In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Reviewed by:
  • Reading Children's Literature: A Critical Introductionby Carrie L. Hintz and Eric L. Tribunella
  • Jennifer Geer (bio)
Reading Children's Literature: A Critical Introduction. By Carrie L. Hintz and Eric L. Tribunella, 2ndedition, Broadview Press, 2019, 623 pp.

Hintz and Tribunella state the scope and intended audience for Reading Children's Literatureadmirably clearly in their preface. This is a textbook designed to be used in children's and young adult literature courses at the undergraduate level that aim to give students and instructors an introduction to "the critical and cultural conversations involving children's literature," "key concepts and genres within the field," and a variety of "methods for reading children's literature analytically" (20). It is intended to supplement the literary texts assigned in undergraduate courses on children's literature in English, education, or library-science departments.

As a textbook, Reading Children's Literaturedoes not aim to break any new scholarly ground, but it does an excellent job of outlining major genres, concepts, and critical debates in the field, and it would be a valuable resource for students and instructors. (Notwithstanding the title, the book also includes information on young adult literature.) The information is presented clearly and concisely, and the book is laid out well, with a detailed table of contents that includes subsections within chapters, a glossary of common terms, a list of works cited for each chapter, and an index. The book is divided into a preface for instructors; an "Introduction for Students" that addresses common assumptions about children's literature, briefly defines the practice of critical reading, and defends the critical analysis of children's literature; and thirteen chapters. The chapters are wide-ranging, covering a mix of history, genre, and topical issues: "Historicizing Childhood," which offers an overview of the ways childhood and adolescence have been constructed in the western world; "The Early History of Children's Literature" to the mid-twentieth century; "Poetry"; "Fairy Tales"; "Picturebooks, Graphic Novels, and Digital Texts"; "Domesticity and Adventure," covering the rise of domestic and adventure novels in the [End Page 301]nineteenth century; "Historical Fiction; Nonfiction—History, Science, Life writing"; "Fantasy and Realism" for children and young adults; "Race, Ethnicity, and Culture"; "Genders and Sexualities"; "Censorship and Selection"; and "Children's Literature and Popular Culture," including film studies and popular genres such as horror, science fiction, dystopia, and romance.

Each chapter ends with a "Reading Critically" section that models different ways a single sample text could be interpreted, a list of suggested texts for children and young adults that could be used alongside the chapter, a list of review and reflection questions for students, and an "Approaches to Teaching" section that features a sample unit plan that undergraduate student teachers in K–12 education departments could use to teach children's or young adult literature in their classrooms (21). Reading Children's Literaturealso includes an appendix that lists the winners of the Caldecott Medal, the Newbery Medal, the Phoenix Award, and the Phoenix Picture Book Award—though, oddly, not the Coretta Scott King Award, which is discussed at some length in the chapter on "Race, Ethnicity, and Culture." Perhaps this could be included in a future edition. This second edition updates the first in a number of ways, particularly in the addition of a new chapter on "Children's Literature and Popular Culture" and new chapter sections on digital texts, graphic novels, and disability, race, and privilege.

Scholars of fairy tales will primarily be interested in chapter 4, which focuses on the fairy tale. Specialists will be familiar with the information presented here, but the chapter provides a useful introduction for students. The chapter primarily focuses on literary fairy tales, but the opening section distinguishes between literary fairy tales, oral folktales, myths, and legends, and the chapter frequently reminds students that fairy tales have traditionally been addressed to an audience that includes adults as well as children. The subsection on "The History of the Literary Fairy Tale in the western world" is necessarily highly abridged but provides a clear overview and references scholarship by Jack Zipes, Maria Tatar, Vicki Roberts-Gassler, Ruth B. Bottigheimer, Marina warner, and Cristina Bacchilega. The subsection...

pdf