This essay explores what it might mean to read children's literature in elementary school classrooms through a queer lens. The authors argue that because queer theory has a history as a literary theory that destabilizes normative associations among gender, sexuality, bodies, and desire, it provides a set of analytical tools classroom communities…

This article explores the relevance of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" to environmental education and contemporary concerns about social and environmental injustices. It presents an account of the relationship between Tolkien's environmental biography and those aspects of the story that highlight the connection between his personal…

American publishers have published numerous children's books about Barack Obama over the past several years; most take the form of informational biographies. This article reports on a research project aimed at how these books incorporate sociohistorical narratives, particularly those related to the civil rights movement. Though the features of the…

This study focuses on ways that sixth graders reacted to the question of book awards and awards in general, positioning themselves as reflective inquirers as they engaged in the regular sixth-grade beginning-of-the-year curriculum--reading books that have been nominated for the state book award. The authors focus on four dispositions of critical…

A discussion of the value of literary criticism of children's books. (RM)

A critical analysis of Britain's 1967 Carnegie Medal winner. (RM)

This volume applies critical literary standards to the field of children's literature in a long-range effort to improve its quality and teaching. Contributors and editors represent international scholarship in all of the humanities, as well as in the specific area of children's literature. Articles span topics from European children's literature…

This paper seeks to explore issues of immigration and Otherness through a study of the first of Michael Bond's Paddington books. I will argue that this book and those which follow in the series, intended for a readership of young children, deal with the issue of immigration at a more subtle level than more recent books which are largely aimed at…

Discusses the current state of criticism of children's literature and calls for its improvement. (FL)

The problem was to apply selected Burkean concepts, limited to poetics or form, to randomly chosen Newbery medal novels to ascertain if the novels were properly constructed, representative of ultimate order. The novels were placed in five groups to represent the emphasis of the dramatic idea: history, fantasy, animals, other lands and cultures,…

Discusses the elements that make some children's fiction memorable. (TO)

The successes and failures of the realistic mode when utilized by writers for children. (RM)