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Within the Euro-American literary tradition, Gothic stories of
childhood and adolescence have often served as a tool for cultural
propaganda, advancing colonialist, white supremacist and
patriarchal ideologies. This book turns our attention to modern and
contemporary Gothic texts by hemispheric American writers who have
refigured uncanny youth in ways that invert these cultural scripts.
In the hands of authors ranging from Octavio Paz and Maryse Conde
to N. Scott Momaday and Carmen Maria Machado, Gothic conventions
become a means of critiquing pathological structures of power in
the space of the Americas. As fictional children and adolescents
confront persisting colonial and neo-imperialist architectures,
grapple with the everyday ramifications of white supremacist
thinking, navigate rigged systems of socioeconomic power, and
attempt to frustrate patterns of gendered, anti-queer violence, the
uncanny and the nightmarish in their lives force readers to reckon
affectively as well as intellectually with these intersecting forms
of injustice.
Outside the world of children's literature studies, children's
books by authors of well-known texts "for adults" are often
forgotten or marginalized. Although many adults today read
contemporary children's and young adult fiction for pleasure,
others continue to see such texts as unsuitable for older
audiences, and they are unlikely to cross-read children's books
that were themselves cross-written by authors like Chinua Achebe,
Anita Desai, Joy Harjo, or Amy Tan. Meanwhile, these literary
voices have produced politically vital works of children's
literature whose complex themes persist across boundaries of
expected audience. These works form part of a larger body of
activist writing "for children" that has long challenged
preconceived notions about the seriousness of such books and ideas
about who, in fact, should read them. They Also Write for Kids:
Cross-Writing, Activism, and Children's Literature seeks to draw
these cross-writing projects together and bring them to the
attention of readers. In doing so, this book invites readers to
place children's literature in conversation with works more
typically understood as being for adult audiences, read multiethnic
US literature alongside texts by global writers, consider
children's poetry and nonfiction as well as fiction, and read
diachronically as well as cross-culturally. These ways of reading
offer points of entry into a world of books that refuse to exclude
young audiences in scrutinizing topics that range from US settler
colonialism and linguistic prejudice to intersectional forms of
gender inequality. The authors included here also employ an
intricate array of writing strategies that challenge lingering
stereotypes of children's literature as artistically as well as
intellectually simplistic. They subversively repurpose tropes and
conventions from canonical children's books; embrace an
epistemology of children's literature that emphasizes ambiguity and
complexity; invite readers to participate in redefining concepts
such as "civilization" and cultural belonging; engage in intricate
acts of cross-cultural representation; and re-envision their own
earlier works in new forms tailored explicitly to younger
audiences. Too often disregarded by skeptical adults, these texts
offer rich rewards to readers of all ages, and here they are
brought to the fore.
Outside the world of children's literature studies, children's
books by authors of well-known texts "for adults" are often
forgotten or marginalized. Although many adults today read
contemporary children's and young adult fiction for pleasure,
others continue to see such texts as unsuitable for older
audiences, and they are unlikely to cross-read children's books
that were themselves cross-written by authors like Chinua Achebe,
Anita Desai, Joy Harjo, or Amy Tan. Meanwhile, these literary
voices have produced politically vital works of children's
literature whose complex themes persist across boundaries of
expected audience. These works form part of a larger body of
activist writing "for children" that has long challenged
preconceived notions about the seriousness of such books and ideas
about who, in fact, should read them. They Also Write for Kids:
Cross-Writing, Activism, and Children's Literature seeks to draw
these cross-writing projects together and bring them to the
attention of readers. In doing so, this book invites readers to
place children's literature in conversation with works more
typically understood as being for adult audiences, read multiethnic
US literature alongside texts by global writers, consider
children's poetry and nonfiction as well as fiction, and read
diachronically as well as cross-culturally. These ways of reading
offer points of entry into a world of books that refuse to exclude
young audiences in scrutinizing topics that range from US settler
colonialism and linguistic prejudice to intersectional forms of
gender inequality. The authors included here also employ an
intricate array of writing strategies that challenge lingering
stereotypes of children's literature as artistically as well as
intellectually simplistic. They subversively repurpose tropes and
conventions from canonical children's books; embrace an
epistemology of children's literature that emphasizes ambiguity and
complexity; invite readers to participate in redefining concepts
such as "civilization" and cultural belonging; engage in intricate
acts of cross-cultural representation; and re-envision their own
earlier works in new forms tailored explicitly to younger
audiences. Too often disregarded by skeptical adults, these texts
offer rich rewards to readers of all ages, and here they are
brought to the fore.
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