States that "Little Women" has appeared in many guises and many media; explores what the process of reworking has done to the story and its impact on readers' literary experiences. Looks at some of the fictional worlds created by the different films and subsequent novelizations; turns to the kinds of packaged texts produced by the…

Discusses the history of consumerism among children by examining its emergence in the 18th century as evidenced in the earliest English children's periodicals: "The Lilliputian Magazine" published by John Newbery in 1751 and "The Juvenile Magazine" published by John Marshall in 1788. (SR)

Investigates the current situation of the writer in the schools by talking with six eminent children's writers--three novelists, three poets--who visit schools in the United Kingdom. Suggests the need for writers and teachers to work more closely together before, during, and after contact with pupils. (SR)

Discusses the "time-slip" novels of English writer Lucy Boston. Describes how they offer children and adults a "powerful and sensuous awareness" of the past in the present, as well as a vision of natural and social harmony in which the responsibility of the individual is one of care, respect, and intelligent transmission from…

Looks closely at the way an illustrator and picture book maker, Colin McNaughton, draws children into a special sense of being "in the know." States that McNaughton adapts a wide range of features from comics to the constraints of the picture book and relies on an unspoken pact between reader and writer/artist familiar to all comics…

Pairs two books that might stimulate children's literary awareness--Lois Lowry's fantasy novel, "The Giver," and Maurice Sendak's picture book, "We Are All in the Dumps with Jack and Guy." Finds that the pairing and comparisons increased understandings about each work and how complementary they really are. (PA)

Concentrates on the father figures in Anthony Browne's books and on the ways in which gender ideologies are encoded in works dealing with family relationships, concentrating on "Zoo" and "The Big Baby," but also looking at "Gorilla" and "Piggybook." Finds that the diversity of Browne's work provides children…

Investigates the complexities of reading books that use more than one sign system. Presents a theory of text/picture relations based on "transmediation." Provides an overview of the various ways in which the relationship between the words and pictures in a picture book has been conceptualized. Draws on several theoretical traditions and…

Examines British and American 19th-century classroom readers and their treatment of death. Quantitatively analyzes several series, using a computer database for each volume. Finds that school readers reflected the Victorians' preoccupation with death and helped socialize children into the Victorian sense that death was ever at hand. (PA)

Argues against ritualized approaches to literature. Endorses four aesthetic teaching stances which vary the conversations that can occur between student and student, student and teacher, and student and literature, and which pursue a "playful" literature curriculum, value the unexpected, and allow conversations where children talk their…

Describes how Virginia Hamilton, in her novel "M. C. Higgins, The Great," effectively illustrates the means by which her African-American hero survives through his coming to terms with two fundamental precepts: (1) realizing the importance of his cultural heritage; and (2) understanding the importance of the sense of community. (RS)

Looks at 10 collections of poetry that helped to change attitudes during the 1980s toward poetry in classrooms. (MG)

Asserts that meanings are made socially, and explores how narrative connects with and feeds into the society which surrounds it. Examines the account of Ramona Quimby by Beverly Cleary, and how it demonstrates the role of narrative. (PRA)

Examines the image of the Arab in children's fiction to illuminate attitudes which have prevented U.S. Jews and non-Jews from seeing Palestinians as human beings. Finds that the Arab and Jewish children are not portrayed as equals. (PRA)

Examines the works of Gillian Rubinstein, a popular author of children's literature who is now writing for older readers. Explores what she says and how she says it in her three novels for older readers. (PRA)