The Oxford Handbook of Children's Literature is at once a literary history, an introduction to various theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches, a review of genres, and a selection of original and interdisciplinary essays on canonical and popular works for children in the Anglo-American tradition. It is geared toward graduate students, advanced undergraduates, and scholars new to the study of children's literature, as well as teachers and anyone wishing to keep up with new research and innovative approaches to children's literature. Twenty-six essays by top scholars from varied disciplines address theoretical, historical, sociological, and critical issues through analyses of classic novels such as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Anne of Green Gables, The Swiss Family Robinson, Tom Sawyer, Kidnapped, and Five Little Peppers and How They Grew; early educational and religious works such as The New England Primer and Froggy's Little Brother; picture books, comics and graphic novels such as Millions of Cats, Where the Wild Things Are, the Peanuts series and American Born Chinese; early readers such as The Cat in the Hat and the Frog and Toad books; newer children's classics including Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret, Jade, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, The Circuit, the Harry Potter series and His Dark Materials trilogy; works of poetry such as The Bat Poety and The Dreamkeeper; a play, Peter Pan; and media classics such as Free to Be You and Me and Dumbo. An editors' introduction surveys key trends in criticism, the field's history, and foundational scholarship.

"The authors embrace the constructivist paradigm as a natural teaching and learning response to the specific needs of ELLs. A unique and remarkable contribution to the theoretical and research-based literature." -Karen C. Evans, Principal David Walker Elementary School, Evanston, IL "Reyes and Vallone invite readers on an exciting journey inside classrooms where knowledgeable, caring, advocacy-oriented teachers effectively engage English Language Learners through culturally and linguistically responsive pedagogy." -Carlos J. Ovando, Professor Arizona State University Combine constructivist methods and culturally responsive instruction to improve educational equity. As the population of English Language Learners (ELLs) grows, educators need new strategies to effectively promote second language acquisition and literacy development in all content areas. By linking constructivist pedagogies to ELL instruction, Constructivist Strategies for Teaching English Language Learners provides a culturally responsive approach that builds on students' experiences and strengths. Sharon Adelman Reyes and Trina Lynn Vallone supply in-depth classroom examples and grade-level connections to help readers apply constructivist methods in teaching ELLs. Designed for inclusive classrooms with diverse student backgrounds and abilities, this hands-on guide examines: Perspectives on second language acquisition and learning Program models for ELLs Instructional practices informed by critical pedagogy Examples of constructivist classroom programs Mainstream and bilingual teachers, ESL specialists, principals, and teacher leaders will find the conceptual foundation and practical methods needed to promote academic success for ELLs.

The Oxford Handbook of Children's Literature is at once a literary history, an introduction to various theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches, a review of genres, and a selection of original and interdisciplinary essays on canonical and popular works for children in the Anglo-American tradition. It is geared toward graduate students, advanced undergraduates, and scholars new to the study of children's literature, as well as teachers and anyone wishing to keep up with new research and innovative approaches to children's literature. Twenty-six essays by top scholars from varied disciplines address theoretical, historical, sociological, and critical issues through analyses of classic novels such as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Anne of Green Gables, The Swiss Family Robinson, Tom Sawyer, Kidnapped, and Five Little Peppers and How They Grew; early educational and religious works such as The New England Primer and Froggy's Little Brother; picture books, comics and graphic novels such as Millions of Cats, Where the Wild Things Are, the Peanuts series and American Born Chinese; early readers such as The Cat in the Hat and the Frog and Toad books; newer children's classics including Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret, Jade, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, The Circuit, the Harry Potter series and His Dark Materials trilogy; works of poetry such as The Bat Poety and The Dreamkeeper; a play, Peter Pan; and media classics such as Free to Be You and Me and Dumbo. An editors' introduction surveys key trends in criticism, the field's history, and foundational scholarship.

The eleven contributors to "The Girl's Own" explore British and American Victorian representations of the adolescent girl by drawing on such contemporary sources as conduct books, housekeeping manuals, periodicals, biographies, photographs, paintings, and educational treatises. The institutions, practices, and literatures discussed reveal the ways in which the Girl expressed her independence, as well as the ways in which she was presented and controlled. As the contributors note, nineteenth-century visions of girlhood were extremely ambiguous. The adolescent girl was a fascinating and troubling figure to Victorian commentators, especially in debates surrounding female sexuality and behavior.
"The Girl's Own" combines literary and cultural history in its discussion of both British and American texts and practices. Among the topics addressed are the nineteenth-century attempt to link morality and diet; the making of heroines in biographies for girls; Lewis Carroll's and John Millais's iconographies of girlhood in, respectively, their photographs and paintings; genre fiction for and by girls; and the effort to reincorporate teenage unwed mothers into the domestic life of Victorian America.

The infant princess Victoria, just eight months old, moved significantly closer to the throne of England upon the unexpected death of her father, Edward, duke of Kent, in 1820. The task of raising a potential female monarch assumed critical importance for the English nation, yet Victoria's girlhood and adolescence have received scant attention from historians, cultural critics, and even her biographers. In this highly engaging and enlightening book, Lynne Vallone reveals a new Victoria - a lively and passionate girl very different from the iconic dour widow of the queen's later life. Based on the most thorough exploration of the young Victoria's own letters, stories, drawings, educational materials, and journals - documents that have been underappreciated until now - the book illuminates the princess's childhood from her earliest years to her accession to the throne at the age of eighteen in 1837. Vallone presents a fresh assessment of 'the rose of England' within the culture of girlhood and domestic life in the 1820s and 1830s.The author also explores the complex and often conflicting contexts of the period, including Georgian children's literature, conventional childrearing practices, domestic and familial intrigues, and the frequently turbulent political climate. Part biography, part historical and cultural study, this richly illustrated volume uncovers in fascinating detail the childhood that Victoria actually lived. Lynne Vallone is associate professor of English at Texas A & M University. She is the author of 'Disciplines of Virtue: Girl's Culture in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries', published by Yale University Press.

A groundbreaking work that explores human size as a distinctive cultural marker in Western thought Author, scholar, and editor Lynne Vallone has an international reputation in the field of child studies. In this analytical tour-de-force, she explores bodily size difference-particularly unusual bodies, big and small-as an overlooked yet crucial marker that informs human identity and culture. Exploring miniaturism, giganticism, obesity, and the lived experiences of actual big and small people, Vallone boldly addresses the uncomfortable implications of using physical measures to judge normalcy, goodness, gender identity, and beauty. This wide-ranging work surveys the lives and contexts of both real and imagined persons with extraordinary bodies from the seventeenth century to the present day through close examinations of art, literature, folklore, and cultural practices, as well as scientific and pseudo-scientific discourses. Generously illustrated and written in a lively and accessible style, Vallone's provocative study encourages readers to look with care at extraordinary bodies and the cultures that created, depicted, loved, and dominated them.

"The authors embrace the constructivist paradigm as a natural teaching and learning response to the specific needs of ELLs. A unique and remarkable contribution to the theoretical and research-based literature." -Karen C. Evans, Principal David Walker Elementary School, Evanston, IL "Reyes and Vallone invite readers on an exciting journey inside classrooms where knowledgeable, caring, advocacy-oriented teachers effectively engage English Language Learners through culturally and linguistically responsive pedagogy." -Carlos J. Ovando, Professor Arizona State University Combine constructivist methods and culturally responsive instruction to improve educational equity. As the population of English Language Learners (ELLs) grows, educators need new strategies to effectively promote second language acquisition and literacy development in all content areas. By linking constructivist pedagogies to ELL instruction, Constructivist Strategies for Teaching English Language Learners provides a culturally responsive approach that builds on students' experiences and strengths. Sharon Adelman Reyes and Trina Lynn Vallone supply in-depth classroom examples and grade-level connections to help readers apply constructivist methods in teaching ELLs. Designed for inclusive classrooms with diverse student backgrounds and abilities, this hands-on guide examines: Perspectives on second language acquisition and learning Program models for ELLs Instructional practices informed by critical pedagogy Examples of constructivist classroom programs Mainstream and bilingual teachers, ESL specialists, principals, and teacher leaders will find the conceptual foundation and practical methods needed to promote academic success for ELLs.

This collection breaks new ground in the area of gender studies both because it creates a name for gender fantasy--virtual gender--that introduces a new understanding of the concept, and in expanding the idea of virtuality to include people and events in history. The essays in "Virtual Gender" help identify and name the persistent cultural desire for an imaginative space in which to "put on" alternative gender identities, while examining as well the equally persistent and consequent critique of that desire.
The sweep of the volume's coverage is impressive, ranging across historical periods and academic disciplines, as contributors consider the place of the body in gender fantasy and the consequences of gender fantasy for real people and real bodies. The essays investigate figures and topics including Amelia Earhart, soap-opera chat groups, Elizabeth I, mesmerism, lesbianism in the early modern period, cybergames, women in the federalist period, the transgendered body, and performance art. Also examined are the status of embodiment, the origins of gender, gender politics, the pains of subjectivity, the uses of utopian fantasy, technological advances and information technology, the experience of gendered communities, and the role of gender in global politics.
Contributors include Harriette Andreadis, Seyla Benhabib, Charlotte Canning, Bernice Hausman, Janel Mueller, Mary Ann O'Farrell, Kay Schaffer, Sidonie Smith, Carroll Smith-Rosenberg, Helen F. Thompson, Lynne Vallone, and Robyn Warhol. The book will appeal to an interdisciplinary audience of scholars, critics, and students with interests in gender, identity, and cyberculture.
Mary Ann O'Farrell is Associate Professor of English, Texas A & M University. Lynne Vallone is Associate Professor of English, Texas A & M University.