Winner of the Children’s Literature Association’s 2019 Book Award Between Generations is a multidisciplinary volume that reframes children as powerful forces in the production of their own literature and culture by uncovering a tradition of creative, collaborative partnerships between adults and children in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century England. The intergenerational collaborations documented here provide the foundations for some of the most popular Victorian literature for children, from Margaret Gatty's Aunt Judy's Tales to Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. Examining the publication histories of both canonical and lesser-known Golden Age texts reveals that children collaborated with adult authors as active listeners, coauthors, critics, illustrators, and even small-scale publishers. These literary collaborations were part of a growing interest in child agency evident in cultural, social, and scientific discourses of the time. Between Generations puts these creative partnerships in conversation with collaborations in other fields, including child study, educational policy, library history, and toy culture. Taken together, these collaborations illuminate how Victorians used new critical approaches to childhood to theorize young people as viable social actors. Smith's work not only recognizes Victorian children as literary collaborators but also interrogates how those creative partnerships reflect and influence adult-child relationships in the world beyond books. Between Generations breaks the critical impasse that understands children's literature and children themselves as products of adult desire and revises common constructions of childhood that frequently and often errantly resign the young to passivity or powerlessness.

It is impossible to reflect upon children's books without considering the children who read them. Where Texts and Children Meet explores the ways in which children make meaning of the various texts they meet both in and out of school. Eve Bearne and Victor Watson have brought together chapters on all the major issues and topics in children's literacy including: * the meaning and relevance of terms such as literature and classic texts * an analysis of new genres including picture books and CD-ROMs * moral dilemmas and cultural concerns in children's texts * working with quality texts that children will also adore. Where Texts and Children Meet shows how the world of children's books is changing and how teachers can build imaginative learning experiences for their pupils from a whole range of published materials.

Critic, essayist, educator and poet, author of The Scholar Gypsy, Dover Beach, The Forsaken Merman and other popular poems.