The Early Reader in Children’s Literature and Culture

Theorizing Books for Beginning Readers

Jennifer Miskec, Annette Wannamaker, Jennifer Miskec, Annette Wannamaker

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781138931688
• eBook ISBN: 9781317394761
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Elementary Education
• Index: Literature

This is the first volume to consider the popular literary category of Early Readers – books written and designed for children who are just beginning to read independently. It argues that Early Readers deserve more scholarly attention and careful thought because they are, for many younger readers, their first opportunity to engage with a work of literature on their own, to feel a sense of mastery over a text, and to experience pleasure from the act of reading independently. Using interdisciplinary approaches that draw upon and synthesize research being done in education, child psychology, sociology, cultural studies, and children's literature, the volume visits Early Readers from a variety of angles: as teaching tools; as cultural artifacts that shape cultural and individual subjectivity; as mass produced products sold to a niche market of parents, educators, and young children; and as aesthetic objects, works of literature and art with specific conventions. Examining the reasons such books are so popular with young readers, as well as the reasons that some adults challenge and censor them, the volume considers the ways Early Readers contribute to the construction of younger children as readers, thinkers, consumers, and as gendered, raced, classed subjects. It also addresses children's texts that have been translated and sold around the globe, examining them as part of an increasingly transnational children's media culture that may add to or supplant regional, ethnic, and national children's literatures and cultures. While this collection focuses mostly on books written in English and often aimed at children living in the US, it is important to acknowledge that these Early Readers are a major US cultural export, influencing the reading habits and development of children across the globe.

Index

A to Z Mysteries series (Ron Roy) 215

Abate, Michelle Ann 5, 20, 26, 227; Tomboys (2008) 130

Abbott, Jacob see Rollo series

ABIA (Australian Book Industry Awards) 207

Adams,, William T. 18

The Addams Family (TV show) 143n12

Adler, David A., Cam Jansen Mysteries series 9, 215

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Mark Twain, 1876) 147

aesthetics and form in Early Readers 5–6; see also Babymouse series; closure; narratives of reading in Early Readers; visual language of Mo Willems’s Elephant and Piggie series

affective closure 67–68

affective cognition 66

Africa in Early Readers: The African Safari Discovery (Brown and Greenhut, 2011), Flat Stanley series 181; Precious Ramotswe series (McCall Smith) 215; stereotypical portrayals of Africa and Africans 213–15; see also Anna Hibiscus and The No. 1 Car Spotter series

Albert Whitman Company 27, 33–34, 35

Alcott, Louisa May 159, 162

Alger, Horatio, Jr. 18

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll [Charles Dodgson], 1865) 187

Alley, R. W., The Prince’s Tooth is Loose (2005) 72

Allison, Anne 107

“alternative contact” 168

Alvin Ho series (Lenore Look) 7, 158–69; Alvin Ho: Allergic to Babies, Burglars, and Other Bumps in the Night (2013) 159; Alvin Ho: Allergic to Birthday Parties, Science Projects, and Other Man-Made Catastrophes (2010) 159–69; Alvin Ho: Allergic to Camping, Hiking, and Other Natural Disasters (2009) 159; Alvin Ho: Allergic to Dead Bodies, Funerals, and Other Fatal Circumstances (2011) 159; Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things (2008) 159; criticisms and responses 165–68; editing, publishing, and reviewing process 166–68, 169n2; gender issues 163, 164; increasing discomfort with “playing Indian” in American culture 159–61; by non-white author 160, 168; perpetuation of Native American stereotypes 161–66; “playing Indian” 159–69; p...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Section I History
• Section II Aesthetics and Form
• Section III Culture
• Section IV Global Contexts
• Contributors
• Index