220 pages
250mm x 168mm
ISBN-10: 1 85856 204 X
ISBN-13: 978 1 85856 204 9
February 2001

How do young readers see themselves and 'others' in the texts they are encouraged to read or find on their own? How are their sympathies recruited in tales of wars and conflicts? Where do their loyalties lie? How do they approach and interpret books in translation? How do writers in other European countries portray UK adults? How universal are fairy tales?
Books for children and young adults are embedded in the culture and language of their origins. Although the multicultural nature of the UK is now more positively reflected in children's books, the Englishness of English books is still strong. The questions of national identity and children's literature are considered by European writers from their own perspectives, so highlighting what is often taken for granted about 'others' in relation to 'ourselves' and vice versa. Gathered here by renowned author Margaret Meek of the Institute of Education, University of London, the contributors are:

Anthea Bell, famous translator of Asterix
Penni Cotton, who explores the international use of children's picture books
Robert Dunbar, who examines traditional Irish children's literature
Carol Fox on British children's books about war
Judith Graham on picture books and diversity
Anna Jászo of Budapest University, on stereotypes
Gillian Lathey, promoting European children's literature
Francis Marcoin on French nationality
Margaret Meek on the Englishness of English Children's Books
Emer O'Sullivan, children's literature expert at Goethe University in Frankfurt
Carla Poesio, a picture book specialist from Florence
Morag Styles, on applying her expertise in children's poetry

Margaret Meek very fine book, Children's literature and National Identity is an especially welcome contribution... It embodies the ways in which literature addresses the complex relations of individual and social life - Journal of Early Childhood Literacy