The article deals with the analysis of literary narrative where a possible unreal fictional world and a possible real fictional world usually coexist. When the norms of life plausibility are consciously violated, the real and the unreal possible worlds are emphatically opposed. Hence, their certain aspects are depicted in a fantastically…

Notes that many reports on children's books employ the word "imaginative" or "imagination," but few relate it to fantasy, suggesting that it was not the genre that determined this label, but rather the talent, insight, and craft with which the author shaped the material. (HOD)

Offers a stimulating discussion of fancy and reality in "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." (HOD)

Written to encourage imaginative approaches to teaching writing, this paper contains ideas for developing writing skills by encouraging creative writing, formal analysis, and criticism despite the traditional lack of literary analysis in the creative writing classroom. In addition to including teaching techniques for practicing literary skills…

A distinguished writer looks again at a favorite childhood hero--Robin Hood, a work written by Henry Gilbert. (HOD)

Examines the structural patterns of literature suggested by Steven Spielberg's film, "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial," and how these patterns are reflected in children's stories. (HOD)

Discusses how the imagination not only helps one to create fantasy worlds, but makes one's self what he or she is. (HOD)

This exploration of the two leading varieties of nonsense literature defines strict nonsense as that in which the laws of nature are suspended and replaced by new laws which the author decrees, and loose nonsense as usually comic writing about a singular unlikely event. Examples of these two types of verse in children's literature are cited. (22…

This paper develops a relationship between the dynamics of sexual-fantasy response and the dynamics of literary response that could be exploited by encouraging students to learn by inventing, to fantasize, and to suspend their disbelief when reading all kinds of literature. Just as sexual fantasy focuses attention on the pleasures of sexual…

Science fiction and fantasy play an important role in shaping the future while stimulating readers' imaginations. They expand our consciousness and provide living images of the world of creation, not as it is or was, but as it has the potential of becoming. Any literature, art form, or medium of expression which is capable of affecting the…

Reexamines Maurice Sendak's first children's book, published in 1956. Finds it to be filled with the characters, themes, and psychological concerns that were to become hallmarks of the writer-artist's mature works. (NKA)

This paper examines the fantasy literature that is currently available to young readers. Twenty-two children's books are listed and discussed under the following topics: good storytelling and lively imagination, recurring themes, satires and word play, original fairytales, and works that reflect the divided self, the occult, and parapsychology. It…

This collection of 12 critical essays--written for teachers, librarians, students, and parents--comments on the style, characterization, sense of wonder, and sense of reality in children's books. Specific subjects covered are (1) the fantasy worlds of Andersen, Beatrix Potter, Walter de la Mare, C. S. Lewis, Lewis Carroll, and J. R. R. Tolkien;…

Successful fantasies may either force us to look freshly at everyday things or expand our capacity to believe.

Designed to give children a sense of the cultural heritage that fairy tales represent, this instructional unit was originally developed to motivate eighth-grade low-level readers and was later adapted for English as a second language classes and for a variety of elementary and secondary school learning levels. Objectives of the unit are to help…