Reading Children's Literature: A Critical Introduction

by Carrie Hintz, Eric Tribunella

Informed by recent scholarship and interest in cultural studies and critical theory, Reading Children's A Critical Introduction is a compact core text that introduces students to the historical contexts, genres, and issues of children's literature. A beautifully designed and illustrated supplement to the individual literary works assigned, it provides helpful apparatus that makes it a complete resource for working with children's literature both during and after the course. .

Genres: Nonfiction, Textbooks, Academic, School, Education, Teaching, Literary Criticism

544 pages, Paperback

First published December 28, 2012

Reviews

[Nikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very helpful for my class on teaching children's literature. Easy, informative, and enjoyable (for a textbook).

[Rachel Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading Children's Literature A Book Review I had to read this textbook for my children's literature. It is an easy flowing book for a textbook. But, I hated it. I hated how I ended up looking so critically at children's literature. Everything was very negative, from sexuality to race to the problems with fairy tales. 
 
I read children's books, from picture books to juvenile books because I enjoy them. They make me laugh, some make me think about how hard it can be a child at times. 
 
But this class, and this book made me hate the books I had to read at points. So disappointing. 

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great introduction to critical analysis of children's literature. Accessible to those with very little critical reading / critical literature experience. May come off a little too basic to those more familiar with literary scholarship but still an excellent text.

[Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helpful overview of various themes, genres, etc. I've read more in-depth analyses elsewhere, but this is a good primer if children's lit is new to you.

[Troy Zaher]

Dry but helpful. I started this in my childrens lit class last year and read the rest of it on my own sometime later. Will likely go back to if I attempt more childrens lit essays

[Marnie]

I DONT CARE THAT THIS IS AN ACADEMIC BOOK IM PUTTING IT ON MY READ BC IVE BEEN POURING OVER IT FOR THE LADT TWO DAYS

[Culleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

read this for my grad school class. great resource to be added to my school library

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though this was a "textbook," I really enjoyed all the ways this helped me critically view and understand genres of children's literature more deeply. I learned a lot, read a lot of great books to apply the concepts presented, and feel I'll be better able to recommend books to all ages of young readers as a result. Readable, and I felt smarter at the end :-)

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Only a DNF because I am crunched for time, so I read everything that was assigned, but we didn't read the whole book as a class, so I haven't read the whole book. Fascinating history of children's literature. Definitely worth a look if you love children's/youth lit!

[Sal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good introduction to children's literature. Not as dry as your typical textbook, it makes for an easy and very informative read.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great overview of Children's literature

[SquidneyReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview of different genres, classical works of children's literature, noteworthy contemporary works, and the historical significance of some of the genres.

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved how this explained children's literature.

[Maggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This class was an experience. This book was ok.