Utopian and Dystopian Writing for Children and Young Adults

by Hintz,Carrie; Hintz,Carrie

• ISBN13: 9780415940177
• ISBN10: 0415940176
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-12-20
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This volume examines a variety of utopian writing for children from the 18th century to the present day, defining and exploring this new genre in the field of children's literature. The original essays discuss thematic conventions and present detailed case studies of individual works. All address the pedagogical implications of work that challenges children to grapple with questions of perfect or wildly imperfect social organizations and their own autonomy. The book includes interviews with creative writers and the first bibliography of utopian fiction for children.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
Foreword	ix
Jack Zipes
Introduction	1	(22)
Carrie Hintz
Elaine Ostry
I. PLANES, TRAINS, AND AUTOMOBILES: UTOPIA IN TRANSIT
Getting to Utopia: Railways and Heterotopia in Children's Literature	23	(15)
Alice Jenkins
American Boys' Series Books and the Utopia of the Air	38	(14)
Fred Erisman
Travels through Dystopia: H. G. Wells and The Island of Dr. Moreau	52	(5)
Alberto Manguel
II. COMMUNITY AND SOCIALISM
Sarah Fielding's Childhood Utopia	57	(15)
Sara Gadeken
Tinklers and Time Machines: Time Travel in the Social Fantasy of E. Nesbit and H. G. Wells	72	(17)
Cathrine Frank
The Writing on the Wall of Redwall	89	(18)
Holly V. Blackford
`Joy but Not Peace': Zilpha Keatley Snyder's Green-sky Trilogy	107	(11)
Carrie Hintz
Terrible Lizard Dream Kingdom	118	(5)
James Gurney
Bridge to Utopia	123	(4)
Katherine Paterson
III. CHILD POWER
Suffering in Utopia: Testing the Limits in Young Adult Novels	127	(12)
Rebecca Carol Noel Totaro
Educating Desire: Magic, Power, and Control in Tanith Lee's Unicorn Trilogy	139	(17)
Maureen F. Moran
The Struggle between Utopia and Dystopia in Writing for Children and Young Adults	156	(7)
Monica Hughes
IV. FROM THE WRECKAGE: POST-WORLD WAR II DYSTOPIAS AND UTOPIAS
Presenting the Case for Social Change: The Creative Dilemma of Dystopian Writing for Children	163	(16)
Kay Sambell
The Quest for the Perfect Planet: The British Secondary World as Utopia and Dystopia, 1945--1999	179	(17)
Karen Sands-O'Connor
Interview with Lois Lowry, author of The Giver	196	(4)
Carrie Hintz
Elaine Ostry
Annotated Bibliography of Utopian and Dystopian Writing for Children and Young Adults	200	(32)
Carrie Hintz
Elaine Ostry
Kay Sambell
Rebecca Carol Noel Totaro
Afterword	232	(3)
Lyman Tower Sargent
Contributors	235	(4)
Author Index	239	(2)
Subject and Title Index	241