ABSTRACT
This volume examines a variety of utopian writing for children from the 18th century to the present day, defining and exploring this new genre in the field of children's literature. The original essays discuss thematic conventions and present detailed case studies of individual works. All address the pedagogical implications of work that challenges children to grapple with questions of perfect or wildly imperfect social organizations and their own autonomy. The book includes interviews with creative writers and the first bibliography of utopian fiction for children.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter |20 pages
Introduction, Carrie Hintz and Elaine Ostry
part |2 pages
PLANES, TRAINS, AND AUTOMOBILES: UTOPIA IN TRANSIT
chapter |15 pages
Getting to Utopia: Railways and Heterotopia in Children’s Literature
chapter |14 pages
American Boys’ Series Books and the Utopia of the Air
part |2 pages
COMMUNITY AND SOCIALISM
chapter |15 pages
Sarah Fielding’s Childhood Utopia
chapter |18 pages
The Writing on the Wall of Redwall
chapter |11 pages
‘Joy but Not Peace’: Zilpha Keatley Snyder’s Green-sky Trilogy
chapter |5 pages
Terrible Lizard Dream Kingdom
chapter |2 pages
Bridge to Utopia
part |2 pages
CHILD POWER
part |2 pages
FROM THE WRECKAGE: POST–WORLD WAR II DYSTOPIAS AND UTOPIAS