The Rhetorical Power of Children's Literature

Edited by John H. Saunders - Contributions by Jennifer Beidendorf; Mary Elizabeth Bezanson; Lauren Rose Camacci; Joshua D. Hill; Lauren Lemley; Brett Lunceford; Deborah Lee Norland; Christopher J. Oldenburg and Michael Warren Tumolo

The Rhetorical Power of Children's Literature is an edited volume with contributions from established and new scholars of rhetoric offering case studies that analyze a full array of genres in children’s literature from picture books to young adult novels. Collectively, this volume’s contributions interrogate how children’s literature is a powerful yet under examined space of rhetorical discourse that influences one of the most vulnerable segments of our population.
This book is singularly unique given that it will be the first collection of essays on children’s literature from the distinct perspective of the field of Communication. Beyond topical novelty, the contributors utilize a range of scholarly methods to analyze instances of the rhetoric of children’s literature. Consequently, essays in this volume may be read for both their specific topical content and as exemplars for multiple methodological approaches to the study of the rhetoric of children’s literature. Collectively, the contributors set out to contribute to our knowledge of how instances of children’s literature operate as rhetorical discourses.
The volume is organized by case studies approached through critical, rhetorical lenses that analyze specific instances of children’s literature from two distinct stages of children’s developmental reading experiences including pre/early literacy and fluent reading. Structurally, the book includes eight content chapters divided evenly with four chapters analyzing books for young children and four chapters analyzing books targeting audiences from late-childhood to adolescence. An overview of each content chapter accompanies this proposal.
is an edited volume with contributions from established and new scholars of rhetoric offering case studies that analyze a full array of genres in children’s literature from picture books to young adult novels. Collectively, this volume’s contributions interrogate how children’s literature is a powerful yet under examined space of rhetorical discourse that influences one of the most vulnerable segments of our population.
This book is singularly unique given that it will be the first collection of essays on children’s literature from the distinct perspective of the field of Communication. Beyond topical novelty, the contributors utilize a range of scholarly methods to analyze instances of the rhetoric of children’s literature. Consequently, essays in this volume may be read for both their specific topical content and as exemplars for multiple methodological approaches to the study of the rhetoric of children’s literature. Collectively, the contributors set out to contribute to our knowledge of how instances of children’s literature operate as rhetorical discourses.
The volume is organized by case studies approached through critical, rhetorical lenses that analyze specific instances of children’s literature from two distinct stages of children’s developmental reading experiences including pre/early literacy and fluent reading. Structurally, the book includes eight content chapters divided evenly with four chapters analyzing books for young children and four chapters analyzing books targeting audiences from late-childhood to adolescence. An overview of each content chapter accompanies this proposal.

Lexington Books

Pages: 192 • Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜

978-1-4985-4329-3 • Hardback • December 2016 • $117.00 • (£90.00)

978-1-4985-4331-6 • Paperback • November 2018 • $46.99 • (£36.00)

978-1-4985-4330-9 • eBook • December 2016 • $44.50 • (£35.00)

Series: Children and Youth in Popular Culture

Subjects: Literary Criticism / Children's & Young Adult Literature, Literary Criticism / Modern / General, Literary Criticism / Subjects & Themes / General

The Rhetorical Power of Children's Literature

Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Summary

The Rhetorical Power of Children's Literature is an edited volume with contributions from established and new scholars of rhetoric offering case studies that analyze a full array of genres in children’s literature from picture books to young adult novels. Collectively, this volume’s contributions interrogate how children’s literature is a powerful yet under examined space of rhetorical discourse that influences one of the most vulnerable segments of our population.
This book is singularly unique given that it will be the first collection of essays on children’s literature from the distinct perspective of the field of Communication. Beyond topical novelty, the contributors utilize a range of scholarly methods to analyze instances of the rhetoric of children’s literature. Consequently, essays in this volume may be read for both their specific topical content and as exemplars for multiple methodological approaches to the study of the rhetoric of children’s literature. Collectively, the contributors set out to contribute to our knowledge of how instances of children’s literature operate as rhetorical discourses.
The volume is organized by case studies approached through critical, rhetorical lenses that analyze specific instances of children’s literature from two distinct stages of children’s developmental reading experiences including pre/early literacy and fluent reading. Structurally, the book includes eight content chapters divided evenly with four chapters analyzing books for young children and four chapters analyzing books targeting audiences from late-childhood to adolescence. An overview of each content chapter accompanies this proposal.
is an edited volume with contributions from established and new scholars of rhetoric offering case studies that analyze a full array of genres in children’s literature from picture books to young adult novels. Collectively, this volume’s contributions interrogate how children’s literature is a powerful yet under examined space of rhetorical discourse that influences one of the most vulnerable segments of our population.
This book is singularly unique given that it will be the first collection of essays on children’s literature from the distinct perspective of the field of Communication. Beyond topical novelty, the contributors utilize a range of scholarly methods to analyze instances of the rhetoric of children’s literature. Consequently, essays in this volume may be read for both their specific topical content and as exemplars for multiple methodological approaches to the study of the rhetoric of children’s literature. Collectively, the contributors set out to contribute to our knowledge of how instances of children’s literature operate as rhetorical discourses.
The volume is organized by case studies approached through critical, rhetorical lenses that analyze specific instances of children’s literature from two distinct stages of children’s developmental reading experiences including pre/early literacy and fluent reading. Structurally, the book includes eight content chapters divided evenly with four chapters analyzing books for young children and four chapters analyzing books targeting audiences from late-childhood to adolescence. An overview of each content chapter accompanies this proposal.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 192 • Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜

978-1-4985-4329-3 • Hardback • December 2016 • $117.00 • (£90.00)

978-1-4985-4331-6 • Paperback • November 2018 • $46.99 • (£36.00)

978-1-4985-4330-9 • eBook • December 2016 • $44.50 • (£35.00)

Series: Children and Youth in Popular Culture

Subjects: Literary Criticism / Children's & Young Adult Literature, Literary Criticism / Modern / General, Literary Criticism / Subjects & Themes / General

Author

John H. Saunders is visiting assistant professor at the University of Central Arkansas.

Table of Contents

1. Bedtime Rhetoric
John H. Saunders
1. TSZ, TSZ, TSZ to Industrial ‘Cap’italism: A Marxist Analysis of Caps for Sale
Christopher J. Oldenburg
1. Pigs and Wolves: The Rhetorical Construction of a Traditional Tale and a Contemporary Pastiche
Mary Elizabeth Bezanson and Deborah Lee Norland
1. The Cat in the Hat: The Complexity of a Simple Tale
John H. Saunders
1. Mommy and Daddy Were Married, and Other Creation Myths in Children’s Books About Sex
Brett L. Lunceford
1. “Good Readers” in Narnia: C. S. Lewis’s Rhetoric of Invitation
Joshua D. Hill
1. “Why Do You Hurt These Children?”: The Rhetoric of “Risky Stories” in Children’s Literature
Lauren Lemley
1. Subversive Identification and the Coincidentia Oppositorum in Ursula Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea
Michael Warren Tumolo and Jennifer Beidendorf
1. The Multi-Gaze Perspective of Harry Potter
Lauren Rose Camacci
1. Conclusion
John H. Saunders

Reviews

These essays reveal, as Saunders (Univ. of Central Arkansas) writes in the first essay, that children’s literature is replete with "complex cultural or political messages, beyond what a child can comprehend, but which present children with obvious, superficial messages that act as seeds, some destined to take root and others to wither away.” Covering everything from picture books, to bedtime stories, to young adult literature, the essays look beyond story lines to reveal the rhetoric that lies beneath. For example, one essay uses a Marxist lens to examine allegories depicting the harmful effects of industrial capitalism; another uses a Western perspective in considering allegories supporting the notion that hard work and intelligence lead to security and economic prosperity. In other words, with their books children's authors often reveal the ideologies and values that they wish their readers to have. The rhetoric of children’s books also lends itself to instruction—for example, about sex, troubling/traumatic historical moments, race, violence—bypassing adult discomfort and the sad comedy of children pretending not know things in order to protect adults. In sum, children’s literature—from picture books to YA—has the power to help children comprehend a complex world. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals.
— Choice Reviews

As we approach the 100th anniversary of the first children's book imprint in the United States (Macmillan's Children's Books in 1919), we anticipate growing interest in the field, but it will be hard to top The Rhetorical Power of Children's Literature--a bold, insightful examination of how children's books influence the lives of children and the adults they become. Editor John Saunders et al. present eye-opening analysis of several classic picture books and serial fiction series that will illuminate any future readings of these works.
— Steven Herb, Ph.D., Director, Pennsylvania Center for the Book, an affiliate of the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress