‘The book’s major contribution is to showcase contemporary forms/iterations of theory, such as posthumanism, cognitive poetics, and spatiality studies. This very fine collection of essays will be of use to a wide range of students as well as to established scholars.’

Kenneth Kidd, Associate Professor of English, University of Florida

‘A volume like this is long overdue: a single work that not only talks about literature and film alongside each other without making either seem the poor relation, but which also makes theory work in a practical, productive, and even (dare I say it) pleasurable manner. Students, and the rest of us, should benefit hugely.’

David Rudd, Professor of Children’s Literature, University of Bolton

Bringing together the voices of leading and emerging scholars, Contemporary Children’s Literature and Film provides critical approaches for reading children’s literature and film. The book argues for the significance of theory for reading texts written and produced for young people and integrates a wide range of critical perspectives, including schema theory, theories of space and place, cultural globalization, feminism, ecocriticism, adaptation theory, postcolonialism, and posthumanism.

The book accessibly introduces the very latest thinking in the field and is attuned to contemporary issues and contexts. Individual chapters demystify theory and show how it can open up alternative ideas, challenge basic assumptions, and unsettle the taken-for-granted with respect to authorship, literary conventions, and the contexts in which texts for young people are produced and consumed. This will be vital reading for anyone studying or researching children’s literature and film.

Kerry Mallan is Professor in Education at Queensland University of Technology, Australia. Her co-edited book, Youth Cultures: Texts, Images and Identities, is an IRSCL Honour Book (2003). She is a co-author of New World Orders in Contemporary Children’s Literature (2008). Her most recent book is Gender Dilemmas in Children’s Fiction (2009).

Clare Bradford is Professor of Literature at Deakin University, Australia. Her 2001 book, Reading Race, won both the ChLA Book Award and the IRSCL Award. She is a co-author of New World Orders in Contemporary Children’s Literature (2008). Her most recent book is Unsettling Narratives: Postcolonial Readings of Children’s Literature (2007), which was a Children’s Literature Association Honor Book.