Books in the Children and Youth in Popular Culture series

To say that children matter in Steven Spielberg''s films is an understatement. Think of the possessed Stevie in Something Evil (TV), Baby Langston in The Sugarland Express, the alien-abducted Barry in Close Encounters, Elliott and his unearthly alter-ego in E.T, the war-damaged Jim in Empire of the Sun, the little girl in the red coat in SchindlerΓÇÖs List, the mecha child in A.I., the kidnapped boy in Minority Report, and the eponymous boy hero of The Adventures of Tintin. (There are many other instances across his oeuvre). Contradicting his reputation as a purveyor of ΓÇÿpopcornΓÇÖ entertainment, SpielbergΓÇÖs vision of children/childhood is complex. Discerning critics have begun to note its darker underpinnings, increasingly fraught with tensions, conflicts and anxieties. But, while childhood is SpielbergΓÇÖs principal source of inspiration, the topic has never been the focus of a dedicated collection of essays. The essays in Children in the Films of Steven Spielberg therefore seek to address childhood in the full spectrum of SpielbergΓÇÖs cinema. Fittingly, the scholars represented here draw on a range of theoretical frameworks and disciplinesΓÇöcinema studies, literary studies, audience reception, critical race theory, psychoanalysis, sociology, and more. This is an important book for not only scholars but teachers and students of Spielberg''s work, and for any serious fan of the director and his career.

This book analyzes the use of animal imagery in children's literature produced by British writers. It encapsulates the agenda of consciously training British children through underscoring resources and fauna in India pursued by the British society in the nineteenth century Victorian England.

This book looks at the portrayals of girls on Disney and Nickelodeon tweencoms. It covers character tropes like main girls, mean girls, cheerleaders, and adults as well as special topics such as popularity, friendships, and girl power.

This collection uses the representation of children and childhood as a lens to examine both Stephen King's fictional oeuvre and several film adaptations of his works.

Childhood, Agency, and Fantasy: Walking in Other Worlds draws on childhood studies scholarship to contextualize children's agentic entanglements with fantasy. Fantasy offers children opportunities for greater peer connectivity, identity exploration, holistic citizenry, and creative empowerment.

This collection merges representations of children and youth in various science fiction texts with childhood studies theories and debates. Set in the past, present, and future, science fiction landscapes and technologies sometimes constrain, but often expand, agentic expression, movement, and collaboration.

This book offers case studies analyzing a full array of genres in children's literature, from picture books to young adult novels. 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 impressionable segments of our population.

This collection explores the influence of girls' series books on popular American culture and girls' everyday experiences. It explores the cultural work that the series genre performs, contemplating the books' messages about subjects including race, gender, and education, and examines girl fiction within a variety of disciplinary contexts.

This book offers case studies analyzing a full array of genres in children's literature, from picture books to young adult novels. 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 impressionable segments of our population.

This edited volume performs a critical analysis of the Americas Award, issues related to the content of the award-winning and honored books, and the contexts in which the books are used. It includes chapters by key scholars in the areas of youth literature in English, English Education, Library and Information Science, and Ethnic Studies.

This book analyzes figurations of childhood in contemporary culture and politics focusing on critical childhood studies. Looking at critical discussions of the ideological, symbolic and affective roles that children play in contemporary societies suggest that they are often the locus of larger societal crises, and unspoken prohibitions and taboos.

This book explores the deployment of posthumanist ideology in young adult dystopian fiction. It applies this theory to the presentation of social issues in select novels.

Young adult literature uses literary sidekicks in new and exciting ways, which changes how sidekicks are understood. Three ways authors elevate sidekicks include letting sidekicks "evolve" over the course of multiple texts, using parallel novels to add complexity to a sidekick's characterization, and telling a story from the sidekick's perspective.

This book analyzes figurations of childhood in contemporary culture and politics focusing on critical childhood studies. Looking at critical discussions of the ideological, symbolic and affective roles that children play in contemporary societies suggest that they are often the locus of larger societal crises, and unspoken prohibitions and taboos.

This book studies the development of expressions of female adolescent sexuality in the United States from 1850 to 1965. It suggests that during this time, adolescent girls went from being perceived as innocent, asexual beings to beings that were considered primarily sexual in nature.

Representing Agency in Popular Culture addresses the intersection of child and youth agency and popular culture. Here, scholars expand understandings of agency, power, and voice in children's lives, identifying popular culture as an important source of inspiration and inquiry within the future of childhood studies.

This edited volume, working within the specific frame of the 'affective turn' in the study of contemporary sociocultural settings across Latin America, compiles a series of essays on children's presence in selected Latin American literary and cinematic expressions.

This volume offers compelling analyses of children and childhood in non-Western films.

This collection explores the influence of girls' series books on popular American culture and girls' everyday experiences. It explores the cultural work that the series genre performs, contemplating the books' messages about subjects including race, gender, and education, and examines girl fiction within a variety of disciplinary contexts.

This collection of essays turns to misfit children as those found in-between socio-cultural, psychological and physical realms. It explores both the possibilities and futilities of negotiating this in-betweenness.