The Courage to Imagine: The Child Hero in Children's Literature (Bloomsbury Perspectives on Children's Literature)

"The act of imagining lies at the very heart of children's engagements with literature and with the plots and characters they encounter in their favorite stories. The Courage to Imagine is a landmark new study of that fundamental act of imagining. Roni Natov focuses on the ways in which children's imaginative engagement with the child hero figure can open them up to other people's experiences, developing empathy across lines of race, gender and sexuality, as well as helping them to confront and handle traumatic experience safely. Drawing on a wide range of theoretical approaches from the psychological to the cultural and reading a multicultural spectrum of authors, including works by Maya Angelou, Louise Erdrich, Neil Gaiman, and Brian Selznick, this is a groundbreaking examination of the nature of imagining for children and re-imagining for the adult writer and illustrator."--Page 4 of cover. Cover Half-title Title Copyright Dedication Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: What I Believe 1. Landscapes of Childhood Pastoral: Forest, sky, river Interior landscapes: Private spaces 2. The Construction of the Creative Child 3. The Freedom to Imagine: Childhood Creativity and Socialization in the Work of William Steig 4. Imagining Difference and Diversity The picture book and life story Difference and the species: Owen & Mzee The young adult novel: Representing the cultural “other” American Born Chinese The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian A Wish after Midnight Fun Home 5. Reimagining Fear and Trauma Bearing witness Art, creativity, and agency Fear and denial The role of nature in healing from sexual trauma The Tale of One Bad Rat Speak The trauma of death, the ultimate loss The Graveyard Book A Monster Calls Contextualizing: Beyond individual trauma The culture of bullying The victim: The Goats The bully: The Elizabeth Stories The culture of racism: Youth as Monster The culture of domestic violence: When Dad Killed Mom 6. New Heroes: New Visions of Childhood Setting the stage: Alice, Jim Hawkins, Dorothy, and Huck New heroes Girl power: Pippi and Matilda Children’s ways of knowing: Louise Erdrich’s historical fiction for children The child writer hero: My Name Is Mina Challenging political and social institutions: King Matt and Totto-Chan King Matt, the First Totto-chan, The Little Girl at the Window Stories of community: A new heroic Nappy Hair The People Could Fly Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan 7. Imagine Empathy: Kate DiCamillo’s The Tale of Despereaux and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane 8. New Ways of Imagining the Picture Book: States of Mind, States of Feeling Shaun Tan Brian Selznick Peter Sis Epilogue: Surviving Childhood Notes References Index