Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Fiction for children and young adults necessarily reflects the social, cultural, and political contexts in which it is produced and received. This field of literature is deeply implicated within processes and practices of socialization, since throughout the world children's books are used extensively in family and school settings to introduce children to cultural values. While some children's texts explicitly advocate ideological positions (such as literature dealing with the environmental effects of global warming), others implicitly propose what is desirable and undesirable in human behavior. The language and visual images of novels and picture books are imbued with values. In some nations, such as China, state systems of censorship control what books are imported and published; Chinese writers for children have long been regarded as “engineers of children's souls.” It should not be imagined, however, that censorship does not exist in Western countries. Very often authors engage in processes of self-censorship, avoiding or moderating themes and language that may decrease the appeal of their books to mainstream audiences. Much children's fiction seeks to align readers with protagonists, either through first-person narration (particularly common in young adult fiction) or by way of focalization through the perspective of a character. This is a powerful way of inducting readers into ... log in or subscribe to read full text