Divided worlds

Studies in children's literature

Mary Shine Thompson & Valerie Coghlan, editors

This volume, the third collection of studies in children's literature, explores the political, social and cultural divisions that dominate children's books, ranging over Irish and international topics and texts. Articles on the fiction of Katherine Tynan, Maria Edgeworth and Somerville & Ross, as well as modern Ulster fiction and contemporary children's publishing, are indicative of the range of Irish material. The international focus extends from Luigi Bertelli's treatment of fascism and Gianni Rodari's communism to the English contexts of Cecil Alexander's English hymns. Rosemary Sutcliffe's Roman Britain series is revisited to explore its masculinities, and gendered divisions are the subject of a review of Oisin McGann's recent fantasy fiction.

Mary Shine Thompson is the co-editor of the first two volumes in this series; Valerie Coghlan is the co-editor of The big guide to children's books and The big guide 2: Irish children's books.