Shaaban 1

Dana Aicha Shaaban

Dr. Joddy Murray

ENGL 60113

December 11, 2017

Annotated Bibliography

Barker, Jani L. Racial Identification and Audience in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry and the

Watsons Go to Birmingham1963. Children's Literature in Education, vol. 41, no.

2, Aug. 2010, pp. 118145., doi:10.1007/s10583-010-9101-4.

In this article, Jani Barker studies two novels written by African-American authors: The

Watsons Go to Birmingham1963 and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. The purpose of the

article is to shed light on race and racism as a means of understanding different cultures.

Barker uses critical race theory as a tool to show how the authors of these two novels use

different strategies to help their readers identify with anti-racist positions. They present black

characters in a positive light, helping black audiences identify with them, but at the same

time, making sure they dont alienate their white readers. This is useful for my conference

paper because it gives me a way to frame how multiethnic childrens literature grapples with

diversity.

Bettelheim, Bruno. The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales.

Alfred A. Knopf, 1976.

In his introduction, Bettelheim discusses how the most important task in raising a child is to

help them make meaning and understand the world around them. He applies Freudian
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psychology to fairy tales, claiming that they help transmit cultural heritage to children. They

are also the best form of literature because they convey moral messages to children through

accessible means. Fairytales simplify all situations because they present typical characters,

have a unique subject and form, and stimulate a childs imagination while entertaining

him/her. This connects to my proposal in the sense that fairy tales can be used as a genre to

address serious issues like race and diversity in a distanced manner.

Campbell, Lori M. Introduction. A Quest of Her Own: Essays on the Female Hero in Modern

Fantasy, by Campbell, McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers, 2014, pp 4-14.

Lori M. Campbells book is a compilation of essays by different authors discussing the

female hero. Campbell tries to identify the characteristics of the female hero archetype, who

carves a place for herself alongside male heroes. Up until the 20th century, the female hero

didnt really exist. She was just a figment of the male imagination; she is portrayed as a

super-heroine whose super-power is sexuality. Female protagonists usually begin as unlikely

heroes, who achieve the hero status after a lot of pain and hard work. They display courage,

assertiveness, and the willingness to self-sacrifice. This is helpful because I am exploring the

role the female protagonist plays in exposing issues of race.

Capshaw, Katharine. Ethnic Studies and Children's Literature: A Conversation between

Fields. The Lion and the Unicorn, vol. 38, no. 3, 2014, pp. 237257.,

doi:10.1353/uni.2014.0032.

Katharine Capshaws article is a keynote speech that she delivered at the Childrens

Literature Associations 2014 conference. Capshaw brings to her audiences attention that

there is a lack of childrens literature relating to people of color, especially considering the
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U.S demographic. She calls for a more inclusive childrens literature and adds that the way to

achieving that is studying race through a lens of ethnic studies. This article will help me give

me more background about how little scholarship there is on ethnic writing in childrens

literature.

Cummins, June. The Still Almost All-White World of Childrens Literature: Theory,

Practice, and Identity-Based Childrens Book Awards. Prizing Childrens

Literature: The Cultural Politics of Childrens Book Awards, edited by Kenneth B.

Kidd and Joseph T. Thomas, Routledge, 2016, pp. 87-103.

In this chapter, June Cummins talks about the fact that childrens books in America lack

diversity. Additionally, she sheds light on intersectionality to argue that identity cannot be

understood without looking at race, class, gender, ethnicity, etc. (Cummins 98). Cummins

highlights that committees such as the Newbery are part of the problem because they do not

give awards to diverse writers; they need to take the intersectionality approach to assert that

all sorts of identities are important so that change in publishing can occur. This will also be

helpful for my paper because it shows how multiethnic literature is mostly excluded from

winning important prizes.

Dahlen, Sarah Park. A Step from Heaven: On Being a Woman of Color in Childrens

Literature Studies. The Lion and the Unicorn, vol. 41, no. 1, 2017, pp. 82092., doi:

10.1353/uni.2017.0005.

Like many others, Sarah Dahlen never identified with the stories she read as a child in

America because of the scarce number of books about her Korean heritage. Dahlen also
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mentions several micro-aggressions that she experienced as a woman of color in academia

and she believes that it is mainly because people havent had enough exposure to empathize

with people from different backgrounds. This article is helpful because it shows how

childrens literature is one way to help readers experience what people from different cultures

experience, so that they are able to fully understand what its like to be in their shoes.

Gubar, Marah. Reciprocal Aggression: Un-Romantic Agency in the Art of Lewis Carroll.

Artful Dodgers: Reconceiving the Golden Age of Childrens Literature, Oxford

University Press, 2011, pp. 93-124.

Marah Gubar begins her third chapter, entitled Reciprocal Aggression: Un-Romantic

Agency in the Art of Lewis Carroll by sharing with her readers a side that some may have

not known about Carroll. He reproduces the art of Joshua Reynolds The Age of Innocence

perhaps to mock the idea that childhood is associated with innocence. Gubar claims that

Carroll blurs the line between the adult and the child by portraying children in a collaborative

relationship with adults (95). However, his photographs of children display the child as

compelled to cooperate, rather than a willing co-creator. Thus, Carroll subverts the ideal of

innocence in his photographs, as well as in his Alice books. This will help my research

because I want to explore how Alice in Wonderland deals with the theme of diversity.

Jaques, Zoe. This Huntress Who Delights in Arrows: The Female Archer in Childrens

Fiction. A Quest of Her Own: Essays on the Female Hero in Modern Fantasy, edited

by Lori M. Campbell, McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers, 2014, pp. 150-171.
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In her article, Zoe Jaques gives an overview of how the female archer is depicted in modern

childrens fantasy. She uses the character of Katniss from Suzanne Collinss The Hunger

Games as one of three examples of female archers. Katniss, however, does not just take the

role of warrior (which is usually a masculine quality), but also of gatherer, since she is

responsible for collecting food for her community. These conflicting gender roles that

Katniss exhibits by conflating masculine and feminine characteristics contribute to the unique

yet changing role of the female archer. This article will be helpful in examining the different

gender roles that female protagonists take on.

Keeling, Kara, and Scott Pollard. Privilege and Exploitation: Food as Dual Signifier in

Pamela Muoz Ryans Esperanza Rising. The Lion and the Unicorn, vol. 40, no. 3,

2016, pp. 280-299., doi:10.1353/uni.2016.0025.

The two authors analyze Muoz Ryans Esperanza Rising from the perspective of food and

how it signifies Esperanzas fall from the upper-class life. The authors trace how Esperanzas

relationship with food parallels changes to her social status. For instance, the chapter of the

papayas signals a loss of family and estate since the food changes from a consumable object

to one of produce. The papaya used to be considered a birthday treat, but after her fathers

death, it starts to spoil and can no longer be consumed. Once she gets to California, she will

not have the luxury of wasting food because of her social status. This helps me study the

theme of diversity from the perspective of food.

Kurkjian, Catherine, and Nancy Livingston. Childrens Books: The Importance of

Childrens Literature in a Global Society. The Reading Teacher, vol. 60, no. 6, 2007,

pp. 594-602., doi:10.1598/rt.60.6.12.

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This article discusses how multicultural literature is an essential field to consider because we

have become a global society, and it is important for cultures to understand one another and

unite. Livingston and Kurkjian review a plethora of books written by different authors to help

readers challenge assumptions. The authors also shed light on books that represent children

from different backgrounds and cultures around the world in hopes that readers would find

connections to them and perhaps even identify with them, despite their disparate

backgrounds. This is directly related to my research because it lists multiethnic childrens

books and their effect in the classroom.

Lerer, Seth. Good Feeling: Prizes, Libraries, and the Institutions of American Literature.

Childrens Literature: A Readers History, From Aesop to Harry Potter, The

University of Chicago Press, 2008, pp. 274-287.

In this chapter, Seth Lerer claims that the canon of American childrens literature has been

shaped by prize culture. He supports this claim by giving a brief history of how prizes such as

the Newbery and Caldecott Medals were awarded in childrens literature since the 1920s. He

also discusses the key role that public libraries played at that timethey contributed to the

rise of American childrens literature in the late 19th century. Librarians (usually women)

held the power in terms of choosing what books children should be reading, but they also

played a part in making the library a place of imagination. This is an important work for my

research because it addresses how American Childrens literature was shaped in the 19th

century.
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Levy, Michael, and Farah Mendlesohn. Introduction. Childrens Fantasy Literature: An

Introduction, by Levy and Mendhlesohn. Cambridge University Press, 2016, pp. 1-9.

Levy, Michael, and Farah Mendlesohn. Harry Potter and Childrens Fantasy since the

1990s. Childrens Fantasy Literature: An Introduction, Cambridge University Press,

2016, pp. 161-193.

These two authors wrote this comprehensive book, which tackles childrens fantasy literature

from the 16th till the 21st century. Specifically, it examines how fantasy literature evolved to

become childrens literature. Levy and Mendlesohn trace a variety of works throughout the

centuries, using historical, political, and ideological critical lenses. In chapter 8 of their book,

they address the emergence of a teen market which was primarily shaped around teens

concerns. They separate literature written for children from literature written for teens in

terms of how one recognizes puberty and coming of age and how one doesnt (Levy and

Mendlesohn 161). This book examines another theme related to my research, the

bildungsroman.

Nodelman, Perry. Childrens Literature as a Genre. The Hidden Adult: Defining Childrens

Literature, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008, pp. 133-244.

Perry Nodelman wrote this comprehensive book to describe the field and genre of childrens

literature. His third chapter gives readers an overview and even engages them in the debate

between Nodelman and his peers regarding the changing definitions of childrens literature

since its inception. Nodelman provides this definition as an attempt to make sense of the

conflicting viewpoints and combines what he has concluded from his investigation into the
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field and his discussions with writers, publishers, and critics. This is a valuable book for my

research because it attempts to define childrens literature as a genre and field.

Park, Linda Sue. Newbery Medal Acceptance. Horn Book Magazine, vol. 78, no.4,

Jul/Aug2002, pp. 377-384. EBSCOhost,

lib.tcu.edu/PURL/EZproxy_link.asp?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.tcu.edu

/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,uid&db=lfh&AN=6882238&site=ehost

-live.

In this article Park describes how she received a call from the Newbery committee informing

her that she had won the award for her novel, A Single Shard. Like child readers, Park had a

desire to learn more about the world, and she wanted to share that knowledge through her

writing. She came to the realization that she connected with the plight of the outsider after

noticing that her most memorable books of her childhood featured black protagonists. She

believes that connecting people is one of the most significant elements of story. This is an

important book that highlights the importance of embracing people from different ethnic

backgrounds.

Spufford, Francis. The Town. The Child That Books Built: A Life in Reading, Metropolitan

Books, 2002, pp. 108148.

In this book, Francis Spufford, shows the huge impact that books have on children and how

they mold them into adults (hence the title). This specific chapter, The Town, explores

how societies interact; Spufford learns about community from the way people treat each other

in the books he read. One of the most important and memorable quotations in the chapter is
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when Spufford says: But understanding someone in the towns entailed you recognizing first

of all, that their skin was full. There was somebody else already there, whose personality had

a different grain from yours as you read about them (Spufford 130). This quote plays a

significant role in my research on diversity.

Walker, Jeanne Murray. Critical Issues and Approaches: High Fantasy, Rites of Passage,

and Cultural Value. Teaching Childrens Literature: Issues, Pedagogy, Resources,

edited by Glenn Edward Sadler, Modern Language Association of America, 1992, pp.

109-120.

Jeanne Murray Walkers article is part of a bigger book which deals with the issues and

pedagogy of teaching childrens literature. Walker rejects the idea that people read fantasy

out of a desire to escape their surroundings. She adds that since the American society doesnt

seem to have any definitive rites of passage that help them transition to and comprehend the

adult state, fantasy helps them make this transition. Readers can experience this move from

childhood to adulthood when they identify with characters in fantasy who undergo these

social rituals. This is important to my research on connecting childrens coming of age to

diversity.