Caribbean Children's Literature, Volume 2: Critical Approaches

Caribbean Children's Literature, Volume 2: Critical Approaches

Genre: Scholarly Anthologies (Adult) Publisher: University Press of Mississippi (May 2023) ISBN: 9781496844583 (hardcover) | 9781496844590 (paperback) Hardcover, Paperback: 256 pages SYNOPSIS The second installment of an essential anthology on children's literature of the Caribbean and its diaspora. Caribbean Children's Literature, Volume 2: Critical Approaches offers analyses of the works of writers of the Anglophone Caribbean and its diaspora—or, except for one chapter on Francophone Caribbean children’s literature, those who write in English. The volume addresses the four language regions, early children’s literature of conquest—in particular, the US colonization of Puerto Rico—and the fine line between children’s and adult literature. It explores multiple young adult genres, probing the nuances and difficulties of historical fiction and the anticolonial impulses of contemporary speculative fiction. Additionally, the volume offers an overview of the literature of disaster and recovery, significant for readers living in a region besieged by earthquakes, hurricanes, and flooding. In this anthology and its companion anthology, international and regional scholars provide coverage of both areas, offering in-depth explorations of picture books, middle-grade, and young adult stories. The volumes examine the literary histories of both children’s and young adult literature according to language region, its use (or lack thereof) in schools, and its place in the field of publishing. Taken together, the essays expand our understanding of Caribbean literature for young people. Contributors: Jarrel De Matas • Summer Edward • Teófilo Espada-Brignoni • Melissa García Vega • Pauline Franchini • Dannabang Kuwabong • Amanda Eaton McMenamin • Betsy Nies • Michael Reyes

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Praise & Reviews

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"Scholars from around the globe offer historical and modern perspectives on colonialism and its long-term effects on Caribbean culture and youth literature. The book also shares analyses of current titles, as well as perspectives from contemporary authors based in the Caribbean or representing the region from around the world [...] These two volumes discuss problematic and culturally acceptable historic Caribbean children’s literature, linguistic evolution in publication, imperial effects on writing and its readers, and global perspectives on the current state of the Caribbean and its literature around the world. Discussions with highly successful authors are also included."
    —School Library Journal

"This edited collection begins the process of filling a gap in children's literature research through examining the neglected field of Caribbean literature for young people. The book provides a good survey of a broad range of themes and issues that emerge from Caribbean children's literature [...] In addition to subtly challenging the reader to become an activist in finding Caribbean children's literature, the collection emphasises the importance of the OwnVoices movement and its role in helping readers to value diversity by seeking authors who write from within their own Caribbean cultures."
    —International Research in Children's Literature (scholarly journal)

"Focusing on children’s literature which has arguably not received much attention—from picture books for young children to adolescent literature across the Anglo/Franco/Hispanophone Caribbean—this book will make a contribution to the already rich field of Caribbean literary critique."
    —Nicha Selvon-Ramkissoon, assistant professor at the University of Trinidad and Tobago

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