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Dissertations of Note
- Children's Literature
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 33, 2005
- pp. 289-300
- 10.1353/chl.2005.0006
- Review
- Additional Information
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Children's Literature 33 (2005) 289-300
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Dissertations of Note
Compiled by Rachel Fordyce
Abate believes that tomboyism is "often racialized" by late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century female authors such as E. D. E. N Southworth, Louisa May Alcott, Sarah Orne Jewett, Carson McCullers, and others. Her dissertation "explores the ways in which tomboyishness and blackness mutually construct or at least reinforce each other." She ultimately studies "this phenomenon [racializing] in lesbian pulp fiction and, later, popular film" for both children and adults.
Abele believes that "children's literature is changing in response to positive changes in the digital environment." She studies how the change affects preservice teachers' attitudes (as well as the future of teaching) as they participate in a children's literature course infused with technology. She found that teachers reacted favorably to new formats and perspectives, spent more time reading for pleasure, and "described a higher level of interaction . . . than with more traditional children's books."
Arenas interviewed Ancona and Davalos on several occasion and synthesizes her analyses to show the "connections between the illustrators" and to give "voice to their individual ideas." Among other conclusions, she believes that her results indicate "that the role of an illustrator goes beyond the simple enhancement of the text with illustrations [and it] delves into issues of identity and the transmittal of [accumulated] knowledge."
Avery studies five film versions of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The three classic and two Disney versions reveal "a disempowering discourse of disability that is informed by religious, scientific, aesthetic, and andocentric beliefs" which depict "a tragic view of disability" and portray Quasimodo "as a physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially 'defective' creature." Moreover, Disney's anachronistic presentations invoke "cultural codings that result in a 'presentness' . . . that naturalizes Quasimodo's oppression."
Beets takes an historical look at forty-five works, primarily novels, but also picture books and short stories, and their inherent jingoism or British ideology. Early chapters focus on the "indigenization" and demonization of the Maori as well as "attitudes toward miscegenation." Subsequent chapters deal with evangelical [End Page 289] and moral issues; youthful utopianism; and gender roles. She concludes that early "New Zealand-set children's fiction" perpetuates "British ideological values through its intertextual recycling and repetition of familiar tropes and themes, thus making a significant contribution towards the wider corpus of postcolonial literature."
Bersh looked at ninety-eight Caldecott Award Books and found that they "do not reflect the major social changes that have affected women during the past 24 years," although there may be a recent move toward "more 'progressive' females in less traditional roles. . . ." Her conclusion is "congruent with feminist educational theory and feminist textual research" that indicates "the reproduction of gender inequalities through cultural texts, especially in the school."
Bertills examines Tove Jansson's Moomin novels, Mauri Nunnas's picture books, and A. A. Milne's Winnie-the...