Description
Book SynopsisGiven the long-standing belief that children ought to be shielded from disturbing life events, it is surprising to see how many stories for kids involve killing. This title offers a study of this pervasive theme of murder in children's literature. It adds to the body of inquiry into America's ongoing fascination with violent crime.
Trade ReviewThought-provoking... Bloody Murder is excellent for Abate's interrogation of the genre. She has an eye for the unexpected literary influences lurking behind well-known texts -- Mary L. Shannon Times Literary Supplement A compelling study of the ways in which the specter of violent death looms large in books for children, both historically and in modern literature. Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Bloody Murder is another fine example of Abate's signature ability to take cultural elements on the periphery of children's literature scholarship and show their relevance to the field's central questions. Her examination of murder culture's influence is more than just a skillful exposition of a prominent theme in plots for young readers; by locating homicide in the earliest distinct children's and young adult texts, abate effectively demonstrates that the beginnings of these two genres are far more complex and interconnected with American popular culture than has traditionally been supposed. In addition, she opens an important new frontier for crime studies, confidently displaying how often children's texts explore murder, as well as how crucial their representations are to understanding the American relationship with violence and death. Her engaging, rigorously researched, and accessible chapters make for engrossing reading useful for scholars and students alike. This study is a significant contribution, sure to spark further research on children's murder culture. -- Ivy Linton Stabell Children's Literature Association Quarterly Abate's close readings of texts and of the specific discourses with which they are paired in individual chapters gives readers new literary and social perspectives to consider as they think about the forms and functions of literature for children. -- Catherine O. Frank Jeunesse
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction: Once upon a Crime: Homicide in American Culture and Popular Children's Literature from ''Bluebeard'' to Harry Potter
1. ''You Must Kill Her and Bring Me Her Lungs and Liver as Proof'': ''Snow White'' and the Fact as well as Fantasy of Filicide
2. ''The Queen Had Only One Way of Settling All Difficulties . . . 'Off with His Head!' '': Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the Antigallows Movement
3. ''Swarthy, Sun-Tanned, Villainous Looking Fellows'': Tarzan of the Apes and Criminal Anthropology
4. ''A Sixth Sense Seemed to Tell Her That She Had Encountered Something Unusual'': Psychic Sleuthing in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories
5. ''How'd You Like That Haircut to Begin Just Below the Chin?'': Juvenile Delinquency, Teenage Killers, and a Pulp Aesthetic in The Outsiders
6. ''My Job Is . . . to Make You a Human Being in the Eyes of the Jury'': Confronting the Demonization—and Dramatization—of Murder in Walter Dean Myers's Monster
Epilogue: ''Just Because You Don't Have a Pulse Doesn't Mean You Can't Be Perky'': My So-Called Death, Young Adult Zombie Fiction, and Murder in the Posthuman Age
Works Cited
Index
