In her very influential book, "The Point of Words" (1988), Ellen Winner presents strong evidence that children younger than six can understand and use metaphors, but not irony. Winner, however, fails to consider "philosophical story irony" in her research. This sort of irony is a little like dramatic irony. We have a case of such irony whenever…

This article describes a qualitative research study that explored how a middle school case-study class read and responded to "culturally conscious" African American children's books (Sims, 1982, p. 49). First, I relied on literary analyses conducted mainly by Sims (1982) and Harris (1995) to identify African American textual features contained in…

This manual focuses on literary analysis and is intended for use by teachers using the Project Success Enrichment (PSE) program to teach language arts to gifted and typical elementary school students. The literary analysis unit provides teachers with lessons keyed to a number of the Newbery Award winners from 1934-1995, along with a literary…

The product of a two-day symposium on children and children's books, this booklet features remarks of Elaine Moss, British author and critic, and Barbara Rollock, coordinator for children's services at the New York Public Library. Moss's speech discusses meeting children's need for books offering depth and involvement, while Rollock's talk…

The articles in this journal discuss several themes and issues that arise in the teaching of adolescent and children's literature. Topics concerned with the adolescent include a discussion of same-sex relationships in the contemporary novel and the parent image as presented in current literature. In children's literature, books about handicapped…

Eighteen papers on recent scholarship and its implications for school programs treat American ideas, novels, short stories, poetry, Emerson and Thoreau, Hawthorne and Melville, Whitman and Dickinson, Twain and Henry James, and Faulkner and Hemingway. Authors are Edwin H. Cady, Edward J. Gordon, William Peden, Paul H. Krueger, Bernard Duffey, John…

Articles concerning the teaching of literature to children are presented. "Providing Balanced Contacts with Literature for Children" covers the potential of literature in the curriculum. In "The Classics in Children's Literature," a classic is defined as a book or story or poem that usually has long outlived its author. "Fostering Lifetime Reading…

Examines three fantasy classics written at the time of the Industrial Revolution to illustrate the effects of drastic social change on fantasy writing; suggests the possible impact of these fantasies on their readers. (GT)

Argues that many new books for schools are simply more colorful versions of earlier texts which inculcate racist and imperialist ideas in children. (Editor)

Reviews several books that seek to explain what some of the structures of meaning are that stories present to readers and feed into their memories. (HOD)

Teachers who are studying children's literature should read a proportion of adult literature, should attempt to write their own works for children, should work in environments exactly like those children need if they are to become readers, and should learn about the act of reading in conjunction with their study of children's literature. (GT)

Describes Internet reference resources in language and literature. Includes general literature sites; language dictionaries; language resources; electronic text collections; author information and criticism; poetry; folklore and mythology; and children's literature. (AEF)

Wrestles with the questions of how teachers might understand and respond to the risk of exposing children to graphic historical narratives. Focuses on picture books and novels intended to help children remember, understand, and confront the implications of the Nazi genocide of European Jewry and the use of nuclear weapons on the people of…

Considers how mother-daughter relationships and gender role socialization are portrayed in two novels, "Caddie Woodlawn" by Carol Ryrie Brink and "Jacob Have I Loved" by Katherine Paterson. Shows how both novels reveal deeply embedded assumptions about gender roles and relationships. (HB)

Used content analysis to examine the depiction of poverty in 18 books for young children. Book content was coded using nine categories (occupation, income, employment, unemployment, race, ethnicity, geographic locale, education, and family structure). Found that all nine categories appeared in the books and that although some findings diverged…