Links to Start Your Week Off

A bit of book news for you...

The Michigan School System was presented a proposal last week from a mother seeking to ban Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl from the curriculum due to one passage she found distasteful and overly sexual. The review committee has decided not to ban it however, citing that 'situational censorship' would be in play if they did. I wonder how the Chicago Board of Education justified supporting the classroom ban of Persepolis. It certainly helped book sales but was viewed as detrimental to kids as well.

independent publisher Pushkin Press has established a new imprint, Pushkin Children's Books,aimed at translating children's books from around the globe into English. This has been something of great import on my mind as well; consider the wealth of storytelling cultural awareness, and overall knowledge that children (and adults) are missing out on by not having access to stories everywhere. There is the Marsh Award for Children's Lit in Translation, which implies its importance, but still the movement has been relatively slow. Nevertheless, Pushkin is pushing the movement forward.

Pakistan will be holding their 6th Children's Literature Festival at the end of May, the first to be held in the capital city of Islamabad. I'll be writing some more on this really soon (let the final papers be done!), but in the mean time you can read up on the organization, making groundbreaking strides with each event.

And because it's Monday and we all deserve a tasty treat to set the week right (It's Children's Book Week by the way!), here are some delectable sights to behold: edible books and more edible books.

Children's Book Editor Discusses What Makes a "Good Book" on Saturday May 11

The San Diego Chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) will feature Kira Lynn from Kane Miller Books on Saturday, May 11 at 2 p.m.

Ms. Miller will share her definition of a “good book,” offer tips on what writers and illustrators can do to make sure that they’ve submitted their best work, and discuss the state of the children’s book market in general. The event will be held at the University of San Diego in the Hahn School of Nursing building. (See a map of campus here.)

* Contact: 619-713-5462 or pr-sd@sandiego-scbwi.org
* Age limit: 18+
* When: Saturday, May 11, 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
* Where: USD: University of San Diego, 5998 Alcalá Park, San Diego, 92110 (Directions)
* Cost: $7 - $9 (Buy Tickets)

Healthy Reading before Children's Book Week

One enticing diversion of mine is to scour the food blogosphere. Sadly I've been neglecting that lately, what with the end of the semester nipping at my toes and obligations that come with it. Still, when the chance avails I catch up on what I've missed and sometimes stumble on a delight. Yesterday was no different, as I came across the following post about some healthy pickin's for the young foodie from North Atlantic Books (located in Berkeley, CA, lest that name fools you). I had the opportunity to intern with them many, many moons ago, and am not surprised by this conscious collection of wholesome reads. I wonder what presence the "food revolution" has in youth culture, and if books like this are becoming more abundant.
As an aside: if I might suggest a delicious read myself, I'd recommend Hot, Hot Roti for Dada-Ji, by F. Zia--not so much for the healthiness than for the utterly mouthwatering visions of delicious Indian bread cooked fresh at home for many generations to enjoy.

Really, I don't even have the book and I still get excited by what lies within it.

But this first discovery led me to another--I was unaware that next week is Children's Book Week, the longest-running national literacy initiative (since 1919). As someone who hopes to get more involved in literacy movements locally and globally, I always get excited about these programs and checked out if any local events were happening. Apparently events will occur in La Jolla at Warwicks Books, including a reading/signing event with local author/illustrator Salina Yoon.

These initiatives make me reflect on the balance between being children's lit scholar and children's lit(eracy) advocate -- where they share ground and where they diverge. I'll have to hash that one out later. For now, I need some roti...

Brave New Girls: What it means to be a heroine in dystopian YA literature

If I were in New York City, I would definitely be going to this talk on May 10. The editors of the forthcoming book Contemporary Fiction for Young Adults: Brave New Teenagers will discuss the intersections between dystopias and pop culture, examining the hows and whys of the dystopian trend in contemporary young adult literature.

This relates to Alya's post from yesterday, where she mused over the popularity of certain kinds of young adult books. In fact, just the other day, Alya and I were chatting and marveling about how the dystopian trend hasn't yet hit a saturation point in the YA market. Why is this, do you think? Is it because audiences were so captivated by the thrilling Hunger Games that they just want more reading experiences like that? Is it because teenagers now live in a post-9/11 America, where a palpable awareness of terrorism gives rise to fear, and teens need to read comforting tales of heroes trumping totalitarian societies? Or is it simply because this is our culture's version of the mythic hero tale? Instead of knights questing to eradicate a monster and bring back some sort of treasure to the ruling party, we now have teenage protagonists (usually female) questing to overthrow a frightening dictatorship and return life to a semblance of "normal."

So the next question is why the teenage girl protagonist? Obviously there is science fiction and dystopian literature that features adult protagonists, but it is the work that follows the teenager's journey that has so populated the market. I might suggest that the fight against authority and the ultimate triumph of the teenage hero is a [wishful] metaphor for the move from adolescence to adulthood, a fantastical one where the adolescent successfully finds her place after the trials and tribulations of "figuring it all out."

Of course, we know that life is never that easy -- the time period between adolescence and adulthood is increasingly murky, and even if one "grows up" successfully (e.g. has a job they don't hate and enough money to live on their own), the story doesn't end there.

But frequently in dystopian literature, the story does end with the ultimate triumph of the female protagonist. She has suffered loss, yes, and she must cope with the drastic changes that her decisions have led to, but she is also wiser, and she has a place of relative power in this new society. Her journey has led her from being acted upon to being the actor.

So maybe what this boils down to (admittedly simplisticly) is that teenagers (and adults, too) are drawn to dystopian young adult literature for the hope they provide. Ultimately, don't we all want to believe that we would be actors and not acted-upon, come the revolution? Even if we know that the majority of people will let change happen TO them, we can read works that allow us to align with the people who CREATE that change.

We can pretend that we are brave new heroes.

Limitless YA Publishing and a Fix of Fantasy

When I was young--or specifically, a young adult (whatever that actually means)--I spent most of my time reading 19th and 20th century classics, some fantasy, the occasional mystery thriller and, when no one was looking, current children's books that my younger brother was assigned from school. Even in my teenage years, I had developed a sense of nostalgia for the books I had read five, six, eight years prior, so it was with that memory that I'd check out the brother's newest assigned reading, curious about the goings on of the children's literary world.

But I was certainly not reading anything printed for me and my age group. Not regularly at least. That is why the Young Adult category intrigues me, as it may most of you. It has catapulted in the past ten years, generating some of the most memorable, and loathed, books of our generation. Is it because they are "easier" to read, venture into more fantastical or currently dystopic areas, or people just can't get enough of the teenage psyche? It's certainly profitable, which is why so many publishers are adopting the genre and creating their own YA imprints. Even Penguin Books India is launching INKED, their own "hip new young adult imprint." A recent LA Times article points out why:

What's the reason? Readers, or more specifically, book-buying readers. It's been obvious since midway through the Harry Potter series that books for kids could sell big -- in part because adults are reading the books as well. The success of the "Twilight" and "The Hunger Games" series proved that what might have looked like a trend is more like a habit. There are young adult book buyers are to be had.

That's wonderful--the book buying industry is on the rise in the children's lit area--and yet there is room for worry, if they all aim to churn out what's "trending" instead of what is innovative, challenging, or just different. Sigh. I'm grumbling to myself, when I should be celebrating all the new and exciting things that have come to pass and do await. But can we just move past the dystopias and all the cavalcade of "mean-girl" high school dramas? Has our storytelling run dry? Not at all. I just hope that these imprints search out the best of the best.

On an entirely separate note, speaking of what awaits us, if you're a fantasy/sci-fi aficionado, this Ultimate Guide to Fantasy and SciFi in May should help you get your fix in May.

Reminder: Professor Lissa Paul to Give Lecture Tomorrow, May 1

Date and Time: Wednesday, May 1, 5:00-6:30 PM

Location: Student Services East, Room 1401
Free and Open to the Public

"In Search of Eliza Fenwick (1766-1840): Or, the Trials and Tribulations of Writing a Life"

The National Center for the Study of Children's Literature and the Department of English & Comparative Literature are proud to co-sponsor Professor Lissa Paul's lecture on Eliza Fenwick.

Paul's lecture concerns her latest book project, which she originally intended to be a standard biographical “life” of Eliza Fenwick (1766-1840), what one might call a literary biography. However, over the course of her research and writing, Paul realized that a Possession-like narrative, something that entwines Fenwick's life story with Paul's own search for that life, provided the better structure.

As Fenwick’s story is an adventure story, an immigrant’s story, a mother’s story, a writer’s story, and the story of an abolitionist slave-holder, its narrative structure is fraught, especially as there are missing pieces and complicated ethical questions to negotiate. Paul's talk is an attempt to navigate the Scylla and Charybdis of writing Eliza’s life. It is a public lecture, for students, faculty, and our community.

The Melted Refrigerator: The Autobiography of Francelia Butler

Compiled from over 40 versions of her autobiography collected at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at the University of Connecticut, The Melted Refrigerator: Comedy and Combat in the Life of a Woman has just been released this week and details the innumerable accomplishments and memories of Francelia Butler.  The field of Children's Literature owes much to this remarkable woman who played a major role in placing Children's Lit on the map of academic scholarship, including creating the journal Children’s Literature (originally titled The Great Excluded), and serving as a founding director of the Children’s Literature Association in 1972. Its release is perfectly timed with the centennial of her birthday, and it also acts as a spirited precursor to the Children's Literature Association Conference that is just over a month away.

The book is described as being "a delicious, magical, moveable feast" richly filled with Butler's memories and adventures. It currently can be found at the UConn and Harvard Bookstores.

You can read more about the creation of the book, and of Butler's enormous presence in UConn and academia, here.

PAMLA: YA Lit Panel Submission Deadline Extended to May 12th

The general submission deadline for the PAMLA conference in San Diego has passed (April 15th) but there are a number of sessions that have extended their deadline to May 12th, including the following panel on Young Adult Literature, chaired by SDSU grad student Megan Parry.

The details:

Young Adult literature has been growing in popularity with readers and scholars. Why do these stories interest a young audience as well as adults? Why are new versions of old stories still interesting? This session will focus on Young Adult literature as well as literature about young adults. Submit a title, an abstract of approximately 40 words, and a proposal of 300-500 words explaining your project pertaining to the realm of Young Adult literature. Proposals must be uploaded via the online proposal submission form (http://www.pamla.org/2013/) by May 12th, 2013. Papers can range from any time period and genre (novel, short stories, film, etc).

Topics prospective panelists may wish to address include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Influences on identity formation
• Marketing of YA literature
• Depictions of the young adult body
• Trauma and violence
• Dystopian YA novels
• Gender
• Family relations
• Young adults relationship with media and technology
• Aesthetics in YA literature

Questions may be directed to Megan Parry at mparry@mail.sdsu.edu, but all proposals must be submitted directly to the PAMLA website

Professor Lissa Paul to Give Lecture on May 1st

"In Search of Eliza Fenwick (1766-1840): Or, the Trials and Tribulations of Writing a Life"

Wednesday, May 1, 5:00pm – 6:30pm
Location: SSE 1401

Open to the Public

The National Center for the Study of Children's Literature and the Department of English & Comparative Literature are proud to co-sponsor Professor Lissa Paul's lecture on Eliza Fenwick. Paul's lecture concerns her latest book project, which she originally intended to be a standard biographical “life” of Eliza Fenwick (1766-1840), what one might call a literary biography. However, over the course of her research and writing, Paul realized that a Possession-like narrative, something that entwines Fenwick's life story with Paul's own search for that life, provided the better structure. As Fenwick’s story is an adventure story, an immigrant’s story, a mother’s story, a writer’s story, and the story of an abolitionist slave-holder, its narrative structure is fraught, especially as there are missing pieces and complicated ethical questions to negotiate. Paul's talk is an attempt to navigate the Scylla and Charybdis of writing Eliza’s life. It is a public lecture, for students, faculty, and our community. 

Lissa Paul (Ph.D. York University) is a professor of education at Brock University. She is the author of Reading Otherways (1998), which was a finalist for the F. Harvey Darton Award for historical criticism. Her work on children’s literature has appeared in Signal, The Children’s Literature Association Quarterly, and The Horn Book, among others. Paul is a former co-editor of the children’s literature journal The Lion and the Unicorn and recently, with Philip Nel, co-edited the essay collection Keywords in Children's Literature (NYU Press). 

Earth Day!

Check out our review blog for a book that is perfect for Earth Day. Titled "River Song" (time for a shout out to you Doctor Who fans), the story describes the noises that nature makes. Oh, and it's written by Steve Van Zandt, aka Silvio Dante aka Bruce Springsteen's guitarist. Neat, huh?

Princess Culture and Consumerism

In light of the fairy tale discussions we've had on the blog this week, this link is an excellent example of one of the many ways fairy tales show up in society.

These Disney-princess-themed rings run between $1000 and $5000 a pop. Oh, heck yeah.

Except...these aren't actually sold by the jeweler who designed these rings. At first I was going to point out that I came to these rings by way of a post on Jezebel.com, which said that these ring designs already existed in the jeweler's inventory before the ol' fantasy lyrics were engraved inside the band. But further investigation revealed that these rings are an invention of the site http://heckyeahdisneymerch.tumblr.com.

It's still an interesting example of how commodified fairy tales are now. Even if these rings aren't being marketed by the jeweler as Disney princess rings (I wonder if they soon will be?), the existence of this as an idea calls to mind questions about "princess culture." It also reminded me of this Disney bridal collection by Alfred Angelo:

There are dozens of Disney-inspired dresses, and if you'll notice, the first line of the "about" paragraph tells you that "Your Fairy Tale Awaits..." It's fascinating that marketers pull on the happy ending trope by implying that the wedding is the end goal. You'll have your fairy tale wedding, and that's all that matters. You know how in fairy tales it ends with a big lavish sparkly wedding? Yeah! That could be you! Your wedding day is your chance to be a princess!

I could write a lot more incensed prose about how problematic it is to link the wedding day with being a princess and how that just feeds into the Wedding Industrial Complex and how a fancy billowy gauzy ethereal princess wedding is not the most important moment in a relationship and how your wedding day is ONE DAY and so on and so forth. But I won't, because it's Friday, and I've had a long week.

But before I sign off, I do want to pose the question of why fairy tale wedding dresses and jewels are so popular. What is it about the pervasiveness of princess culture that these items exist for grown women to purchase? As someone who was never wildly into Disney princesses, I'll admit that I have no personal connection with this. Is it because it evokes childhood happiness? Is it because in spite of our progressive times, many women still subconsciously want to be beautiful princesses who are revered for their exquisiteness, because that's what we're so often taught in mainstream children's media?

What do you think?

P.S. There is going to be a panel at PAMLA about princess culture; I really hope someone talks about Disney and the wedding industry. 

Art, Inspiration, and Adaptations

First, a brief announcement that the Museum trip with the ChildLit GSA has been cancelled, but if you want to check out the Maurice Sendak exhibit on your own, you have until April 28th! And if you do, feel free to share your experience and review of it.

In fact, there are always interesting exhibits and events going on all over the place, if you know where to look. Case in point, the Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra has had some really intriguing exhibits in the past. It's always frustrating to learn about these after the fact, like the Tribute to Wizard of Oz collection; however, one can at least view the pieces and artwork online to get a taste of the exhibit. Their upcoming gallery exhibit, starting oh-so-coincidentally on May 4th, is "A Saga in the Stars: a Tribute to a Galaxy Far, Far Away," featuring artwork inspired by the Star Wars franchise. I wonder what this exhibit will have transformed into once Disney's own life force reincarnates the saga into a never-ending series?

Speaking of Disney, a short piece of Huffington Post today discusses the malleability of fairy tales in every generation, mentioning the domination of Disney in children's minds. Liesl Shurtliff writes, "Fairy tales have survived for generations, not just because of their symbolic nature, but because they are flexible. We can shift point-of-view, draw different conclusions, and even change the events of the tale to make them more meaningful to our current social, political, and moral points-of-view." What follows are a series of "successful" adaptations... Do you agree with the arguments for these adaptations? What would you include?

Cinderella In Pictures Through the Ages

I'm writing about Marissa Meyer's Cinder for my thesis, and I've been looking at the different iterations of Cinderella through the years. I love how various illustrations/images of Cinderella reflect the time period in which they were created. Check out this progression from the 1800s until today:

George Cruikshank (1792-1878)

Arthur Rackham (1867-1939)

Harry Clarke (1889-1931)

Walt Disney (Film: 1950)

The New Yorker (1993)

Dina Goldstein (2009)

And for giggles (and related to that last image), let's not forget Kristen Wiig's hilarious drunk Cinderella:

Finally, there is some wonderful fan art on the internet for Marissa Meyer's Cinder (2012), whose Cinderella character is a working-class cyborg mechanic with metal limbs. I'm especially fond of this image:

New Imprint Resuscitates Forgotten YA of Years Past

I have a question: what is a classic? A children's book classic? Does it fall within a particular genre or time period? Has it evolved or are we glued to the traditional idea of it, forever and ever?  These have been thoughts trampling around my brain the past week, so I found it eerily fitting to come across news about a new imprint aiming to revitalize out of print YA books, to return to the public a variety of "classic" books from bygone eras.

The imprint, explained Ig publisher Robert Lasner, will “bring back the very best in young adult literature, from the classics of the 1930s and 1940s, to the thrillers and social novels of the 1970s and 1980s.”

I was struck by the word choice, "classics of the 1930's...", but not because I doubt the merit of the books slated for return. Rather, I wonder whether a classic would go out of print in the first place, and thus is such a term even relevant or should it start to ebb out of the conversation. I welcome these additions, specifically because the writers in question are predominantly women whose works introduced darkly comedic traits directly to Young Adult audiences. Considering the over-abundance of YA novels now, many of which fall into the thriller and dark territory, it certainly is worth experiencing and exploring the texts of earlier decades that contributed--maybe even helped shape--the status of YA now.

Do you think it will appeal to the young generations now though? The Imprint is not shy of sharing that they are targeting the original generation of readers, not current teens. Will a 70's thriller seem unappealing, or just retro enough to be cool?

ChildLit GSA Forum: Field Trip!

Next Week: Final ChildLit GSA Forum of Spring 2013 

When: Saturday, April 20, 10:00 am

Where: Bowers Museum, 2002 N. Main Street, Santa Ana, CA 92706

Topic: "Maurice Sendak: 50 Years, 50 Words, 50 Reasons"

The SDSU ChildLit GSA is at it again, transforming our Discussion Forums into a fun and stimulating excursion for all. This time, we are planning our own little field trip! If you have ever read (and consequently loved) a book written or illustrated by Maurice Sendak, then you really will want to join us this coming Saturday.  We are going as a group to visit the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana to see the Maurice Sendak art exhibit: 50 Years, 50 Words, 50 Reasons (it ends April 28th! Not much time left!).

I blogged about the exhibit recently, so you can find all the details about it there. The GSA plans to visit the museum and then have a light lunch in the area to talk shop about Sendak, picture book illustrations in general, and the next wild thing in the horizon.

If you are interested in joining us, please comment on this post or email sdchildlitgrads@gmail.com ASAP; we hope to obtain funding for travel and tickets (looking forward to a fun train ride up the Amtrak possibly!). We do need to know by Wednesday April 17th if you will come with us so we can have tickets arranged and finalize meeting times. Of course, you are welcome to come separately and meet us there too.

For more Information about the ChildLit GSA, please visit us at:

The GSA Website, Our Facebook Page or on Twitter

Links for a Friday morning

I've been hoarding some particularly interesting links to share here. Read on for news about celebrity authors, 19th-century comics, gay characters in YA, and more.

Just because they can, does that mean they should? Apparently Jason Segel ("How I Met Your Mother," "Freaks and Geeks", various Judd Apatow films) has written a series of three YA novels that are "about kids facing their biggest fears." I dunno. I generally feel skeptical about literature written by actors.

The last decade has seen a surge in children's books about "non-traditional" families. This article from Jezebel takes a look at some of the most significant.

This website houses a digital collection of British comics from 1873-1939. I'm especially fascinated by the Tramps & Oddballs category.

The Atlantic Wire has a wonderful piece exploring queerness in YA literature. The article, "A New Way for Gay Characters in YA," briefly traces the history of gay characters in YA and asks for recommendations in the comments for books they may have missed.

And speaking of authors featured in the aforementioned Atlantic Wire piece, David Levithan wrote a thoughtful essay reflecting on writing Boy Meets Boy in the early aughts.

This is an interesting slideshow of famous authors as teenagers. Almost all of them look preternaturally mature to me. Is that a trick of vintage photography or old souls shining through?

I am really bummed about this tepid review of Strands of Bronze and Gold by Jane Nickerson. It's a retelling of Bluebeard, and y'all know how I love my fairy tale retellings. But this reviewer found it lacking, and considering that I generally agree with Leila's reviews, I am now less excited to read this. Hmmm...

Okay, this one isn't really child lit related, but you have to take a look at this "where are they now?" slideshow of 31 child stars. Atreyu and Sebastian are on here!

Kidd Talk Canceled

The National Center for the Study of Children's Literature regrets to announce that Professor Kenneth Kidd will not be speaking at the SDSU campus tomorrow (Thursday April 11th, 5 pm). 

We apologize for any inconvenience this cancellation may cause. There will be no alternative program. Hopefully he will be able to visit in the future, but for now we don't have any set plans.

Once again, many apologies for having to cancel tomorrow's event.

Reminder: Paper Proposals for PAMLA Children's Literature Panel Due April 15

The Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association (PAMLA) Conference will be held in San Diego this year, from November 1-3, 2013 at the Bahia Resort Hotel. Below is the CFP for the children's literature panel, chaired by SDSU graduate student Lauren Benard.

Children's Literature Panel

Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association

Contact email: laurenbenard@hotmail.com

Proposal deadline: April 15, 2013

The academic interest in children's literature has been growing in popularity. Why do these stories interest a young audience as well as adults? Why are new versions of old stories still interesting? Is the story itself compelling, or are readers fascinated with the aspect of the child itself? This session will focus on children's literature as well as literature about children. Papers can range from any time period and genre (young adult, picture book, folk, film, etc.) Submit a proposal of 300-500 words explaining your project pertaining to the realm of children's literature.

Topics prospective panelists may wish to address include but are not limited to the following:

• Marketing of children's literature
• Intended audience
• Depictions of the changing child body
• The dynamic between the adult/child relationship
• Trauma
• Gender
• Creativity
• Family relations
• Visual and literary worlds of childhood

Proposals should be submitted to PAMLA's online proposal system (http://www.pamla.org) by April 15, 2013.

Direct any questions to Lauren Benard (laurenbenard@hotmail.com).

Reminder: Kenneth Kidd Event this Thursday April 11

In case it slipped your mind or you just happened to miss the announcement last week, this Thursday the National Center for the Study of Children's Literature in conjunction with the Department of English and Comparative Literature is hosting a lecture session with University of Florida's Dr. Kenneth Kidd. His lecture, "Philosophy for Children" will be followed by a question-and-answer period, so plan to attend and invite anyone you think would be interested. The Event is open to the public.

 It will be held on Thursday, April 11, 2013 from 5:00 - 6:30 pm in Hardy Tower room 140  (HT 140) We are all extremely excited to have him here, and you should be too! 

 

Click HERE for more details about Dr. Kidd's planned lecture.

SPA/ACYIG Conference on Childhood Studies This Week

2013 Biennial Meeting of the
Society for Psychological Anthropology
With the Anthropology of Children and Youth Interest Group

Hyatt Regency Mission Bay in San Diego, CA
April 4-7, 2013

If you're around this week and interested in an anthropological approach to the study of children (literature or otherwise), consider visiting the SPA/ACYIG conference to hear different perspective on Childhood Studies. SDSU’s Dr. Elisa Sobo is presenting on “Play” on Friday which may be of particular interest to some. Grad Student Kelsey Wadman will also be there, participating in the poster sessions.

 

Some details about the conference:

For the first time the Society for Psychological Anthropology biennial meeting will be held jointly with the Anthropology of Children and Youth Interest Group (ACYIG).

Psychological anthropology examines the relation among social processes, cultural meanings, and human subjectivities.  Psychological anthropologists study topics such as narrative, identity, experience, emotion, memory, discourse, belief, motivation, conceptualization, gender, sexuality, trauma, mental illness, stigmatization, and psychological development in social and cultural contexts.
The anthropology of children and youth is the cross-cultural and ethnographic examination of infants, children, youth, and adolescents.  It examines such topics as child development across time and space (physical, cognitive, emotional, social); parenting, childcare, and childrearing around the world; the evolution of childhood; the impact of globalization on children and their families and communities; child health; child education and learning; child participation in their cultures; the socio-historical construction of childhood; child agency and vulnerability; children’s rights; the political lives of children; and critical studies of childhood.

In addition to panels and discussion groups, we will also schedule plenary sessions, coffee breaks, and receptions that will bring our group together and facilitate informal conversation and networking. 

Saturday afternoon the ACYIG will hold a business meeting.  There will be a banquet on Saturday night, highlighted by presentation of the SPA Lifetime Achievement Awards to Anthony Wallace and to Jean Lave.

Registration for the SPA /ACYIG Biennial Meeting on April 4-7th, 2013 in San Diego is now open. Click here. The registration fee for professionals is $125 and a reduced rate of $60 for students. One-day conference rates for professionals are $50 and $25 for students. These fees cover all conference costs including meeting room rentals, audio / visual equipment, programs, etc.

Find all the info HERE

Prof. Kenneth Kidd to Speak at SDSU on April 11th!

We here at SDSU and the National Center for the Study of Children's Literature can't get enough of the University of Florida's Dr. Kenneth Kidd. First he virtually visited us last October for an illuminating brown bag discussion session of a chapter from his book Freud in OZ. And now he will be right here with us (live! in the flesh!) to speak about his research on the Philosophy for Children movement of the 1970's and its resurgence in child-rearing and children's literature now.

Please join us on Thursday, April 11, 2013 from 5:00 - 6:30 pm in Hardy Tower room 140  (HT 140) to hear Professor Kidd's lecture followed by a question-and-answer session. We are all extremely excited to have him here, and you should be too! 

Professor Kidd kindly wrote up an introductory piece to acquaint us with his talk, so here we go:

On Thursday, March 27, 2013, the NPR blog written by Robert Krulwich featured a story with the title "Socrates (In the Form of a 9-Year-Old) Shows Up in a Suburban Backyard in Washington." The entry describes how Washington, D. C. based musician, blogger, and camera man Zia Hassan, visiting his fiance during a babysitting gig, comes across a young boy with an interest in cosmology. Teasingly Hassan asks the boy about dark matter, and is stunned to hear the boy's nuanced, careful answer. The ensuing discussion, taped with the boy's permission, is now on YouTube with a million and a half views so far. The boy is not named, but simply referred to as The Philosopher. "Where," asks Krulwich, "did he learn about multiverses, free will, the odds of intelligent life in the universe? How does he manage to be so aware of what he doesn't know?" (Meanwhile, the Philosopher's young brother talks just as philosophically about baseball). The piece is a meditation on the curiosity and wisdom of children, and on the importance of parental encouragement. Krulwich quotes Hassan: "I think there are a lot of kids who think about interesting things. It's my guess no one really asks them about it." The moral seems to be that if adults were less afraid of what their children might think or say, their children might think or say pretty deep things.

Such was a core assumption of the Philosophy for Children movement, or P4C for short. In 1970, inspired by 1960s social activism and eager to promote critical thinking in young people, philosophy professor Matthew Lipman published his philosophical novel for children, Harry Stottlemeier’s Discovery, which was used for teaching purposes in the Montclair public school system of New Jersey. Its success in the classroom alongside positive media attention helped lead to the establishment of the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children (IAPC), headquartered at Montclair State College where Lipman was appointed. Students involved in IAPC programs ostensibly saw significant improvements in their reading and critical thinking skills. Under Lipman, the IAPC devoted itself to producing pedagogical materials, beginning with additional novels written by Lipman and accompanying teacher workbooks. Lipman also designed graduate level programs in the field of Philosophy for Children and in 1979 founded Thinking: The Journal of Philosophy for Children, which folded in 2011. Other universities as well as various institutes also undertook work with public school students. Wikipedia reports that “Before the Department of Education cut funding for such programs in the early 1990s, there were over 5,000 programs in K-12 schools nationwide which engaged young people in philosophical reflection or critical thinking, more generally. This number has dropped substantially.”

While support for P4C programs has faded, the idea that children are natural philosophers persists, and lately we've seen a resurgence of this notion, in child-rearing literature, in writing for children and young adults, and in how-to volumes such as Dr. Seuss and Philosophy. This presentation focuses on the P4C movement, and on ongoing claims to the child as exemplary philosopher. Special attention is given to the place of children's and young adult literature, and also to the connections between P4C and a related enterprise, "theory for beginners."

Grimm, Haiti, and the Art of Influence

I recently read about a new translation of the Grimm's Fairy Tales, selected and translated by Peter Wortsman and worked from the 1857 edition of the German tales. What makes Selected Tales of the Brothers Grimm worthy of acknowledgement--aside from Wortsman's return to "a tincture of concentrated man-eating ogre and ground hag tooth, diluted in blood, sweat and tears, as a potent vaccine against the crippling effects of fear and fury"--is the artwork included, all done by contemporary Haitian artists. This mixing of two cultures may prove to launch a fascinating and unexplored conversation between the text and the world around it, and I am reminded of Jill's previous post about subversion. What does it take to subvert a text (if we even know what subversion means)? In this case, the words hover closely to the original tales (despite the wall that erupts by the very nature of translating) but by coupling them with the artwork of a vastly different culture, does the result offer an altered mode of viewing, understanding, and applying the text? Maybe, maybe not. will the art nurture or twist the text? We'll have to wait until this book is published to see its particular outcome, but the idea lingers.

This consideration also offshoots into the realm of influence. We never tire of the Grimm Brothers' Tales; new translations, imaginings, and adaptations occur left and right and in every medium (movies, television, art, etc.); their presence in Western Culture cannot be ignored. I'm not very familiar, however, with the nature of their infuence in other regions: Asian, African, South American... So to combine the Grimm tales with Haitian artistry not only makes me curious about new readings, but also about the broader issue of who will bear a greater influence on the interpretation of the other?

A few weeks ago I was caught by the headline of the following article: The Most Influential Publisher You've Never Heard of. Influential? So curious to see who! and how! One click revealed a spotlight on Room to Read, an NGO I have followed for some time and have much respect for. I admit I was slightly concerned about what kind of influence they were imparting, but the article describes their work in creating native language children's books. Rather than translating English stories into other languages, they enlist the work and cooperation of local people to write and publish their own stories. "If the books were to work — to make kids read and want to keep on reading — they had to be culturally relevant."  So in what capacity is Room to Read influential then? Certainly not in terms of Western culture through text (like a translation of the Grimms Tales in Nepal might be received... or not) but within the terrain of literacy and education, yes. And in trying to instill a love of (local) language, probably. Influence as a tool ends up taking many different shapes; are some more acceptable, more appetizing, more ethical than others? How do we know?

Fairy Tales and Subversion

Greetings from Boston! It's very cold, but the bracing temps are surprisingly refreshing to this San Diego denizen. I'm here for the Northeast Modern Language Association conference, and yesterday I presented on a panel titled "Grimm Revisions: Disenchanting Fairy Tales." Six panelists talked about, respectively, the moral lessons of cop shows in "GRIMM," the evolution of Snow White, fairy tale elements in Black Swan, the real and symbolic in Pan's Labyrinth, fairy tale retellings in dystopian settings (that was me), and the grotesque in Zenoscope comics. The discussion that followed our presentations was fascinating and invigorating, and one of the keywords that kept coming up and that nearly all of us used in our papers was "subversion." This text subverts this fairy tale in this way, this representation of the mother subverts the fairy tale standard, this plot point subverts the expectations of this fairy tale, and so on.

But one of the panelists asked a question that got me thinking: what is subversion, really? Doesn't it mean that there should be a counter argument to what is expected? And if an author or filmmaker uses a well-known text, shouldn't they say something different than what the standard text does? As my fellow panelist asked, does a subversion need to be more than just a different ending?

In my paper, I talked about how, in her YA novel Cinder, Marissa Meyer "subverts" the classic Cinderella tale by circumventing the standard girl-marries-prince ending. But (spoiler alert) Meyer still gives her readers a semblance of a happy ending in that the main character finds out that she is a princess who has a rightful claim to a very significant throne. Is it accurate to call this book subversive when it still hits the notes we expect out of a Cinderella narrative? I miiiiight argue that that yes, it is still subversive, because the royalty is neither something Cinder wants nor something that is handed to her. She has to fight for it, and at the end of book one (of a planned quadrilogy), she is not ready to do so.

I think this is idea of "what qualifies as subversion" is very interesting to consider, because it is a word that is bandied about with inherent assumptions attached to it. But if a fairy tale re-imagining simply reinscribes traditional expectations (like the film Snow White and The Huntsman, for example), can we call it subversive?

I'm still stewing on this. What do you think?

Links to Ponder (Thursday Edition)

Before the end of the week arrives, take a moment to peruse the following articles and issues that have cropped up lately. The topics presented here either raise or challenge questions that I feel are constantly prevalent in the discussion of children and "their" literature.

1. A recent NY Times  article titled The Stories That Bind Us discusses impact that family narratives have on children's development. "The more children knew about their family’s history, the stronger their sense of control over their lives, the higher their self-esteem and the more successfully they believed their families functioned."  Simply by the act of storytelling. The article describes in brief the research efforts of psychologists from Emory University in assessing this hypothesis. It could have continued into a larger analysis on the implications of sharing family history, traditions, positive moments--particularly, the history and importance of oral narratives at all. Storytelling, especially for young people, takes on a deeper purpose and suddenly does not seem so "childish".

2. You may have heard or read about the ongoing battle over Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis in the Chicago Public School system. Originally it had been announced that the graphic novel would be removed from classrooms and school libraries, but that decision has since been altered and with the Chicago Board of Education's approval, it will remain in libraries but not be taught in 7th to 10th classes for now, only accessible to 11-th and 12th graders. Evidently officials fear presenting children with images and stories that include torture and violence, despite the growing relevance of those acts in our culture today. Is it inappropriate? Do we consider children incapable of handling these issues? And don't they realize that if you ban something as substantial as this, you will inspire protests and increase sales of the book in question--evidently one would be hard-pressed to find Persepolis in Chicago bookstores right now.

3. A little bit of interesting to wrap things up: Century of the Child: Growing by Design (1900-2000) Maria Popova highlights and describes the companion book to a the New York MOMA exhibit: "Through 100 years of toys, playgrounds, classrooms, clothing, furniture, posters, animation, books, and other ephemera, it covers such expansive and interrelated subjects as genetic engineering, the role of play in cultivating creativity, the importance of children in expanding 20th-century economies, the rise of comic strips, and the cultural significance of nostalgia."

ChildLit GSA Forum and a Movie: OZ!

This Saturday: GSA Movie Meetup and Discussion Forum (UPDATED LOCATION)

When: Saturday, March 23, 10:30 am to 3:00 pm

Where: Grossmont Reading Cinemas, followed by (free!) lunch at BJ's Restaurant

Topic of the Day: L. Frank Baum's World of Oz and all its reincarnations

The GSA Discussion Forum is doing something a little new, a little exciting, and a little fantastic: meeting to watch Oz the Great and Powerful before convening for lunch and discussion on the movies, the books, and more! And good news: lunch will be covered by the GSA!

The GSA Forums are a chance to engage with like-minded folks on all realms and levels of Children's Lit. This month we want to delve into the fascinating world of Oz created by L. Frank Baum, first by watching the film conceived as a prequel to his universe, and then having lunch and delightful discussion. Feel free to bring any topics to share, whether on or off topic--the forum is meant to be a welcoming and casual gathering. And come prepared for some fun and games!

This Forum is open to all folks interested. That means faculty, grad students, undergrads, and you! So whether you have tons to discuss or you just feel like listening in, please drop by! It also provides an excellent opportunity to meet like-minded peers and scholars of the field.

We'll be meeting by 10:15 am to watch the film at 10:30 am. *The movie time for Grossmont says 10:30 am--confirmed* Lunch will follow at BJ's, around 1:15 pm. Keep your eyes tuned on Our Facebook Page for more information.

Please let us know if you intend to join for the movie, the discussion/lunch afterward, or both. Remember, Lunch is on us!

Looking forward to meeting up, hanging out, and exploring The Wonderful World of Oz! 

For more Information about the ChildLit GSA, please visit us at:

The GSA Website: http://sdchildlitgsa.wordpress.com/

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On Twitter: @SDSUChildLitGSA