This book starts from the observation that there has been an increase in children’s books that are explicitly written with the intention to do good – by this we mean: books that address relevant and urgent issues such as racism, climate change, and socio-economic inequality, and allow for more equal and inclusive relations. Despite their good intentions, however, these books often succeed only partially in their goal to inform and emancipate young readers. The pitfalls that these books run into are sometimes eagerly picked up by readers and critics and used as reasons to dismiss the entire book or the author themselves. In order to break this impasse, this book proposes to take a narratological approach to books with good intentions to gain a better understanding of the impact of formal choices in children’s literature that create emancipatory texts.

 

Concretely, this volume seeks to:

  • Operationalize the notion of textual intentionality, to complement a discussion that is now predominantly focused on authors’ intentions and readers’ reception;
  • Use a narratological approach to identify textual intentionality in children's literature that addresses a range of urgent topics related to social justice;
  • Identify common pitfalls in these texts that undermine their good intentions;
  • Provide a critical framework for understanding the opportunities and challenges in children’s literature with good intentions.

Topics of Interest

  • Contributions should align with the goals outlined above and might include:
  • Theoretical reflections on the role of intentionality in the creation and interpretation of children's literature;
  • Reflections on narrative elements and structures that suggest the intentionality of a text;
  • Case studies that apply narratological concepts to examine the good intentions of children’s books about topics of social importance,
    • these topics can include anti-racism, global warming, queerness, disability,
      poverty, migration, etc.
    • case studies might include novels, comic books, picturebooks, or other textual narratives for young readers.
  • Studies that identify and conceptualize narrative strategies that successfully create emancipatory texts;
  • Studies that identify and conceptualize common narrative pitfalls in well-intended books that prevent them from succeeding;
  • Studies that explore the effects of irony and ambiguity in enhancing or undermining a text’s good intentions;
  • Explorations of authors’ practices and experiences in creating well-intended children’s literature;
  • Empirical reports on readers’receptions of narrative strategies in well-intended texts;
  • Analyses of the (online) debates sparked by specific children’s books regarding their treatment of social issues;
  • And more!

Submission Guidelines
Interested contributors are invited to submit a 300-500 word abstract outlining their proposed chapter. Submissions should be sent to Élodie Malanda (Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein.) or Suzanne van der Beek (Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein.) by 1 November. We are particularly interested in insights from discussions that are unfolding in languages other than English. If you have any queries about the publication or are uncertain about your idea or the design of this volume, we invite you to contact us via e-mail.

Timeline
- Abstract Submission Deadline: 1 November 2024
- Notification of Acceptance: 1 December 2024
- Full Chapter Submission: 1 May 2025
- Revised Chapter Submission: 1 October 2025
- Publication Date: Spring 2026

About this publication
This book is intended as narratological intervention in an ongoing societal debate. Therefore, the editors will provide the different chapters in this book with a summary of the main findings and a set of prompts that help (non-academic) readers to apply these findings in their writing and reading of children’s books.

This book will be published with Malmö University Press in the Studies in Children’s Literature, Culture and Media book series. This means that the book will be open access and available to print on demand for a small price, making it easily accessible for anyone interested in this discussion.

For any queries or further information: please contact Élodie Malanda (Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein.) or Suzanne van der Beek (Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein.).

 

Suggested bibliography (selection)

  • Hamon, Philippe. (1997). Texte et idéologie, PUF.
  • Ho, Jennifer. (2022). “Author Functions, Literary Functions, and Racial Representations or What We Talk about When We Talk about Diversifying Narrative Studies”. In: Alexa Weik von Mossner, Marijana Mikić, Mario Grill. Ethnic American Literatures and Critical Race Narratology, Routledge.
  • Hollindale, Peter.(1988). Ideology and the Children's Book. Thimble Press.
  • Jouve, Vincent. (2001). Poétique des valeurs, Presses Universitaires de France.
  • Malanda, Élodie (2019). L’Afrique dans les romans pour la jeunesse en France et en Allemagne (1991-2010). Les pièges de la bonne intention, Honoré Champion.
  • Rubin Suleiman, Susan. (1992). Authoritarian Fiction. The ideological novel as a literary genre. Princeton University Press.
  • Stephens, John. (1992). Language and Ideology in Children's Fiction, Longman.
  • Wimsatt, William K. and Beardsley Monroe C. (1954), ‘The Intentional Fallacy’, in The Verbal Icon, Noonday Press, pp.3-20.

[Quelle: Pressemitteilung]