Children's Literature on the Move

Traversing a variety of places - real and imagined, past and present, new and as old as time - Children's literature on the move traces how children's books have helped both to create national identity and to resist it, empowering readers young and old with the ability to make meaning from physical, [...]
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Traversing a variety of places - real and imagined, past and present, new and as old as time - Children's literature on the move traces how children's books have helped both to create national identity and to resist it, empowering readers young and old with the ability to make meaning from physical, political and emotional upheaval. The essays examine the close association that has long existed between children's literature and the construction of national and individual identity in a variety of national and historical contexts. Tracing migrations - both real and metaphorical - between countries, languages, political situations and stages of life, the essays demonstrate how children's literature has both promoted and resisted certain kinds of national identities. Essays innovatively examine genres and national contexts not often discussed, including Estonian children's songs and Turkish periodicals for children. Contributors hone in on the relationship between children's books and national identity in the Irish context across the 20th century, in both English and Irish language publications. The book closes with essays that consider the empowering potential of children's books in contemporary contexts. Moving between Ireland and Eastern Europe, discussing authors that range from Shakespeare to Siobhan Dowd, and including cutting edge research on children's books in translation, these essays greatly increase our understanding of how children's literature continues to inform and be informed by notions of nation, translation and migration.