Children's Literature: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends

by Montgomery, Heather; Watson, Nicola J.

• ISBN13: 9780230227149
• ISBN10: 0230227147
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-09-15
• Publisher: Red Globe Pr

Summary

Children's Literature: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trendsprovides students with high quality critical material on a selection of important classic and contemporary children's books. From Louisa May Alcott'sLittle Womento J. K. Rowling'sHarry Potter and the Philosopher's Stoneto Melvin Burgess'sJunk, each has been selected because they still find a favoured place on the bookshelves of today's children and because they are widely studied on university courses. These case studies explore children's literature across a variety of genres and ages, bringing together lively and accessible scholarly essays by leading scholars, some reprinted and others newly commissioned. The collection is supported by detailed introductory material, suggestions for further reading and a colour plate section reproducing covers and illustrations.

Author Biography

NICOLA J. WATSON is Senior Lecturer in English Literature at The Open University. Her research over the last fifteen years has focussed upon the reception, adaptation, transformation, and consumption of historical and literary narratives. Her publications include Revolution and the Form of the British Novel, 1790-1825, England's Elizabeth: An Afterlife in Fame and Fantasy (with Michael Dobson) and The Literary Tourist. 
  
HEATHER MONTGOMERY is Senior Lecturer in Childhood Studies at The Open University. Her research interests are in the anthropology of childhood, children's rights and gender and sexuality. She is the author of Modern Babylon: Prostituting Children in Thailand and An Introduction to Childhood: Anthropological Perspectives on Children's Lives.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	p. ix
List of Plates	p. x
Acknowledgements	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
Classic Texts	p. 11
Louisa May Alcott, Little Women(1868-9)	p. 13
Introduction	p. 13
Little Women: Alcott's Civil War	p. 18
'Wake up and be a man': Little Women, Laurie, and the Ethic of Submission	p. 31
Louisa May Alcott and the Rise of Gender-Specific Series Books	p. 39
Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island (1881-2; 1883)	p. 49
Introduction	p. 49
My First Book: 'Treasure Island'	p. 53
Slaves to Adventure: The Pure Story of Treasure Island	p. 60
Treasure Island and the Romance of the British Civil Service	p. 69
Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902)	p. 81
Introduction	p. 81
Peter Rabbit: Potter's Story	p. 87
Aesop in the Shadows	p. 96
Perspective and Point of View in The Tale of Peter Rabbit	p. 100
Two Classic Poetry Collections: Robert Louis Stevenson, A Child's Garden of Verses (1885) and A.A. Milne, When We Were Very Young (1924)	p. 114
Introduction	p. 114
The Contexts of A Child's Garden of Verses	p. 119
A.A. Milne: When We Were Very Young	p. 132
J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan (1904)	p. 141
Introduction	p. 141
Peter Pan and the Spectacle of the Child	p. 145
A Hundred Years of Peter Pan	p. 153
Peter Pan and the Pantomime Tradition	p. 164
Arthur Ransome, Swallows and Amazons (1930)	p. 173
Introduction	p. 173
The Lake District Novels	p. 178
Arthur Ransome and Problems of Literary Assessment	p. 188
Peter Pan, Wild Cat Island, and the Lure of the Real	p. 193
Philippa Pearce, Tom's Midnight Garden (1958)	p. 203
Introduction	p. 203
Loneliness, Dreaming, and Discovery: Tom's Midnight Garden	p. 207
Midnight Gardens, Magic Wells	p. 216
Tom's Midnight Garden	p. 221
Mildred Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (1976)	p. 227
Introduction	p. 227
A Search for Law and Justice in a Racist Society	p. 231
Child Agency in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry	p. 237
The Role of Education in Mildred D. Taylor's Roll of Thunder	p. 247
Philip Pullman, Northern Lights (1995)	p. 254
Introduction	p. 254
Dust as Metaphor in Philip Pullman	p. 258
Obedience, Disobedience, and Storytelling in C.S. Lewis and Philip Pullman	p. 266
Intertextuality	p. 276
J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997)	p. 286
Introduction	p. 286
The Phenomenon of Harry Potter, or Why All the Talk?	p. 289
The Unthinkingness of Harry Potter	p. 297
Harry Potter and the Reinvention of the Past	p. 303
Contemporary Trends	p. 311
Fiction for Adolescents: Melvin Burgess, Junk (1996)	p. 313
Introduction	p. 313
Sympathy for the Devil	p. 315
'And it's so real': Versions of Reality in Melvin Burgess's Junk	p. 320
Radical Agendas: Beverley Naidoo, The Other Side of Truth (2000)	p. 330
Introduction	p. 330
A Writer's Journey: Retracing The Other Side of Truth	p. 332
What is The Other Side of Truth?	p. 342
Past Worlds: Jamila Gavin, Coram Boy (2000)	p. 352
Introduction	p. 352
New Historical Fiction for Children	p. 354
Coram Boy as History	p. 363
Future Worlds: Philip Reeve, Mortal Engines (2001)	p. 373
Introduction	p. 373
Carnivalizing the Future: Mortal Engines	p. 374
Traction Cities, Postmodernisms, and Coming of Age: Mortal Engines	p. 387
Further Reading for Part 2	p. 395
Index	p. 396
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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