Literary Cultures and Twenty-First-Century Childhoods (Literary Cultures and Childhoods)

In the early decades of the twenty-first century, we are grappling with the legacies of past centuries and their cascading effects upon children and all people. We realize anew how imperialism, globalization, industrialization, and revolution continue to reshape our world and that of new generations. At a volatile moment, this collection asks how twenty-first century literature and related media represent and shape the contemporary child, childhood, and youth. Because literary representations construct ideal childhoods as well as model the rights, privileges, and respect afforded to actual young people, this collection surveys examples from popular culture and from scholarly practice. Chapters investigate the human rights of children in literature and international policy; the potential subjective agency and power of the child; the role models proposed for young people; the diverse identities children embody and encounter; and the environmental well-being of future human and nonhuman generations. As a snapshot of our developing historical moment, this collection identifies emergent trends, considers theories and critiques of childhood and literature, and observes how new technologies and paradigms are destabilizing past conventions of storytelling and lived experience. Nathalie op de Beeck is the author of Suspended Animation: Children's Picture Books and the Fairy Tale of Modernity (2010) and co-creator of Little Machinery: A Critical Facsimile Edition (2009). Her work appears in The Oxford Handbook of Children's Literature (2011), The Routledge Companion to Picturebooks (2017), and journals including CLAQ and CLE. She is Associate Professor of English at Pacific Lutheran University, USA Contents 6 List of Contributors 9 List of Figures 14 Introduction: Literary Cultures and Twenty-First-Century Childhoods 16 Notes 32 References 34 Part I: Children’s Rights and Role Models 38 Children’s Right to Participate: Insights from the Story of Malala 39 Introduction 39 Participation as Foundational to Personhood 41 The Emergence of the Empowered Child 45 The Literary World 46 Conclusion 50 Notes 51 References 52 The Wisdom of Getting Involved: Civic Engagement in Contemporary Egyptian Children’s Literature 55 References 69 Bright Pasts, Brighter Futures: Biographies for Children in the Early Twenty-First Century 70 An Ugly Duckling of a Genre 71 Contemporary Swans: A Note on Corpus Selection 74 Truth or Dare: Beyond Fact and Fiction 76 ‘Some Future Body’: The Biographeme as Narrative Stitch 81 The Young Reader’s Temporal Positioning in the Biography for Children 83 Notes 87 References 88 Part II: Social Justice and Diversity in Literature for Young Readers 93 “We Need Diverse Books”: Diversity, Activism, and Children’s Literature 94 Hopes and Dreams 96 Broken Dreams 101 “We Need Diverse Books”: A “Roar That Can’t Be Ignored” 105 We Have Long Needed Diverse Books 109 Echoes 111 Notes 112 References 113 What Having Two Mommies Looks Like Now: Queer Picture Books in the Twenty-First Century 120 “Heather Lives in a Little House ...” 120 Heather 1990: “Insert the Lesbian ...” 124 Heather 2000: “... and Watch Her Disappear” 130 Heather 2015: Queer Kids and Ghostly Adults 136 Notes 141 References 143 Part III: Representing Youth, Claiming Identity, and Exercising Agency 149 Laughing Out Loud or Lost in the Woods? Tween Girl Identity in Picturebooks and Graphic Novels for Children 150 Between Words and Images, Children and Adults, Now and Then 152 Transition from Childhood to Adulthood: A Continuum 155 Fatal Change 157 Tween Identity Between Idyll and Depravation 159 Tween Identity in Annette Herzog and Katrine Clante’s Pssst! 162 Tween Characters Creating in Dialogue with Consumer Culture 166 Tween Identity Between Hope and Despair 167 References 169 “Ganesha Is My Best Friend”: Homological Boyhood in Hindi Mythological Animated Films 171 Mythological Animated Films 171 The Animation Industry in India 176 Constructions of Childhood, Past and Present 178 Ruia’s Films and Middle-Class Childhood 180 Notes 187 References 188 Brazilian Childhood and Literature in the Age of Digital Technologies 190 The Convergence of Media and Literature for Children 193 Digital Reading in Context 200 Conclusions 207 References 210 Part IV: Coming of Age in the Anthropocene 213 Animals in Children’s Development 214 Relationship Theories 216 Domains of Development 218 The Pervasiveness of Animals and Nature in Children’s Lives 221 Animals and Cognitive Development 223 Animals and Emotional Development 226 Animals and Moral Development 230 Conclusion 233 Note 234 References 235 Examining Animal Bodies in War-Related Media for Children 239 Introduction 239 A History of Animals in Warfare 242 Militarizing Childhood 243 “Fit for Anything”: War Horse 244 “Gotta catch'em all!”: The Animal Avatar in Pokémon 246 “Of Course You Realize, This Means War”: Human/Animal Boundary Disputes 248 Human-Animal Transformation as Acts of War and of Peace 251 Conclusion 252 References 253 The Power and Potential: An Ecocritical Reading of Twenty-First-Century Childhood 256 An Ecocritical Reading of Our (Compromised) Future 258 Looking to the Future: Child Power in an Age of Crisis 263 References 267 Index 269 Front Matter ....Pages i-xvi Introduction: Literary Cultures and Twenty-First-Century Childhoods (Nathalie op de Beeck)....Pages 1-22 Front Matter ....Pages 23-23 Children’s Right to Participate: Insights from the Story of Malala (Jonathan Todres)....Pages 25-40 The Wisdom of Getting Involved: Civic Engagement in Contemporary Egyptian Children’s Literature (Yasmine Motawy)....Pages 41-55 Bright Pasts, Brighter Futures: Biographies for Children in the Early Twenty-First Century (Clémentine Beauvais)....Pages 57-79 Front Matter ....Pages 81-81 “We Need Diverse Books”: Diversity, Activism, and Children’s Literature (Sarah Park Dahlen)....Pages 83-108 What Having Two Mommies Looks Like Now: Queer Picture Books in the Twenty-First Century (Derritt Mason)....Pages 109-137 Front Matter ....Pages 139-139 Laughing Out Loud or Lost in the Woods? Tween Girl Identity in Picturebooks and Graphic Novels for Children (Nina Christensen)....Pages 141-161 “Ganesha Is My Best Friend”: Homological Boyhood in Hindi Mythological Animated Films (Anuja Madan)....Pages 163-181 Brazilian Childhood and Literature in the Age of Digital Technologies (Edgar Roberto Kirchof)....Pages 183-205 Front Matter ....Pages 207-207 Animals in Children’s Development (Gail F. Melson)....Pages 209-233 Examining Animal Bodies in War-Related Media for Children (Amy Ratelle)....Pages 235-251 The Power and Potential: An Ecocritical Reading of Twenty-First-Century Childhood (Alice Curry)....Pages 253-265 Back Matter ....Pages 267-279