Children’s literature studies: general Books

Book SynopsisJanice Bland is Professor of English Education at Nord University, Norway. She is co-editor of the peer-reviewed, open-access journal, Children's Literature in English Language Education.Christiane Lütge is Professor of English at Münster University, Germany. She is co-editor of the peer-reviewed e-journal Children's Literature in English Language Education.Trade ReviewChildren's Literature in Second Language Acquisition is perfect reading material for older and new generation teachers because it offers practical examples they can transfer into their classrooms . . . Interesting and motivating -- Petra Bes * Libri et Liberi journal *Table of Contents1. Introduction Janice Bland Part I: Extensive Reading with Children's Literature 2. Free Reading: Still a Great Idea Stephen Krashen 3. Efficient Use of Literature in Second Language Education: Free Reading and Listening to Stories Beniko Mason 4. Extensive Reading of Picturebooks in Primary EFL Annika Kolb 5. Free Space: An Extensive Reading Project in a Flemish School Johan Strobbe Part II: Visual Literacy with Picturebooks and Graphic Novels in ELT 6. Approaching Literary and Language Competence: Picturebooks and Graphic Novels in the EFL Classroom Eva Burwitz-Melzer 7. Picturebook: Object of Discovery Sandie Mourão 8. Fairy Tales with a Difference: Creating a Continuum from Primary to Secondary ELT Janice Bland Part III: Intercultural Encounters with Children’s Literature 9. Otherness in Children's Literature: Perspectives for the EFL Classroom Christiane Lütge 10. Doing Identity, Doing Culture: Transcultural Learning through Young Adult Fiction Susanne Reichl 11. Developing Intercultural Competence by Studying Graphic Narratives Carola Hecke 12. 'We are Britain!' Culture and Ethnicity in Benjamin Zephaniah's Novels Sigrid Rieuwerts 13. Taiwanese Adolescents Reading American Young Adult Literature: A Reader Response Study Lee Li-Feng 14. Developing Intercultural Competence through First Nations’ Children’s Literature Grit Alter Part IV: Empowerment and Creativity through Story 15. Creative Writing for Second Language Students Alan Maley 16. Young Adult Literature in Mixed-Ability Classes Maria Eisenmann 17. Enhancing Self-Esteem and Positive Attitudes through Children's Literature Paola Traverso 18. The 'Art' of Teaching Creative Story Writing Maria Luisa García Bermejo and Teresa Fleta Guillén 19. Stories as Symphonies Andrew Wright 20. Conclusion Christiane Lütge Bibliography Index

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Trade ReviewThis is an important publication for all working in English language education, not only for those working and researching young learner and teenage learning, but for those involved in reading and in the reading of literature ... Bland writes clearly and intelligently and has productively absorbed and applied a wealth of relevant and recent research ... I am convinced [this book] will become widely cited and known as more relevant readers find it, read it and see the need to recommend the author and the title ... and I would be pleased if this review can contribute to a speedier uptake of the ideas found therein * CLELE Journal *Relevant and accessible ... For me undoubtedly [this book's] strongest point is that every approach advocated is exemplified with engaging texts and tasks. The book is very persuasive in that all its major points are supported by relevant references to credible research ... [A] very impressive and valuable book which I really enjoyed reading. * ELT Journal *This is a comprehensive, innovative and thematically coherent book which provides powerful arguments for engaging with a wide variety of genres within children’s and young adult literature ... A worthwhile contribution to modern EFL teaching methodology -- Maria Eisenmann * Anglistik: International Journal of English Studies *With confident writing on children's literature as a 'highly expressive carrier of cultural meaning', the book contains excellent close readings of many picturebooks and graphic novels ... Packed with good ideas for using selected books as positive resources for literary language learning -- Victoria de Rijke, Middlesex University, UK * IRSCL *Bland’s volume does indeed fulfil her aim of generating a rationale for selecting works of children’s literature for use in EFL classrooms and identifying how certain kinds of literature might empower learners ... I have already added it to my own student teachers’ reading lists. -- Lydia Kokkola, Head of English and Education, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden * International Research Society for Children’s Literature (IRSCL) *[An] impressive feature of the book is the close segmental reading of diverse examples of children’s literature and graphic novels ... Children’s Literature and Learner Empowerment provides a theoretical and practical approach to providing ELL primary and secondary school learners with the use of authentic and engaging materials. * IATEFL Voices *It is quite natural to expect a book like this from Janice Bland ... Bland communicates her ideas fluently ... and she offers abundant references that are often interwoven with her own thoughts. She manages to construct a clear message that certainly finds its way to the reader ... In this way, student teachers are led in a valuable direction -- Silvija Hanžic Deda * Libri et Liberi journal *Put tersely, Bland’s Children’s Literature and Learner Empowerment is a spirited argument for using original, unabridged children’s and YA literature in the EFL classroom in place of truncated, artificial texts ... [Bland's book] offer[s] insights and arguments that will be valid long after academic capitalism has passed from the scene. No matter where your specific interest in children’s literature lies, these are important books to read. -- Marek Oziewicz, Marguerite Henry Professor of Children’s and Young Adult Fiction, University of Minnesota * The Lion and the Unicorn *This is a comprehensive, innovative, thought-provoking and topical book on children's literature which is equally relevant to scholars working in the field plus to teachers and students of languages and literature. * Werner Delanoy, Professor in the Department of English and American Studies, University of Klagenfurt, Austria *At a time when there is an increasing demand for the effective teaching of EFL and ESL/EAL, this book provides powerful arguments for engaging with a wide variety of genres within children’s and young adult literature and shows how constructing meaning from ‘well-crafted’ texts – including visual and radical texts – can help develop ‘literary literacy’ for children of all ages. Teacher educators will benefit most from the interdisciplinary nature of the book as the author shows how children’s literature scholarship is linked to TEFL theory and practice. However, the result of bringing these two fields together provides exciting new perspectives for all those interested in critical reading and creative writing with children and teenagers. * Evelyn Arizpe, Senior Lecturer in the School of Education, University of Glasgow, UK *Janice Bland’s new book is careful, precise and very fully referenced. She makes a compelling case for the need for teachers and other educators to pay more serious attention to the potential offered by children’s picturebooks. Literary and visual experience is shown to lead to engagement and creative thinking in the classroom which graded readers, extracts or non-fictional materials are unlikely to stimulate. Teachers of the ever-growing numbers of young learners of English in particular should pay close attention to this book. It should be on teacher training booklists and on the shelves of all good Education libraries. * Geoff Hall, Professor of English, University of Nottingham, Ningbo, China *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements 1. Introduction: The EFL Literature Classroom Part I: Visual Literacy in the EFL Literature Classroom 2. Developing the Mind’s Eye with Picturebooks 3. Bridging a Curricular Gap with Graphic Novels Part II : Literary Literacy in the EFL-Literature Classroom 4. Postmodern Fairy Tales: Co-constructing Meaning 5. The Poetry of Children’s Literature and Creative Writing 6. Children’s Plays: Beyond the Oracy/Literacy Dichotomy Part III: Critical Cultural Literacy in the EFL Literature Classroom 7. Radical Children’s Literature and Engaged Reading 8. Harry Potter and Critical Cultural Literacy Conclusion Bibliography References Index

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Book SynopsisNow at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story . . .Bestselling authors Kurt Bruner and Jim Ware (Finding God in The Lord of the Rings) once again explore a world of fantasy to reveal what C. S. Lewis called the Great Story hidden within. For more than 70 years, adults and children alike have stepped through the wardrobe, and their imaginations have been baptized in Lewis's mystical world of wonder and enchantment. Lewis fans will love the many surprising insights the authors uncover, and parents will discover new ways to show their children God's character and presence in their lives.With more than 100 million copies sold, The Chronicles of Narnia capture more imaginations today than ever before. In Finding God in the Land of Narnia, you'll see how Lewis expertly wraps spiritual truths into his classic tales, and you'll discover the truth of what the great Lion, Aslan, says about our brief sojourn through Narnia: By knowi

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Book SynopsisFeaturing close readings of commonly studied texts, this book takes students of Children's Literature through the key works, their contexts and critical and popular afterlives. "Children's Literature in Context" is a clear, accessible and concise introduction to children's literature and its wider contexts. It begins by introducing key issues involved in the study of children's literature and its social, cultural and literary contexts. Close readings of commonly studied texts including Lewis Carroll's Alice books, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz", "The Lion", "The Witch and the Wardrobe", the "Harry Potter" series and the "His Dark Materials" trilogy highlight major themes and ways of reading children's literature. A chapter on afterlives and adaptations explores a range of wider cultural texts including the film adaptations of "Harry Potter", "The Chronicles of Narnia" and "The Golden Compass". The final section introduces key critical interpretations from different perspectives on issues including innocence, gender, fantasy, psychoanalysis and ideology. 'Review, Reading and Research' sections give suggestions for further reading, discussion and research. Introducing texts, contexts and criticism, this is a lively and up-to-date resource for anyone studying children's literature. Texts and Contexts is a series of clear, concise and accessible introductions to key literary fields and concepts. The series provides the literary, critical, historical context for texts and authors in a specific literary area in a way that introduces a range of work in the field and enables further independent study and reading.Trade ReviewChildren's Literature in Context is a meeting ground where literary history meets literary criticism in a broad intertextual reach. Here is a journey for the reader who travels from definitions of the genre to socio-political contexts, to close readings of classic and contemporary texts, to a critical framework of interpretations and perspectives, to expansive cultural adaptations. At each juncture McCulloch interweaves theory with striking ease, linking children's literature to a larger world of literature and philosophy. Her readings of texts are fresh, provocative, coherent. Designed to serve as a textbook, McCulloch's work is also a handbook to the field, offering a range of resources for students and scholars, a spacious landscape. -- Anne Lundin, Professor Emerita, University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Library & Information Studies, USA Featured in the Times Higher Education Literature Textbook round-up.Table of ContentsSeries Preface; Part I: Contexts; 1. Social and Cultural Contexts; 2. Literary Contexts; Review, Reading and Research; Part II: Texts; 3. Readings of Key Texts; Review, Reading and Research; Part III: Wider Contexts; 4. Afterlives and Adaptations; 5. Critical Contexts; Review, Reading and Research; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisThis collection of essays explores the remarkable range and cultural significance of the engagement with ‘infancy’ during the Romantic period. Taking its point of departure in the commonplace claim that the Romantics invented childhood, the book traces that engagement across national boundaries, in the visual arts, in works of educational theory and natural philosophy, and in both fiction and non-fiction written for children. Essays authored by scholars from a range of national and disciplinary backgrounds reveal how Romantic-period representations of and for children constitute sites of complex discursive interaction, where ostensibly unrelated areas of enquiry are brought together through common tropes and topoi associated with infancy. Broadly new-historicist in approach, but drawing also on influential theoretical descriptions of genre, discipline, mediation, cultural exchange, and comparative methodologies, the collection also seeks to rethink the idea of a clear-cut dichotomy between Enlightenment and Romantic conceptions of infancy.Table of ContentsIntroduction: the Romantic cultures of infancy 1. ‘A detached peninsula’: infancy in the work of Thomas De Quincey. Martina Domines Veliki and Cian Duffy 2. William Blake’s Infant Joy. Robert Rix 3. The infant, the mother, and the breast in the paintings of Marguerite Gérard. Loren Lerner 4. Mother at the source: romanticism and infant education. Robert A. Davis 5. Coleridge, the ridiculous child, and the limits of Romanticism. Andrew McInnes 6. Educational experiments: childhood sympathy, regulation and object relations in Maria Edgeworth’s writing about education. Charles Armstrong 7. ‘Advice [...] by one as insignificant as a MOUSE’: human and non-human infancy in eighteenth-century moral animal tales. Anja Höing 8. William Godwin, Romantic-era historiography and the political cultures of infancy. John-Erik Hansson 9. Experimenting with children: infants in the scientific imagination. Lisa Ann Robertson 10. ‘A wretch so sad, so lorn’: the feral child and the Romantic cultures of infancy. Rolf Lessenich

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Book SynopsisChildren’s Literature and Intergenerational Relationships: Encounters of the Playful Kind explores ways in which children’s literature becomes the object and catalyst of play that brings younger and older generations closer to one another. Providing examples from diverse cultural and historical contexts, this collection argues that children’s texts promote intergenerational play through the use of literary devices and graphic formats and that they may prompt joint play practices in the real world. The book offers a distinctive contribution to children’s literature scholarship by shifting critical attention away from the difference and conflict between children and adults to the exploration of inter-age interdependencies as equally crucial aspects of human life, presenting a new perspective for all who research and work with children’s culture in times of global aging.Table of Contents Chapter 1. Play, Children’s Literature, and Intergenerational Connectivity. - Chapter 2: The Child Reader’s Playful Adventures in Wonderland. - Chapter 3. The Nature of Play and Adult-Child Interaction in the Alice Books and Coraline. -Chapter 4. Embracing the Childlike: Play in Picturebook Poetics. - Chapter 5. Intergenerational Encounters in Contemporary Picturebooks. - Chapter 6. Rabindranath Tagore the Grandfather: Shey as a Playful Encounter between a Poet and His Granddaughter. - Chapter 7. How Fictional Representations of Intergenerational Play May Be Important for Child Readers: A Cognitive Approach. - Chapter 8. “How did Child of Light save me?” Engagement with a Children’s Multimodal Game Narrative as Adult play and Self-therapy. - Chapter 9. No Adults in the Woods: Relationships between Adults and Children during Outdoor Play in Award-Winning Picturebooks from the United States. - Chapter 10. Don’t Tell the Parents! The Illicitness of Intergenerational Play. - Chapter 11. Not Your (Ordinary) Grandma: Old Age in Three Contemporary Dutch Children’s Books. - Chapter 12. Barbie Unbound: The Satirical Representation of the Barbie Doll as an Exemplification of Realism and Crossover Attitude in Young Adult Literature. - Chapter 13. Deconstructing Stereotypes through Reading Children’s Literature as Intergenerational Play: The Case of the Stepmother. - Chapter 14. Family in Finnish Picturebooks: Playful Books Challenging Normative Representation of Family.

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