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Children's Literature 33 (2005) 289-300



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Dissertations of Note

Abate, Michelle Ann. "Tom/Boys: The Racialization of White Tomboys in American Women's Fiction, 1840–1950." Ph.D. diss. City University of New York, 2004. 443 pp. DAI 65: 1367A.

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, Marta J. "Responses to Radical Change Children's Books by Preservice Teachers." Ph.D. diss. Capella University, 2003. 123 pp. DAI 64: 2025A.

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, Rosie A. "Reflections of the Spirit: Voices of Children's Book Illustrators of Mexican Descent. A Participatory Study with George Ancona and Felipe Davalos." Ed.D. diss. University of San Francisco, 2004. 173 pp. DAI 65: 1218A.

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, Dona M. "Bending 'The Hunchback': A Rhetorical Inquiry Into Hollywood's Quasi-Medieval Relationship with Disability." Ph.D. diss. Arizona State University, 2004. 411 pp. DAI 65: 492A.

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, Jacqueline. "Girls and Boys Come Out to Stay: Ideological Formations in New Zealand-Set Children's Fiction, 1862–1917." Ph.D. diss. Massey University [New Zealand], 2003. 326 pp. DAI 64: 4472A.

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, Luz Carime. "Exploring Female Images in the Caldecott Award Books (1980–2003)." Ph.D. diss. The University of Alabama, 2003. 236 pp. DAI 64: 4393A.

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, Yvonne Gunilla. "Beyond Identification: Proper Names in Children's Literature." F.D. diss. Abo Akademi (Finland), 2003. 280 pp. DAI 64: 810C. Not available from UMI.

Bertills examines Tove Jansson's Moomin novels, Mauri Nunnas's picture books, and A. A. Milne's Winnie-the...

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