Reading for Learning: Cognitive approaches to children's literature (Children’s Literature, Culture, and Cognition)

How does reading fiction affect young people? How can they transfer fictional experience into real life? Why do they care about fictional characters? How does fiction enhance young people's sense of self-hood? Supported by cognitive psychology and brain research, this ground-breaking book is the first study of young readers' cognitive and emotional engagement with fiction. It explores how fiction stimulates perception, attention, imagination and other cognitive activity, and opens radically new ways of thinking about literature for young readers. Examining a wide range of texts for a young audience, from picturebooks to young adult novels, the combination of cognitive criticism and children’s literature theory also offers significant insights for literary studies beyond the scope of children’s fiction. An important milestone in cognitive criticism, the book provides convincing evidence that reading fiction is indispensable for young people’s intellectual, emotional and social maturation. CLCC 3 Reading for Learning 2 Editorial page 3 Title page 4 LCC data 5 Table of contents 6 Acknowledgements 8 What is cognitive criticism and what’s in it for children’s literature research? 10 Assumptions and reservations 22 Chapter 1. Knowledge of the world 30 Fact and fiction 31 Realism, authenticity and representation 36 Social knowledge and intentionality 40 Possible worlds 44 Cognitive strategies 54 Chapter 2. Three possible worlds 58 An impossible world 58 A probable world 65 An improbable world 76 Chapter 3. Knowledge of other people 84 Why do we care about literary characters? 84 Where do emotions come from? 90 Empathy and identification 93 Representation and metarepresentation 97 Higher-order mind-reading 99 Emotions and empathy in multimedial narratives 103 Chapter 4. Creative mind-reading 110 Emotion ekphrasis: Emotions in multimedial texts 110 Diegetic and extradiegetic emotions 110 Reading non-human faces 117 Higher-cognitive emotions 122 Emotions and power hierarchies 130 In defence of action-oriented texts 136 Multiple protagonists and mind-reading 136 Emotions, empathy and embodiment 142 Chapter 5. Knowledge of self 150 The self-reflective mind 151 Retrospection 153 Memory and narration 154 The here and now 158 Chapter 6. Memory of the present 164 Deleted memory 164 Amplified memory 172 Distorted memory 178 Chapter 7. Ethical knowledge 186 Can children’s literature be ethically neutral? 187 Ethics and genre 191 Breaking rules 193 Whose ethics? 195 Can fictional characters have a free will? 199 The ethics of happy endings 202 Intentionality, revisited 204 Chapter 8. The ethics of address and the ethics of response 208 Being guilty and feeling guilty 208 Desire and duty 209 The guiltless trickster 215 “Time out of joint” 219 First comes food, ethics later 224 How to read a children’s book and why 234 Bibliography 238 Primary sources 238 Children’s books discussed 238 Other primary texts mentioned 239 Secondary sources 239 Index 254 How Does Reading Fiction Affect Young People? How Can They Transfer Fictional Experience Into Real Life? Why Do They Care About Fictional Characters? How Does Fiction Enhance Young People's Sense Of Self-hood? Supported By Cognitive Psychology And Brain Research, This Ground-breaking Book Is The First Study Of Young Readers' Cognitive And Emotional Engagement With Fiction. It Explores How Fiction Stimulates Perception, Attention, Imagination And Other Cognitive Activity, And Opens Radically New Ways Of Thinking About Literature For Young Readers. Examining A Wide Range Of Texts For A Young Audience, From Picturebooks To Young Adult Novels, The Combination Of Cognitive Criticism And Children S Literature Theory Also Offers Significant Insights For Literary Studies Beyond The Scope Of Children S Fiction. An Important Milestone In Cognitive Criticism, The Book Provides Convincing Evidence That Reading Fiction Is Indispensable For Young People S Intellectual, Emotional And Social Maturation.