Children's literature: classic texts and contemporary trends

pt. 1. 1. Classic texts. Louisa May Alcott, Little women (1868-9): Introduction / Nicola J. Watson

Little women: Alcott's Civil War / Judith Fetterley

'Wake up and be a man': Little Women, Laurie, and the ethic of submission / Ken Parille

Louisa May Alcott and the rise of gender-specific series books / Sarah A. Wadsworth

2. Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island (1881-2; 1883): Introduction / Sara Haslam

My first book: 'Treasure Island' / Robert Louis Stevenson

Slaves to adventure: the pure story of Treasure Island / Diana Loxley

Treasure Island and the romance of the British civil service / Christopher Parkes

3. Beatrix Potter, The tale of Peter Rabbit (1902): Introduction / Sharon Goodman

Petter Rabbit: Potter's story / Margaret Mackey

Aesop in the shadows / Peter Hollindale

Perspective and point of view in The tales of Peter Rabbit / Carole Scott

4. Two classic poetry collections: Robert Louis Stevenson, A child's garden of verses (1885) and A.A. Milne, When we were very young (1924): Introduction / Nicola J. Watson

The contexts of A child's garden of verses / Michael Rosen

A.A. Milne: When we were very young / Jackie Wulschla⁺ger

5. J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan (1904): Introduction / Nicola J. Watson

Peter Pan and the spectacle of the child / Jacqueline Rose

A hundred years of Peter Pan / Peter Hollindale

Peter Pan and the pantomime tradition / Donna R. White and C. Anita Tarr

6. Arthur Ransome, Swallows and Amazons (1930): Introduction / Sara Haslam

The Lake District novels / Peter Hunt

Arthur Ransome and problems of literary assessment / Nicholas Tucker

Peter Pan, Wild Cat Island, and the lure of the real / Anna Bogen

7. Philippa Pearce, Tom's midnight garden (1958): Introduction / Heather Montgomery

Loneliness, dreaming, and discovery: Tom's midnight garden / Margaret Rustin and Michael Rustin

Midnight gardens, Magic wells / Maria Nikolajeva

Tom's midnight garden / Roni Natov

8. Mildred Taylor, Roll of thunder, hear my cry (1976): Introduction / Janet Maybin

A search for law and justice in a racist society / Hamida Bosmajian

Child agency in Roll of thunder, hear my cry / Kelly McDowell

The role of education in Mildred D. Taylor's Roll of thunder / Cicely Denean Cobb

9. Philip Pullman, Northern lights (1995): Introduction / Heather Montgomery

Dust as metaphor in Philip Pullman / Anne-Marie Bird

Obedience, disobedience, and storytelling in C.S. Lewis and Philip Pullman / Naomi Wood

Intertextuality / Claire Squires

10. J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the philosopher's stone (1997): Introduction / Nicola J. Watson

The phenomenon of Harry Potter, or Why all the talk? / Jack Zipes

The unthinkingness of Harry Potter / Suman Gupta

Harry Potter and the reinvention of the past / Andrew Blake

pt. 2. Contemporary trends 11. Fiction for adolescents: Melvin Burgess, Junk (1996): Introduction / Ann Hewings and Nicola J. Watson

Sympathy for the devil / Melvin Burgess

'And it's so real': versions of reality in Melvin Burgess's Junk / John Stephens

12. Radical agendas: Beverley Naidoo, The other side of truth (2000): Introduction / Ann Hewings and Nicola J. Watson

A writer's journey: retracing The other side of truth / Beverley Naidoo

What is The other side of truth? / Jana Giles

13. Past worlds: Jamila Gavin, Coram Boy (2000): Introduction / Ann Hewings and Nicola J. Watson

New historical fiction for children / Christopher Ringrose

Coram boy as history / Jamila Gavin

14. Future worlds: Philip Reeve, Mortal engines (2001): Introduction / Ann Hewings and Nicola J. Watson

Carnivalizing the future: Mortal engines / Kay Sambell

Traction cities, postmodernisms, and coming of age: Mortal engines / Janis Dawson

Further reading for part 2.