.

With the publication of her first book, The Little House in the Big Woods (1932), Laura Ingalls Wilder became an almost overnight success as a writer of children's literature. This reference is a comprehensive compilation of works and research done on her from the first appearance of commentary to mid-1995. Citations are included for books, booklets, articles, theses, dissertations, and book reviews, and the annotations discuss the contents of these works. Entries are grouped in chapters devoted to critical works, biographical works, teaching studies and materials, teaching kits, serial publications, and book reviews. A brief introduction overviews the present state of Wilder studies, and detailed indexes conclude the volume. With the publication of her first book, The Little House in the Big Woods (1932), Laura Ingalls Wilder became an almost overnight success as a writer of children's literature. Her series of books consisting of autobiographical fiction have long been considered classics in the United States and have been translated into a large number of languages for their gradual migration into other countries as well. Early book reviews and articles began to comment on the importance and quality of her writings. The amount of criticism has escalated tremendously, and recent research and study have focused on the value of her works for all age groups. Because of Wilder's popularity as a children's author, her works are taught in schools and curriculum units have been designed to incorporate her writings. This reference book provides a comprehensive compilation of works and research done on Wilder from the first appearance of commentary to mid-1995. Included are citations for books, booklets, theses, dissertations, articles, and book reviews, and the annotations discuss the contents of the works. Entries are arranged in several sections to promote useful access to the materials. A brief introduction provides an overview of Wilder studies and indicates some areas where more research is needed, and several indexes enhance the accessibility of the information.

Much literature for children appears in the form of series, in which familiar characters appear in book after book. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, authors began to write science fiction series for children. These early series generally had plots that revolved around inventions developed by the protagonist. But it was the development and use of rocket and atomic science during World War II that paved the way for interesting and exciting new themes, conflicts, and plots. While much has been written about the early juvenile science fiction series, particularly the Tom Swift books, comparatively little has been written about children's science fiction series published since 1945. This book provides a broad overview of this previously neglected topic. The volume offers a critical look at the history, themes, characters, settings, and construction of post-1945 juvenile science fiction series, including the A.I. Gang, the Animorphs, Commander Toad, Danny Dunn, Dragonfall Five, the Magic School Bus, and Space Cat. The book begins with an introductory history of juvenile science fiction since 1945, with chapters then devoted to particular topics. Some of these topics include the role of aliens and animals, attitudes toward humor, the absence and presence of science, and the characterization of women. A special feature is an appendix listing the various series. In addition, the volume provides extensive bibliographical information.

This book provides a wealth of fascinating information about many significant and lesser-known nineteenth-century Christian authors, mostly women, who were motivated to write material specifically for children's spiritual edification because of their personal faith. It explores three prevalent theological and controversial doctrines of the period, namely Soteriology, Biblical Authority and Eschatology, in relation to children's specifically engendered Christian literature. It traces the ecclesiastical networks and affiliations across the theological spectrum of Evangelical authors, publishers, theologians, clergy and scholars of the period. An unprecedented deluge of Evangelical literature was produced for millions of Sunday School children in the nineteenth century, resulting in one of its most prolific and profitable forms of publishing. It expanded into a vast industry whose magnitude, scope and scale is discussed throughout this book. Rather than dismissing Evangelical children's literature as simplistic, formulaic, moral didacticism, this book argues that, in attempting to convert the mass reading public, nineteenth-century authors and publishers developed a complex, highly competitive genre of children's literature to promote their particular theologies, faith and churchmanships, and to ultimately save the nation.

This book maps the development of the boy detective in British children's literature from the mid-nineteenth to the early-twentieth century. It explores how this liminal figure - a boy operating within a man's world - addresses adult anxieties about boyhood and the boy's transition to manhood. It investigates the literary, social and ideological significance of a vast array of popular detective narratives appearing in 'penny dreadfuls' and story papers which were aimed primarily at working-class boys. This study charts the relationship between developments in the representation of the fictional boy detective and changing expectations of and attitudes towards real-life British boys during a period where the boy's role in the future of the Empire was a key concern. It emphasises the value of the early fictional boy detective as an ideological tool to condition boy readers to fulfil adult desires and expectations of what boyhood and, in the future, proper manhood should entail. It will be of particular importance to scholars working in the fields of children's literature, crime fiction and popular culture.

Judy Blume is one of the most popular authors of children's and young adult fiction in American history. For over 30 years, her books and career have withstood the test of time and she continues to resonate with new generations of young readers. While she is arguably one of the most important authors of the twentieth century, she is also one of the most banned. What is perhaps the most surprising aspect of Blume's career is that despite today's proliferation of cable channels and easy Internet access, books of hers written decades ago about every day life events that all teenagers experience still manage to find themselves at the center of censorship debates. Rather than change her style, the efforts to censor her books turned Blume into an activist and champion for the First Amendment. Inside this biography Kathleen Tracy explores the life and career of Judy Blume, one of the most successful-and most controversial-authors of twentieth century.

In addition to tracing the events of BlooM's life, this engaging biography discusses historic and current censorship issues in classrooms and libraries across the country. Her association with the National Coalition Against Censorship, a group that Blume says changed her life, as did her friendship with the organization's longtime director, Leanne Katz, is examined in detail as well as how libraries, teachers, publishers and grass-roots activists have responded to the ever-growing attempts to censor children's reading material. In-depth chapters are supplemented with a bibliography of print and electronic sources that provide suggested readings for students and general readers alike. Also included is a timeline, photos, and an appendix of free speech resources.

This book describes the history and characteristics of ethnic and multicultural children's literature in the U.S., as well as related materials published elsewhere. It relates in great detail the people, businesses, organizations, and institutions that create, disseminate, promote, critique, and collect these materials. Author Donna Gilton gives a detailed history of U.S. multicultural and ethnic children's literature throughout several historic periods, relating these developments to general social and political U.S. history. Chapters illustrate characteristics of U.S. multicultural children's books, the major issues in the field, and multicultural initiatives and mainstream responses, while also providing outlines of research possibilities in the field and suggesting other groups of people who should be emphasized more in the future. In doing all this, Multicultural and Ethnic Children's Literature in the United States brings together valuable and scattered information for the busy and involved librarians, teachers, parents, publishers, distributors, and community leaders who wish to use and promote this material with children.

Rediscover the classics--and share them with readers! The Count of Monte Cristo is a rip-roaring adventure. Pride and Prejudice is an endearing romance. Howard Fast's April Morning is fascinating historical fiction and a moving war story. The list goes on. The trick is to find the right book for the reader. This guide can help. By identifying the genre characteristics of more than 400 classic fiction works, and organizing titles according to these features, this guide helps readers find the type of books they enjoy; and it helps you promote classics to teen (and adult!) readers. Grade 9 through adult. The primary purpose of this book is to provide a readers' advisory tool for those working with teens and preteens in public and school libraries. A secondary purpose is to help educators and librarians promote classic literature to readers of all ages. Teachers in particular will find it a useful complement to college bound and AP reading lists.

This book is based on the power of stories to support children in all areas of their lives. It examines the role narratives can play in encouraging growth in contexts and domains such as personal and family identity, creative movement, memory and self-concept, social relationships, or developing a sense of humor. Each chapter describes innovative and research-based applications of narratives such as movement stories, visual narratives to develop historical thinking, multimodal storytelling, bibliotherapy, mathematics stories, family stories, and social narratives. The chapters elaborate on the strength of narratives in supporting the whole child in diverse contexts from young children on the autism spectrum improving their social skills at school, to four- and five-year-olds developing historical thinking, to children who are refugees or asylum-seekers dealing with uncertainty and loss. Written by accomplished teachers, researchers, specialists, teaching artists and teacher educators from several countries and backgrounds, the book fills a gap in the literature on narratives. "...this work delves into the topic of narratives in young children's lives with a breadth of topics and depth of study not found elsewhere." "Collectively, the insights of the contributors build a convincing case for emphasizing story across the various disciplines and developmental domains of the early childhood years." "The writing style is scholarly, yet accessible. Authors used a wide array of visual material to make their points clearer and show the reader what meaningful uses of story "look like"." Mary Renck Jalongo, Journal and Book Series Editor Springer Indiana, PA, USA

What makes a winning children's book author? Look behind the scenes, and learn more about the 76 fascinating authors who have garnered the prestigious Newbery Medal since it was established in 1922. Engaging profiles of these outstanding writers are generously seasoned with quotes and anecdotes, providing you with unique insights into their personal and professional lives, along with new information on how and why these authors succeeded. The profiles are organized chronologically, beginning with the first award winner, Hendrik van Loon, and continuing through 2002, when Linda Sue Park made history by becoming the first Korean-American to win a Newbery Medal. Suggested resources for further study and a list of the author's published works for children accompany each biographical sketch. Also included are numerous black-and-white author photos and a brief history of the Newbery Medal. Grades 4-8.

The Shelf2Life Children's Literature and Fiction Collection is a charming set of pre-1923 nursery rhymes, fairy tales, classic novels and short stories for children and young adults. From a tardy white rabbit, spirited orphan and loyal watchdog to a dreamer named Dorothy, this collection presents an assortment of memorable characters whose stories light up the pages. The young and young at heart will delight in magical tales of fairies and angels and be captivated by explorations of mysterious islands. The Shelf2Life Children's Literature and Fiction Collection allows you to open a door into a world of fantasy and make-believe where imaginations can run wild.

If there is one trend in children's and YA literature that seems to be enjoying a steady rise in popularity, it is the expansion of the YA dystopian genre. While the genre has been lauded for its potential to expand horizons, promote critical thinking, and foster social awareness and activism, it has also come under scrutiny for its promotion of specific ideologies and its often sensationalist approach to real-world problems. In an examination of six YA dystopian texts spanning more than twenty years of development of the genre, this book explores the way in which posthumanist ideologies in particular are deployed or resisted in these texts as a means of making sense of the specific challenges which young people confront in the twenty-first century.

This book explores the narratives of girlhood in contemporary YA vampire fiction, bringing into the spotlight the genre's radical, ambivalent, and contradictory visions of young femininity. Agnieszka Stasiewicz-Bienkowska considers less-explored popular vampire series for girls, particularly those by P.C. and Kristin Cast and Richelle Mead, tracing the ways in which they engage in larger cultural conversations on girlhood in the Western world. Mapping the interactions between girl and vampire corporealities, delving into the unconventional tales of vampire romance and girl sexual expressions, examining the narratives of women and violence, and venturing into the uncanny vampire classroom to unmask its critique of present-day schooling, the volume offers a new perspective on the vampire genre and an engaging insight into the complexities of growing up a girl.

This book explores how alarmist social discourses about 'cruel' young people fail to recognize the complexity of cruelty and the role it plays in child agency. Examining representations of cruel young people in popular texts and popular culture, the collected essays demonstrate how gender, race, and class influence who gets labeled 'cruel' and which actions are viewed as negative, aggressive, and disruptive. It shows how representations of cruel young people negotiate the violence that shadows polite society, and how narratives of cruelty and aggression are used to affirm, or to deny, young people's agency.

Alice in Wonderland' is a book loved worldwide by people of all ages. But 'Under His Hat' reveals other intriguing stories of Alice, who was known in real life as Alice Liddell, the daughter of Henry George Liddell, Dean of Christ Church College Oxford. Born into the privilege and wealth of English nobility, her real-life hatter was Coffee Johnny, an orphan. Introduced when Alice was very young during a family holiday to Ravensworth Castle, their affinity for each other lasted their lifetimes and he became her confidant and close friend. Their fascinating stories unfold in Tyneside, Windsor and Oxford in England at the start of the Industrial Revolution. The two become instrumental in inspiring Lewis Carroll to write his masterpieces. It is only much later learnt by the pair that Johnny was actually the illegitimate son of Dean Liddell, and so Alice's half brother.

Writing Youth: Young Adult Fiction as Literacy Sponsorship shows how many young adult novels model for young people ways to manage the various media tools that surround them. Jonathan Alexander examines not only young adult texts and their media ecologies but also young people's multiliterate media making in response to their favorite texts and stories. As such, this book will be of interest to anyone concerned about young people's literacies and the relationship between literacy development and the culture industries.

Dark novels, shows, and films targeted toward children and young adults are proliferating wildly. It is even more crucial now to understand the methods by which such texts have traditionally operated and how those methods have been challenged, abandoned, and appropriated. Reading in the Dark fills a gap in criticism devoted to children's popular culture by concentrating on horror, an often-neglected genre. These scholars explore the intersection between horror, popular culture, and children's cultural productions, including picture books, fairy tales, young adult literature, television, and monster movies. Reading in the Dark looks at horror texts for children with deserved respect, weighing the multitude of benefits they can provide for young readers and viewers. Refusing to write off the horror genre as campy, trite, or deforming, these essays instead recognize many of the texts and films categorized as ""scary"" as among those most widely consumed by children and young adults. In addition, scholars consider how adult horror has been domesticated by children's literature and culture, with authors and screenwriters turning that which was once horrifying into safe, funny, and delightful books and films. Scholars likewise examine the impetus behind such re-envisioning of the adult horror novel or film as something appropriate for the young. The collection investigates both the constructive and the troublesome aspects of scary books, movies, and television shows targeted toward children and young adults. It considers the complex mechanisms by which these texts communicate overt messages and hidden agendas, and it treats as well the readers' experiences of such mechanisms.

While much critical attention has been given to adult literature, African literature for children and young adults remains a neglected area. As the United States becomes an increasingly pluralistic society, it becomes all the more important for children and young adults to be exposed to books set in Africa. This bibliography includes entries for nearly 700 books written in English by both African and Western authors and published between 1873 and 1994. An additional 120 books are either discussed or mentioned in the annotations.

The entries are organized in six chapters. The first chapter includes general works, while the others are devoted to particular geographic regions. Within each chapter, entries are further grouped according to genres, such as traditional literature, biography, poetry, drama, fiction, autobiography, and informational books. Entries are then listed alphabetically. Each entry includes an annotation that provides a plot/content summary, thematic analysis, literary evaluation, and sensitivity to multicultural and international issues; an indication of the recommended grade level for the book is included. The books are carefully selected to give fair representation to the various regions and countries of Africa, literary genres, prominent authors and books, and literary phases; the author has tried to include all available books published in the 1980s and 1990s. The introductory essay provides an in-depth analysis of the social, political, cultural, and literary contexts of the three phases of African children's literature: colonial, postcolonial Western, and postcolonial African. This bibliography is intended for scholars, teachers, librarians, parents, students, and general readers.

Focusing on the mythological narratives that influence Irish children's literature, this book examines the connections between landscape, time and identity, positing that myth and the language of myth offer authors and readers the opportunity to engage with Ireland's culture and heritage. It explores the recurring patterns of Irish mythological narratives that influence literature produced for children in Ireland between the nineteenth and the twenty-first centuries. A selection of children's books published between 1892, when there was an escalation of the cultural pursuit of Irish independence and 2016, which marked the centenary of the Easter 1916 rebellion against English rule, are discussed with the aim of demonstrating the development of a pattern of retrieving, re-telling, remembering and re-imagining myths in Irish children's literature. In doing so, it examines the reciprocity that exists between imagination, memory, and childhood experiences in this body of work.

Picture books for young adults can provide a unique introduction to curriculum-related topics that will capture student interest. This annotated bibliography of over 600 picture books for students in grades 8 through 12, is organized by content area and will enable teachers and library media specialists to select appropriate books for use with students. Picture books provide an extraordinary opportunity to combine illustration and thoroughly researched text to introduce topics in the arts, health, literature, mathematics, science, and social science content areas. They can be used together with companion titles or as springboards to stimulate student interest. No longer just for children, picture books have matured in the last decade to become a format for all ages. The recommended fiction and nonfiction titles in this resource have been carefully selected as appropriate for older readers because of their sophisticated content. Almost all have been published in the late 1980s through 1996. For ease of use by the teacher or young adult librarian, the bibliography is arranged into six content areas: the arts, health, literature and language, mathematics, science and nature, and social studies and history. Within each content area entries are organized alphabetically by author. Each annotation includes the book's content, subject breakdown, artistic style and medium, suggested companion titles, and ideas for use in the classroom. Annotations are numbered for ease of use and indexed by subject, author, and illustrator. Appendixes include a glossary of terms used to describe picture books, a checklist to guide teachers and students when using picture books, and a list of professional sourcesthat will assist teachers in exploring the picture book format. This easy-to-use guide is an indispensable resource for teachers and librarians seeking to motivate students and stimulate their interest.

In this collection of essays, authorities on a wide range of topics related to science fiction discuss themes and particular works of special interest to young readers. The chapters cover the founding works of science fiction for young readers, specific authors and their works, and science fiction as a vehicle for exploring philosophical, religious, and social ideas. Essays discuss the literary and thematic elements of science fiction and shed light on the evolution of science fiction as a genre for young readers. The volume begins with a section of essays on the origins of science fiction as a genre for young readers. In this section are chapters on such topics as Victor Appleton's "Tom Swift" series, the contributions of Madeleine L'Engle, the impact and influence of Isaac Asimov, and the significance of Robert A. Heinlein. The second section contains chapters on particular themes, authors, and literary works. By approaching works and authors through particular themes, the chapters in this section offer a comprehensive view of the achievements of individual writers and demonstrate how certain themes bind together a particular author's works. The third section, on science fiction as a vehicle for ideas, steps away from the literary and stylistic devices of science fiction and looks beyond the genre to the larger ideas that science fiction conveys.