Just as planned, I have written and uploaded an essay on the topic of children's literature. You may view it here by clicking the icon below (PDF file, 171 KB):

The Snowy Day, by Ezra Jack Keats, is a very simplistic book about a boy's adventure on a winter day. However, this book carries a lot of significance in that it is among the first children's books featuring a protagonist of colour where race is not central to the story. The boy's playful experience is no different from that of any child, and this is what Keats tries to convey in his book.

A significant point in history is being reimagined through the story of a Japanese-American boy in Ken Mochizuki's Baseball Saved Us. Growing up in an internment camp during World War II, the boy learns how to play baseball after his father decides to construct a diamond. After he is released from the camp, he fails to blend in with the other kids at school, but it is his love of baseball that keeps him going.

I found two children's books from my local library that will be great for my research on how such literature can encourage social change. The two titles I found are And Tango Makes Three and We'll Paint the Octopus Red.

And Tango Makes Three is based on an actual event at Central Park Zoo in New York City. Two male penguins do everything together, but they could not lay eggs like all the other penguin couples. The zookeeper then decides to lend them an egg from another couple, and together they raise their own penguin baby. Because of the penguins' same-sex relationship, the book was greeted with both controversy and praise.

We'll Paint the Octopus Red tells the story of a girl who is awaiting the birth of a new sibling. At first she was not excited about the newest member of the family, until her father tells her all the great things she can do with the baby. Once the birth of the baby is announced, she discovers that her new younger sibling is a boy, and that he has been diagnosed with Down syndrome. At this point, she feels as though her plans with him have been ruined, but then her father reassures her that she will still be able to play with him. The book ends with some helpful information on Down syndrome.

Since my project deals with children's literature, I realized I needed some relevant books for kids. One such book is The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch. The story is a clever subversion of the classic princess as damsel-in-distress narrative, and for that it has garnered much success.

Voices of the Other, edited by Roderick McGillis, focuses on the role of the "other" in post-colonial contemporary children's literature. As such, it is very heavy on racial and ethnic identity politics, so it would surely help me in my ongoing research.

I found this book at the library that looks incredibly helpful for my research. Battling Dragons, an anthology edited by Susan Lehr, takes a look at various children's literature that challenge impressions of what is or is not acceptable for children to read, and how parents' negative reactions affected the. The subject matter of these titles are more contemporary in nature and includes: violence, gender roles, race, sexuality, religion and historical events. At this point, I'm becoming more convinced to look at more contemporary works (late 20th and 21st centuries) than historical ones.

Speaking of contemporary works, I also noticed a thesis posted online explaining the troubles that face controversial books, including reviews of a few titles.

I found an interesting book entitled Should We Burn Babar? by Herbert Kohl. It's a critical analysis of children's literature and the social implications within, with a special look at Jean de Brunhoff's Babar series of books. The time in which the stories of the elephant king are set is considered, as recurring themes like imperialism and white benevolence are presented here. Kohl is focused on what this means for children's education in the present day.