When children read fiction they are exposed to the beliefs which inform and structure their society. The books encourage child readers to internalise particular ways of seeing the world and help shape their development as individuals. Although this process forms a key part of their education, it remains largely invisible. As well as a story, fictions impart a significance to readers - often without revealing its presence or ground - and therefore have considerable potential to socialize their audience. John Stephens analyses this process and shows how fictions can work to constrain or liberate audience responses. He explores picture books as well as historical, realistic and fantastic fictions to show how both a character within the narrative and the implied reader are positioned within ideology. The author considers areas of ideology not previously examined and offers new perspectives on realism and fantasy. The book will be of interest to linguists and teachers as well as to the general reader.

Contemporary discussions of literature have paid increasing attention to the ideologies pervading texts and to the ways in which creative literature represents the individual both as subject and as agent. Language and Ideology in Children's Fiction examines these matters in narratives written for children, with a special focus on language, since meanings are primarily constituted in language.

In this important and timely study Murray Knowles and Kirstin Malmjkaer examine the work of some of our most popular children's writers, from this and the last century, in order to expose the persuasive power of literature.

This volume examines how children's books retain the ability to transform, activate, indoctrinate, or empower their readers. From utopian and dystopian voices to children's literature written in response to war situations to critiques of misogynistic assumptions that normalize or eroticize violence, these essays demonstrate the potential of children's literature to radically challenge cultural norms. Contents include: national identity in The Hunger Games * aspects of socio-political transformation in children's literature * the figure of the child in WWI children's literature * echoes of the past, aspirations for the future in the teenage novels of Eilis Dillon * portraits and paratexts in the work of Mrs. S.C. Hall * Catherine Breillat's cinematic perspective on Bluebeard * identity and ideology in the work of O.R. Melling * eco-critical perspectives on the life and works of Beatrix Potter * sexualized violence and rape myths in contemporary young adult fiction * the emergence of the gallant Fascist in Italian children's literature of the inter-war period. *** "It may seem odd to think of literature for children as containing political and ideological themes and ideas, but in fact, many theorists believe that such messages are quite prevalent in these stories and novels. The contributors do a nice job of addressing both modern and classic literature....a worthy addition to the resources on children's literature. Recommended." - Choice, July 2015, Vol. 52, No. 11 (Series: Studies in Children's Literature - Vol. 7) [Subject: Literary Criticism]

From Algonquin Indian folklore comes one of the most haunting, powerful versions of the Cinderella tale ever told. In a village by the shores of Lake Ontario lived an invisible being. All the young women wanted to marry him because he was rich, powerful, and supposedly very handsome. But to marry the invisible being the women had to prove to his sister that they had seen him. And none had been able to get past the sister's stern, all-knowing gaze. Then came the Rough-Face girl, scarred from working by the fire. Could she succeed where her beautiful, cruel sisters had failed?

"This book examines the diversification of political writings and literature. It covers various disciplines, including political literature, gender politics, identity politics, minority politics, ideologized writing, censorship, the rhetoric and aestheticism of politics, and gendered literature"--

This landmark volume is the first to bring together leading scholarship on children’s and young adult literature from three intersecting disciplines: Education, English, and Library and Information Science. Distinguished by its multidisciplinary approach, it describes and analyzes the different aspects of literary reading, texts, and contexts to illuminate how the book is transformed within and across different academic figurations of reading and interpreting children’s literature. Part one considers perspectives on readers and reading literature in home, school, library, and community settings. Part two introduces analytic frames for studying young adult novels, picturebooks, indigenous literature, graphic novels, and other genres. Chapters include commentary on literary experiences and creative production from renowned authors and illustrators. Part three focuses on the social contexts of literary study, with chapters on censorship, awards, marketing, and literary museums. The singular contribution of this Handbook is to lay the groundwork for colleagues across disciplines to redraw the map of their separately figured worlds, thus to enlarge the scope of scholarship and dialogue as well as push ahead into uncharted territory.

A rarely discussed aspect of children's literature--the politics behind a book's creation--has been thoroughly explored in this intelligent, enlightening, and fascinating account.