This study offers a critical content analysis of thirty-six contemporary realistic picturebooks featuring transracial Chinese adoption. The theoretical framework of critical literacy highlights significant sociocultural implications of these portrayals: in particular, negative stereotypes and ideologies, in an attempt to call for inclusivity and…

Where and how do I belong? As Erin Spring (2016a) notes in her examination of space, place, and youth engagement with literature, "young adult fiction is fraught with implications for identity, of which place often takes center stage" (p. 432). Yet despite the ubiquity of adolescent characters' negotiations within and across physical and…

Oliver Jeffers' best-selling picturebook "How to Catch a Star" (2004) has been the subject of several recent theatre adaptations for children. This paper provides a detailed case study of the 2017 stage adaptation created by the Irish-language theatre-company, Branar Téatar do Pháistí; an adaptation that has been highly praised for the…

In response to current anti-immigration rhetoric and policy coming from national leadership, the authors engage in multimodal analysis of picture books that humanize individuals who make the journey across the Mexico-U.S. border. Findings suggest that picture book narratives restory anti-immigrant sentiments by (1) placing the child at the center…

In delivering instruction aligned with the Common Core State Standards, many teachers are utilizing the accompanying book exemplars. While prior studies have revealed the importance of selecting texts that represent diverse characters, few studies have examined the extent to which the book exemplars reflect this trend. In this paper, an…

This essay deploys an animal studies, posthumanist approach to Laura's identification with Jack and horses throughout the "Little House" series. Part wolf and partly domesticated, Jack mediates the impossible longings within Laura to be free and yet under control--to be independent yet maintain the approval of her parents, especially her…

This paper examines the changing presentation of teachers in the post-Mao era. The image of teachers was almost sacred in traditional Confucian society until Mao Zedong launched China's Cultural Revolution in 1966, when children were encouraged to use the pretext of class struggle to critique and even to attack their teachers. As such, restoring…

This article explores a narrative approach adopted by three Taiwanese children's books that feature old trees as storytellers and memory-keepers to address aspects of emotional and psychological adaptation when facing drastic life changes. Although these stories are told from the perspective of old trees, the nostalgic tone serves a specific…

The use of metafictive devices in children's literature, in particular contemporary picturebooks, has been explored by numerous scholars working from different theoretical and disciplinary backgrounds. In particular, metafiction is often described as oppositional to traditional children's literature which often produces stable, knowable, readable…

This article employs the theory of social minds proposed by Alan Palmer ("Social Minds in the Novel," 2010) to argue for the emergence of a group-based thinking, feeling, and acting focused on reforming the status quo, using David Whitley's Agora trilogy (2009--2013) as an example of Radical Fantasy. This particular subgenre of fantasy…

While there has been a multitude of studies of "Harry Potter" since its first appearance, including studies analyzing individual characters, social classes in the wizarding world, and a number that examine the "'Harry Potter' phenomenon" as a whole, there are none that systematically analyze and compare the characters in terms…

A quality picture book can enhance instruction and build positive and meaningful connections that enable students to visualize and engage in mathematics. To learn more about how preservice teachers analyze and select quality picture books in their mathematics lessons, a study was conducted over two semesters during a required field experience…

Shannon Hale, Dean Hale, and Nathan Hale's graphic novel set "Rapunzel's Revenge" (2008) and "Calamity Jack" (2010) features fractured fairy tales that take up the issue of 'the damsel in distress,' questioning and complicating traditional gender roles in fairy tales. Throughout both graphic novels Rapunzel's character…

This study explores the impact of the political uprisings in the Middle East, known as the Arab Spring, on Arabic YA literary books. It is based on a content analysis of the Etisalat Book Award's shortlisted entries for the period 2012-2016. It is argued that both children's and YA literature of the Arab World subsequently became more open about…

In multi- or intercultural educational contexts, folktales from around the world are often approached as representative of diverse cultures and used to transmit knowledge and understanding of the literary, social and cultural heritage of those cultures to children. In this article, I present contemporary critical literary, folklore and cultural…