Keywords

As the forty-nine entries that made it into Keywords for Children’s Literature took their final forms, we found ourselves simultaneously pleased by the entries taking shape and worried about the ones that got away.  It’s not that potential entries were lost.  We knew what had happened to them.   We’d rejected some (such as “fairy tale”) on the grounds that they didn’t seem, at the time, to be “conflicted” or “contested” — and thus were outside the parameters Raymond Williams had drawn for inclusion.  Others (such as “communitas”) didn’t seem to have had enough time to develop a critical history or vocabulary of their own.  We are particularly pleased to have the opportunity to use the blog as a way to negotiate the viability of potential keywords.   As some of the keywords (such as “intention” and “tomboy”) that did make it into the final volume were ones suggested by contributors, rather than ones we solicited, we’re open to possibilities.  So.  What have we missed?  We look forward to your suggestions.

• Keywords for Children’s Literature‘s Table of Contents (pdf)
• Keywords for Children’s Literature‘s Introduction (pdf)

— Philip Nel and Lissa Paul, editors, Keywords for Children’s Literature.

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“Keywords for Children’s Literature demonstrates how sophisticated the critical approaches to the burgeoning field of children’s literature have become. Not only do the essays on keywords, written by some of the most capable professors in the field, elaborate important concepts in the history of children’s literature, but they cover significant cultural debates and discussions. This superb volume of scholarship demonstrates—definitively—that adult literature cannot be understood without grasping its roots in children’s literature.”-Jack Zipes, University of Minnesota