Utopian and dystopian writing for children and young adults
By: edited by Carrie Hintz and Elaine Ostry.
Contributors: Hintz, Carrie, 1970-; Ostry, Elaine, 1967-
Series: Children's literature and culture -- 29
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2003
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 244
Subjects: Children's literature -- History and criticism; Young adult literature -- History and criticism; Children -- Books and reading; Youth -- Books and reading; Utopias in literature; Dystopias in literature
Description: "Utopian and Dystopian Writing for Children and Young Adults is the first study devoted to this increasingly popular genre of literature for young readers focused on the question of ideal social organization. The collection defines and explores the category of utopian writing and its thematic conventions, offering detailed case studies of individual, works from the eighteenth century to the present day. Ten critical essays, all appearing here for the first time, discuss how imaginary worlds are created, how characters travel there, and how these worlds function as perfect or radically imperfect societies. All address the pedagogical implications of writing that challenges children to grapple with questions of social organization, individual autonomy, and just governance. In addition to critical analyses, the volume includes essays by leading contemporary authors of utopian fiction - James Gurney, Monica Hughes, and Katherine Paterson - as well as an exclusive interview with Lois Lowry, whose award-winning novel The Giver has generated ardent response from adults and children alike. The collection concludes with an annotated bibliography of primary sources, a valuable tool for those readers who wish to pursue further this pioneering exploration."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
Table of contents: title: Getting to utopia : railways and heterotopia in children's literature -- Alice Jenkins; title: American boys'series books and the utopia of the air -- Fred Erisman; title: Travels through dystopia : H.G. Wells and The Island of Dr. Moreau -- Alberto Manguel; title: Sarah Fielding's childhood utopia -- Sara Gadeken; title: Tinklers and time machines : time travel in the social fantasy of E. Nesbit and H.G. Wells -- Cathrine Frank; title: Writing on the wall of Redwall -- Holly V. Blackford; title: 'Joy but not peace' : Zilpha Keatley Snyder's Green-sky Trilogy -- Carrie Hintz --Terrible lizard dream kingdom / -- James Gurney; title: Bridge to utopia -- Katherine Paterson; title: Suffering in utopia : testing the limits in young adult novels -- Rebecca Carol Noël Totaro; title: Educating desire : magic, power, and control in Tanith Lee's Unicorn trilogy -- Maureen F. Moran; title: Struggle between utopia and dystopia in writing for children and young adults -- Monica Hughes; title: Presenting the case for social change : the creative dilemma of dystopian writing for children -- Kay Sambell; title: Quest for the perfect planet : the British secondary world as utopia and dystopia, 1945-1999-- Karen Sands O'Connor.