Bringing together leading and emerging scholars, this book argues for the significance of theory for reading texts written and produced for young people. Integrating perspectives from across feminism, ecocriticism, postcolonialism and poststructuralism, it demonstrates how these inform approaches to a range of contemporary literature and film.
List of Figures Notes on Contributors Acknowledgements Introduction: Bringing Back Theory; K.Mallan & C.Bradford Schemas and Scripts: Cognitive Instruments and the Representation of Cultural Diversity in Children's Literature; J.Stephens Journeying Subjects: Spatiality and Identity in Children's Texts; C.Bradford & R.Baccolini Local and Global: Cultural Globalisation, Consumerism and Children's Fiction; E.Bullen & K.Mallan Monstrous Women: Gothic Misogyny in Monster House; M.Takolander Splitting the Difference: Pleasure, Desire and Intersubjectivity in Children's Literature and Film; C.Wilkie-Stubbs Children as Ecocitizens: Ecocriticism and Environmental Texts; G.Massey & C.Bradford From 'Wizard' to 'Wicked': Adaptation Theory and Young Adult Fiction; D.Buchbinder All That Matters: Technoscience, Critical Theory and Children's Fiction; K.Mallan Index.
KERRY MALLAN is Professor in Education at Queensland University of Technology, Australia. Her co-edited book Youth Cultures: Texts, Images and Identities is an IRSCL Honour Book (2003). She is a co-author of New World Orders in Contemporary Children's Literature (2008). Her most recent book is Gender Dilemmas in Children's Fiction (2009). CLARE BRADFORD is Professor of Literature at Deakin University, Australia. Her 2001 book, Reading Race, won both the ChLA Book Award and the IRSCL Award. She is a co-author of New World Orders in Contemporary Children's Literature (2008). Her most recent book is Unsettling Narratives: Postcolonial Readings of Children's Literature (2007).
Reviews for Contemporary Children's Literature and Film: Engaging with Theory
The book's major contribution is to showcase contemporary forms/iterations of theory such as posthumanism, cognitive poetics, and spatiality studies. This very fine collection of essays will be of use to a wide range of students as well as to established scholars. --Kenneth Kidd, University of Florida
