KEY BENEFT: This book presents a comprehensive discussion of international children's books and their use in K-8 classrooms. KEY TOPICS Global Perspectives in Children's Literature reviews the status of children's literature around the world and elaborates on the benefits of international children's literature for children's development and the curriculum. The book presents various genres such as picture books, fiction, informational books, and poetry. Issues in the field and criteria for selecting books to be used in the classroom are provided, as well as a discussion of history and contemporary trends worldwide. Specific ways to share international books are also presented, as they relate to theme studies, specific content areas, visual literacy, and language arts. Useful for anyone interested in global education, specifically that of Children's Literature.

This volume visits death in children’s literature from around the world, making a substantial contribution to the dialogue between the expanding fields of Childhood Studies, Children’s Literature, and Death Studies. Considering both textual and pictorial representations of death, contributors focus on the topic of death in children’s literature as a physical reality, a philosophical concept, a psychologically challenging adjustment, and/or a social construct. Essays covering literature from the US, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Canada, the UK, Sweden, Germany, Poland, Bulgaria, Brazil, Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union, India, and Iran display a diverse range of theoretical and cultural perspectives. Carefully organized sections interrogate how classic texts have been adapted for the twenty-first century, how death has been politicized, ritualized, or metaphorized, and visual strategies for representing death, and how death has been represented within the context of play. Asking how different cultures present the concept of death to children, this volume is the first to bring together a global range of perspective on death in children’s literature and will be a valuable contribution to an array of disciplines.

Taking a global and interdisciplinary approach, Children and Media explores the role of modern media, including the internet, television, mobile media and video games, in the development of children, adolescents, and childhood. Primer to global issues and core research into children and the media integrating work from around the world Comprehensive integration of work that bridges disciplines, theoretical and research traditions and methods Covers both critical/qualitative and quantitative approaches to the topic

Recent decades have seen a growing emphasis, in a number of professional contexts, on acknowledging and acting on the views of children. This trend was given added weight by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified in 1990. Today, seeking the perspective of the child has become an essential process in all sorts of tasks, from framing new legislation to regulating professions. This book answers the fundamental question of what it is that constitutes a ‘child perspective’, and how this might differ from the perspectives of children themselves. The answers to such questions have important implications for building progressive and developmental adult-child relationships. However, theoretical and empirical treatments of child perspectives and children’s perspectives are very diverse and idiosyncratic, and the standard reference work has yet to be written. Thus, this work is an attempt to fill the gap in the literature by searching for and defining key formulations of potential child perspectives within parts of the so-called ‘new child paradigm’. This has been derived from childhood sociology, contextual-relational developmental psychology, interpretative humanistic psychology and developmental pedagogy. The highly experienced authors develop a comprehensive professional child perspective paradigm that integrates recent theory and empirical child research. With its clear presentation of underlying theories and suggested applications, this book illustrates a child-oriented understanding of specific relevance to both child-care and preschool educational practice.

In Crossover Fiction, Sandra L. Beckett explores the global trend of crossover literature and explains how it is transforming literary canons, concepts of readership, the status of authors, the publishing industry, and bookselling practices. This study will have significant relevance across disciplines, as scholars in literary studies, media and cultural studies, visual arts, education, psychology, and sociology examine the increasingly blurred borderlines between adults and young people in contemporary society, notably with regard to their consumption of popular culture.

Children’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.

Firmly focused on developing core skills and assessment capabilities, this revised edition comprehensively matches the latest syllabus and saves you time in course preparation. The second edition has been restructured to focus even more on skills development with a particular emphasis on progressing those tricky - and essential - synthesis and evaluation skills, as well as research and reflection. Clearly differentiated for students at different ability levels, with clear language and instruction for EAL learners. This new edition of Global Perspectives will be available as a print book, an online book, or a print and online package, so you can choose the format that is right for you.

Today’s children need to develop a global mindset – an indispensable tool for success. Together, as parents and educators, we must instill in our children an interest in learning about the world early on. Raising Global Children provides the rationale and concrete steps you can take to open up the world to young people – and to do so in a fun and entertaining way without spending a whole lot of money. Packed with practical information, hundreds of tips and dozens of real-life stories, this combination parenting-educational advocacy book is the first of its kind to detail what raising global children means, why global awareness is important and how to develop a global mindset. Inside the pages of Raising Global Children, the authors make a strong case for the importance of both small and big ways that adults can influence and shape the development of a global mindset in children, including: Encouraging curiosity, empathy, flexibility and independence Supporting learning a second language as early as possible Exploring culture through books, food, music and friends Expanding a child’s world through travel at home and abroad Helping teens to spread their own global wings Advocating for teaching global education in schools Enthusiastically praised by parents and professionals alike, Raising Global Children is filled with inspiring advice that will change the way you think about raising and educating children. Raising Global Children is published by The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), which is dedicated to the improvement and expansion of the teaching and learning of all languages at all levels of instruction. Find out more at www.actfl.org. PRAISE: “In the increasingly interconnected and competitive world that our young people find themselves in, Stacie and Mike Berdan’s Raising Global Children is one sure fire way for today’s busy parents to help give their kids a step up and get ahead.” —Curtis S. Chin, former U.S. Ambassador and international business executive "Raising Global Children is an essential guide for preparing our children for a successful future in a globally competitive and interconnected world, one that is far different than the world we grew up in." —Diane Gulyas, President of DuPont Performance Polymers "Raising Global Children is a book for parents who know the world is changing and want their children to experience it, embrace it and benefit from it. It is a must have guide for bringing up globally aware kids." —Carolyn Tieger, President of entrePReneur Communications, LLC “The Berdans have done an excellent job of outlining how adults can influence and shape the development of a global mindset among children. Raising Global Children clearly illustrates how parents and educators can open up the world to the young people in their lives by developing the necessary skills and attitude to fully embrace it!” —Marty Abbott, Executive Director, American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages

While the notion of young people as individuals worthy or capable of having rights is of relatively recent origin, over the past several decades there has been a substantial increase in both social and political commitment to children’s rights as well as a tendency to grant young people some of the rights that were typically accorded only to adults. In addition, there has been a noticeable shift in orientation from a focus on children’s protection and provision to an emphasis on children’s participation and self-determination. With contributions from a wide range of international scholars, the Handbook of Children’s Rights brings together research, theory, and practice from diverse perspectives on children’s rights. This volume constitutes a comprehensive treatment of critical perspectives concerning children’s rights in their various forms. Its contributions address some of the major scholarly tensions and policy debates comprising the current discourse on children’s rights, including the best interests of the child, evolving capacities of the child, states’ rights versus children’s rights, rights of children versus parental or family rights, children as citizens, children’s rights versus children’s responsibilities, and balancing protection and participation. In addition to its multidisciplinary focus, the handbook includes perspectives from social science domains in which children’s rights scholarship has evolved largely independently due to distinct and seemingly competing assumptions and disciplinary approaches (e.g., childhood studies, developmental psychology, sociology of childhood, anthropology, and political science). The handbook also brings together diverse methodological approaches to the study of children’s rights, including both quantitative and qualitative perspectives, and policy analysis. This comprehensive, cosmopolitan, and timely volume serves as an important reference for both scholarly and policy-driven interest in the voices and perspectives of children and youth.

This book is designed to prepare K-12 preservice and inservice teachers to address the social, cultural, and critical issues of our times through the use of multicultural children's books. It will be used as a core textbook in courses on multicultural children's literature and as a supplement in courses on children's literature and social studies teaching methods. It can also be used as a supplement in courses on literacy, reading, language arts, and multicultural education.