What should children and students read? This volume explores challenging picturebooks as learning materials in early childhood education, primary and secondary school, and even universities. It addresses a wide range of thematic, cognitive, and aesthetic challenges and educational affordances of picturebooks in various languages and from different countries. Written by leading and emerging scholars in the field of picturebook studies and literacy research, the book discusses the impact of challenging picturebooks in a comprehensive manner and combines theoretical considerations, picturebook analyses, and empirical studies with children and students. It introduces stimulating picturebooks from all continents and how they are used or may be used in educational settings and contexts. The chapters touch on subjects like reading promotion, second-language acquisition, art education, interdisciplinary learning, empathy development, minority issues, and intercultural competence. Moreover, they consider relevant aspects of the educational environments, such as the inclusion of picturebooks in the curriculum, the significance of school libraries, and the impact of publishers. Exploring Challenging Picturebooks in Education sheds new light on the multiple dimensions relevant to investigating the impact of picturebooks on learning processes and the development of multimodal literacy competencies. It thus makes a significant contribution to the growing area of picturebook research and will be key reading for educators, researchers, and post-graduate students in the field of literacy studies, children’s literature, and education research.

Der didaktische Wert von picturebooks für den Englischunterricht in der Grundschule gilt als unumstritten. Jedoch gibt es in Forschung und Unterrichtspraxis derzeit kaum Ansätze, wie der Transfer dieses vermeintlich kindlichen Literaturmediums in die Sekundarstufe gelingen kann. Dieser Band legitimiert picturebooks als komplex angelegte Textform, die sich auch mit fortgeschrittenen Lernenden zu kompetenz- und inhaltsorientierter Arbeit im Englischunterricht anbietet. Die im Band versammelten konzeptuellen und empirischen Perspektiven zeigen angehenden und praktizierenden Lehrkräften konkret auf, wie vielfältig picturebooks den Unterricht bereichern können. Eine große Bandbreite praktischer Beispiele verdeutlicht ihr Potenzial für den Englischunterricht der Sekundarstufen - von der Förderung verschiedener literacies und literarischen Lernens bis hin zur Fokussierung von Themen wie Umwelt, sozialer Gerechtigkeit oder kultureller Diversität.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people had to cope with isolation due to lockdown policies that forced them to engage in fewer social activities. People were confined to the small space of their dwellings and felt constrained and socially isolated and deprived of meaningful social interaction and affection, which caused stress and anxiety. Several initiatives were put in place to help diminish the effects of isolation, such as those involving literature either through writing or reading. Managing Pandemic Isolation With Literature as Therapy explains the positive medical and psychological effects of literature and writing during a pandemic at a time when isolation prevented people from engaging with others socially. Covering topics such as clinical psychology, brain neurology, and stress, this reference work is ideal for psychologists, medical professionals, policymakers, government officials, researchers, scholars, academicians, practitioners, instructors, and students.

An International Research Society for Children's Literature (IRSCL) Honour Book for 2023 This book is a comprehensive and thorough introduction to children's and young adult literature in English language education. Reading is promoted as central to language education in order to experience perspectives from around the world, and the book demonstrates the many opportunities for teaching with compelling story, encouraging an active and engaged community of second language readers through challenging picturebooks, motivating graphic novels, dynamic plays, enchanting verse novels and compelling young adult fiction. Using many examples of literary texts that are well suited to the primary or secondary classroom, the book focuses on the advantages of deep reading and the vital importance of in-depth learning. In-depth learning is an approach that involves the students as motivated participants, working collaboratively and with empathy while preparing for and confronting the challenges of the 21st century. Illustrating the approach with a Deep Reading Framework based in research and theory, Janice Bland guides the reader to discover and learn how to make use of literary texts in a way that challenges students to become involved in interculturality, creativity and critical literacy. Throughout the book the emphasis is on an approach that puts the reader and language learner in the centre – not a study of literature but a study of how readers learn through compelling story.

This book shines a light on novel and less familiar domains of early English language education for children aged 3 to 12, in mainstream and out-of-school settings. Enveloping the volume is the making of creative connections to wider educational philosophies which extend beyond the confines of a narrow linguistic lens. In reconciling the theory-practice divide in English language education, each chapter presents a synthesis of research issues leading to a practical showcase of ideas. Organised in two main parts, the first focuses on innovations within classroom practice, curriculum development, and child-centred assessment, exploring areas which have either received insufficient attention and/or have been reimagined through fresh perspectives. The second part explores innovations in pre- and in-service teacher education contexts and focuses on lesser-known and/or underexplored topics, including bridging general and language education, multilingualism, in-depth learning, metacognition, and pragmatics. This is a timely publication for teacher educators and practitioners alike.

Runner up, British Association for Applied Linguistics (BAAL) Book Prize 2023 This book combines teaching-informed research studies and research-informed teaching accounts which explore English language education that engages with (a)gender and (a)sexual diversity. Informed by critical theories, critical literacy, post-structuralism, queer theory, and indigeneity/(de)coloniality, the critical perspectives in this volume consider gender and sexuality as dimensions of human life and aim to promote sexual, gender, emotional and relational wellbeing together with the construction of cultural horizons and citizenship. The chapters are organised around three interdependent areas of inquiry: 1) how educators design pedagogies and curriculums around gender diversity and sexuality, 2) how students and teachers navigate issues of gender diversity and sexuality in practice, as well as 3) how issues of gender diversity and sexuality are (not) addressed in the materials for teaching and learning English. The contributors are all teacher educators-researchers and therefore have vast experience in enacting, implementing, designing, and examining the field of English language teacher education from/for the classroom with a gender perspective in diverse settings, with chapters come from Argentina, Bangladesh, Canada, Germany, Norway, Poland, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey, the UK and Uruguay.

History is constantly evolving, and the history of children’s literature is no exception. Since the original publication of Emer O’Sullivan’s Historical Dictionary of Children’s Literature in 2010, much has happened in the field of children’s literature. New authors have come into print, new books have won awards, and new ideas have entered the discourse within children’s literature studies. Historical Dictionary of Children's Literature, Second Edition contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has more than 700 cross-referenced entries. This book will be an excellent resource for students, scholars, researchers, and anyone interested in the field of children’s literature studies.

This book argues the importance of aesthetic literacies in learning and teaching in schools for future work. The study of aesthetics is critical in today’s learning, due to the increasingly complex ways in which we communicate meaning, such as through the presentation of texts and objects. The book provides educators, pre-service teachers, and students an in-depth understanding of aesthetic literacies in innovative spaces, including in philosophical literature, environmental spaces, curricula and classrooms. Using various theoretical frames from both the arts and literacy fields, this book shares relevant pedagogies, theorisations and contexts where aesthetic literacies are at the core of learning. It emphasises how improved knowledge of aesthetics and quality experiences in beauty are vital in aiding students and young children develop the necessary resilience and tolerance needed in today’s uncertain world.

Focusing on significant and cutting-edge preoccupations within children’s literature scholarship, The Routledge Companion to Children’s Literature and Culture presents a comprehensive overview of print, digital, and electronic texts for children aged zero to thirteen as forms of world literature participating in a panoply of identity formations. Offering five distinct sections, this volume: Familiarizes students and beginning scholars with key concepts and methodological resources guiding contemporary inquiry into children’s literature Describes the major media formats and genres for texts expressly addressing children Considers the production, distribution, and valuing of children’s books from an assortment of historical and contemporary perspectives, highlighting context as a driver of content Maps how children’s texts have historically presumed and prescribed certain identities on the part of their readers, sometimes addressing readers who share some part of the author’s identity, sometimes seeking to educate the reader about a presumed “other,” and in recent decades increasingly foregrounding identities once lacking visibility and voice Explores the historical evolutions and trans-regional contacts and (inter)connections in the long process of the formation of global children’s literature, highlighting issues such as retranslation, transnationalism, transculturality, and new digital formats for considering cultural crossings and renegotiations in the production of children’s literature Methodically presented and contextualized, this volume is an engaging introduction to this expanding and multifaceted field.

Consumable Reading and Children's Literature explores how multisensory experiences enhance early childhood literacy practices through material and sensory interactions. Embodied engagements that focus on the gustatory experience and, in particular, the sense of taste are investigated by studying food-related narratives. Children’s literature and different reading scenarios involving consumable objects, packages, tableware and utensils are scrutinized. Surfaces, the underlying mechanisms that support children’s literature, are considered in connection to emerging media and groundbreaking technologies. The interdisciplinary nature of this work draws on material and surface science, human-computer interaction, arts and food studies. As innovation and everyday materials meet, the potential of hybrid narratives mimicking synesthesia emerges with discussions on cross-modal learning. This monograph will inspire the interest of not only students, teachers, scholars of children’s literature and child development but also researchers and practitioners across various artistic and scientific disciplines.