Talking Animals in Children's Fiction

Talking Animals in Children's Fiction PDF Author: Catherine Elick
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786478780
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
Talking-animal tales have conveyed anticruelty messages since the 18th-century beginnings of children's literature. Yet only in the modern period have animal characters become true subjects rather than objects of human neglect or benevolence. Modern fantasies reflect the shift from animal welfare to animal rights in 20th-century public discourse. This revolution in literary animal-human relations began with Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and continued with the work of Kenneth Grahame, Hugh Lofting, P.L. Travers and E. B. White. Beginning with the ideas of literary theorist Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin, this book examines ways in which animal characters gain an aura of authority through using language and then participate in reversals of power. The author provides a close reading of 10 acclaimed British and American children's fantasies or series published before 1975. Authors whose work has received little scholarly attention are also covered, including Robert Lawson, George Selden and Robert C. O'Brien.

Talking Animals in British Children's Fiction, 1786–1914

Talking Animals in British Children's Fiction, 1786–1914 PDF Author: Tess Cosslett
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351896296
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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Book Description
In her reappraisal of canonical works such as Black Beauty, Beautiful Joe, Wind in the Willows, and Peter Rabbit, Tess Cosslett traces how nineteenth-century debates about the human and animal intersected with, or left their mark on, the venerable genre of the animal story written for children. Effortlessly applying a range of critical approaches, from Bakhtinian ideas of the carnivalesque to feminist, postcolonial, and ecocritical theory, she raises important questions about the construction of the child reader, the qualifications of the implied author, and the possibilities of children's literature compared with literature written for adults. Perhaps most crucially, Cosslett examines how the issues of animal speech and animal subjectivity were managed, at a time when the possession of language and consciousness had become a vital sign of the difference between humans and animals. Topics of great contemporary concern, such as the relation of the human and the natural, masculine and feminine, child and adult, are investigated within their nineteenth-century contexts, making this an important book for nineteenth-century scholars, children's literature specialists, and historians of science and childhood.

The Dark Wild

The Dark Wild PDF Author: Piers Torday
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0147509661
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
Includes and excerpt from The last wild.

Talking Animals in Children's Fiction

Talking Animals in Children's Fiction PDF Author: Catherine Elick
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786478780
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 269

Get Book Here

Book Description
Talking-animal tales have conveyed anticruelty messages since the 18th-century beginnings of children's literature. Yet only in the modern period have animal characters become true subjects rather than objects of human neglect or benevolence. Modern fantasies reflect the shift from animal welfare to animal rights in 20th-century public discourse. This revolution in literary animal-human relations began with Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and continued with the work of Kenneth Grahame, Hugh Lofting, P.L. Travers and E. B. White. Beginning with the ideas of literary theorist Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin, this book examines ways in which animal characters gain an aura of authority through using language and then participate in reversals of power. The author provides a close reading of 10 acclaimed British and American children's fantasies or series published before 1975. Authors whose work has received little scholarly attention are also covered, including Robert Lawson, George Selden and Robert C. O'Brien.

Charlotte's Web

Charlotte's Web PDF Author: E. B. White
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062406787
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
Don’t miss one of America’s top 100 most-loved novels, selected by PBS’s The Great American Read. This beloved book by E. B. White, author of Stuart Little and The Trumpet of the Swan, is a classic of children's literature that is "just about perfect." Illustrations in this ebook appear in vibrant full color on a full-color device and in rich black-and-white on all other devices. Some Pig. Humble. Radiant. These are the words in Charlotte's Web, high up in Zuckerman's barn. Charlotte's spiderweb tells of her feelings for a little pig named Wilbur, who simply wants a friend. They also express the love of a girl named Fern, who saved Wilbur's life when he was born the runt of his litter. E. B. White's Newbery Honor Book is a tender novel of friendship, love, life, and death that will continue to be enjoyed by generations to come. It contains illustrations by Garth Williams, the acclaimed illustrator of E. B. White's Stuart Little and Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series, among many other books. Whether enjoyed in the classroom or for homeschooling or independent reading, Charlotte's Web is a proven favorite.

The Last Wild

The Last Wild PDF Author: Piers Torday
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101626909
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 335

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Book Description
"A hugely inventive adventure." —Eoin Colfer, New York Times bestselling author of the Artemis Fowl series In a world where animals are slowly fading into extinction, twelve-year-old Kester Jaynes feels as if he hardly exists either. He’s been locked away in a home for troubled children and is unable to speak a word. Then one night, a flock of talking pigeons and a bossy cockroach come to help him escape, and he discovers that he can speak—to them. And the animals need him. Only Kester, with the aid of a stubborn, curious girl named Polly, can help them survive. The animals saved Kester. But can he save them? "When ninety-nine pigeons smash through the windows of Kester's prison and carry him North to the last of the animals…. it's a moment as thrilling as when James flies off in the Giant Peach. Highly recommended" —The Times (UK) “Combines a great fondness for animals with an appreciation of the freakish…. The reserved narrative tone and tender yet peculiar view of animals give this piece its own offbeat flavor.” —Kirkus Reviews “Alternately somber, thrilling, and silly.” —Publishers Weekly

Talking Animals and Others

Talking Animals and Others PDF Author: Michael Cart
Publisher: Abrams Press
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
The first complete biography of the beloved children's book author Walter R. Brooks, creator of Freddy the Pig.

Gumnut Babies

Gumnut Babies PDF Author: May Gibbs
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781460752555
Category : Adventure stories
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Beautiful new Centenary edition to celebrate the publication of May Gibbs's first book, GUMNUT BABIES, in 1916. May Gibbs's marvellous creation - the Gumnut world, with its tiny heroes and heroines and deliciously villainous villains - has fascinated generations of children since its first publication in 1916. Gumnuts at the races, at the ballet, and dancing at balls are some of May's exquisitely illustrated scenes that have delighted us all. This beautiful new edition has been produced to mark the Centenary of GUMNUT BABIES and contains the stories of Gum-Blossom Babies, Flannel Flowers and Other Bush Babies, Boronia Babies, Wattle Babies, plus Nuttybub and Nittersing and Chucklebud and Wunkydoo. The perfect companion for THE COMPLETE ADVENTURES OF SNUGGLEPOT AND CUDDLEPIE. Ages 8+

Kipling's Children's Literature

Kipling's Children's Literature PDF Author: Sue Walsh
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317108973
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 187

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Book Description
Despite Kipling's popularity as an author and his standing as a politically controversial figure, much of his work has remained relatively unexamined due to its characterization as 'children's literature'. Sue Walsh challenges the apparently clear division between 'children's' and 'adult' literature, and poses important questions about how these strict categories have influenced critical work on Kipling and on literature in general. For example, why are some of Kipling's books viewed as children's literature, and what critical assumptions does this label produce? Why is it that Kim is viewed by critics as transcending attempts at categorization? Using Kipling as a case study, Walsh discusses texts such as Kim, The Jungle Books, the Just-So Stories, Puck of Pook's Hill, and Rewards and Fairies, re-evaluating earlier critical approaches and offering fresh readings of these relatively neglected works. In the process, she suggests new directions for postcolonial and childhood studies and interrogates the way biographical criticism on children's literature in particular has tended to supersede and obstruct other kinds of readings.

A Companion to Children's Literature

A Companion to Children's Literature PDF Author: Karen Coats
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119038251
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 599

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Book Description
A COMPANION TO CHILDREN'S LITERATURE A collection of international, up-to-date, and diverse perspectives on children's literary criticism A Companion to Children's Literature offers students and scholars studying children's literature, education, and youth librarianship an incisive and expansive collection of essays that discuss key debates within children's literature criticism. The thirty-four works included demonstrate a diverse array of perspectives from around the world, introduce emerging scholars to the field of children's literature criticism, and meaningfully contribute to the scholarly conversation. The essays selected by the editors present a view of children's literature that encompasses poetry, fiction, folklore, nonfiction, dramatic stage and screen performances, picturebooks, and interactive and digital media. They range from historical overviews to of-the-moment critical theory about children’s books from across the globe. A Companion to Children's Literature explores some of the earliest works in children's literature, key developments in the genre from the 20th century, and the latest trends and texts in children's information books, postmodern fairytales, theatre, plays, and more. This collection also discusses methods for reading children's literature, from social justice critiques of popular stories to Black critical theory in the context of children's literary analysis.

Animals, Museum Culture and Children’s Literature in Nineteenth-Century Britain

Animals, Museum Culture and Children’s Literature in Nineteenth-Century Britain PDF Author: Laurence Talairach
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030725278
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 309

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Book Description
Animals, Museum Culture and Children’s Literature in Nineteenth-Century Britain: Curious Beasties explores the relationship between the zoological and palaeontological specimens brought back from around the world in the long nineteenth century—be they alive, stuffed or fossilised—and the development of children’s literature at this time. Children’s literature emerged as dizzying numbers of new species flooded into Britain with scientific expeditions, from giraffes and hippopotami to kangaroos, wombats, platypuses or sloths. As the book argues, late Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian children’s writers took part in the urge for mass education and presented the world and its curious creatures to children, often borrowing from their museum culture and its objects to map out that world. This original exploration illuminates how children’s literature dealt with the new ordering of the world, offering a unique viewpoint on the construction of science in the long nineteenth century.