Telling Children's Stories: Narrative Theory and Children's Literature

Frontiers of Narrative

by Mike Cadden (Editor)

The most accessible approach yet to children’s literature and narrative theory, Telling Children’s Stories is a comprehensive collection of never-before-published essays by an international slate of scholars that offers a broad yet in-depth assessment of narrative strategies unique to children’s literature.

 

The volume is divided into four interrelated “Genre Templates and Transformations,” “Approaches to the Picture Book,” “Narrators and Implied Readers,” and “Narrative Time.” Mike Cadden’s introduction considers the links between the various essays and topics, as well as their connections with such issues as metafiction, narrative ethics, focalization, and plotting. Ranging in focus from picture books to novels such as To Kill a Mockingbird , from detective fiction for children to historical tales, from new works such as the Lemony Snicket series to classics like Tom’s Midnight Garden , these essays explore notions of montage and metaphor, perspective and subjectivity, identification and time. Together, they comprise a resource that will interest and instruct scholars of narrative theory and children’s literature, and that will become critically important to the understanding and development of both fields.

Genres: Childrens, Nonfiction

344 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Jenna Desalvo · Rating 3 out of 5]

i had to read this for a literary theory course. it was okay. some articles in it were better than others. but overall it left me with a more respect for children’s books for sure.

[Annette Boehm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-written, interesting book about the theory of children's literature. Especially liked the comparison between Lemony Snicket and the Harry Potter books, both in view of their qualities a children's mystery books.