Books in the Contemporary classics in children's literature series

An examination of personal development, maturation and rites of passage in children's literature, this title surveys the theme across a number of genres and analyses the work of key writers. It aims to answer the question "What is a classic?".

This study looks at J.K. Rowling's books and considers some of the reasons for their phenomenal success. This is done against a backdrop of how Harry Potter relates to other contemporary children's books so that students and teachers can place them in the context for which they were written.

This is an analysis of the dominance of the horror story in children's publishing since the 1980s, with particular emphasis on R.L. Stine and the Point Horror phenomenon and its many competitors.

This text analyzes the fictional portrayal of the child in the family. It examines the literary representation of the modern family in its different forms and includes critiques of the work of Morris Gleitzman, Jacqueline Wilson and Anne Fine.