The Inside, Outside, and Upside Downs of Children's Literature: From Poets and Pop-ups to Princesses and Porridge

The Inside, Outside, & Upside Downs of Children’s Literature is a groundbreaking text in which Jenifer Jasinski Schneider explores current issues in children’s and young adult literature through extended discourse and integrated digital resources. Although many children’s literature textbooks are organized by genre and written just for teachers, this book targets all audiences who have personal, professional, or peripheral interests in what children and young adults read, why they read, and how books work. Using a straightforward approach to analysis and written with a critical view of a $4-billion-a-year industry, Jenifer Jasinski Schneider examines children’s literature as a collection of texts that socialize youth, politicize identity, represent history, and become art. This book is relevant for anyone who wants to understand the value of children’s literature across political, financial, cultural, educational, and social borders. Table of Contents 1. Why are you reading kids’ books? (An Introduction) 2. What is Children’s Literature? (Definitions & Delimitations) 3. Got books? (Access, Collections, & Digital Resources) 4. Important Books (Problems & Politics of Notable Lists, Awards & Associations) 5. The Right Book for the Right Reader at the Right Time (Analysis & Development) 6. The Reading Wars (The Intervening Effects of School and Politics) 7. American Typo (Ghost, Fan, Serial , and Celebrity Writers and Illustrators) 8. Beyond the Page and Behind the Scenes (Writing, Publishing & Marketing) 9. Gore & Grimm, Princesses & Porridge (The Roots of Story and Narration) 10. Waxing Poetic (Deliberate Description, Reading Aloud, Choral Reading & Performance) 11. Past Presidents and Evading Inventors (Not Your Grandmother’s Information Books) 12. Banned and Burned Why Worry? It’s just Kiddie Lit (Children, Banned Books and The Right to Read)