Heather Montgomery is Senior Lecturer in Childhood and Youth Studies at the Open University. A social anthropologist by training, her research interests are in the anthropology of childhood, children's rights and gender and sexuality. Mary Kellett is Professor of Childhood and Youth and Director of the Childhood and Youth Studies programme at the Open University. Her main research interests are the empowerment of children and young people as researchers, disabilities, rights, participation and voice. She is the Founding Director of the Children's Research Centre which facilitates and supports research by children and young people.

• Contents: Children, young people and their families ~ Virginia Morrow; The family in an international context ~ Heather Montgomery; Culture and religion ~ Anoop Nayak; The child and politics in the UK ~ Nigel Thomas; International politics ~ Heather Montgomery; Children, young people and poverty ~ Tess Ridge; Consumerism and marketing ~ David Buckingham and Sara Bragg; Children, young people and the law ~ Phil Bates; Participation ~ Mary Kellett; Ethnicity ~ Anoop Nayak; Sexuality ~ Mary Jane Kehily; Children's rights ~ Phil Bates; Child protection ~ Judith Masson; Voice ~ Mary Kellett.

"Extremely useful for a number of the modules being delivered and will be included in the suggested reading list that students received." Susan Feltman, North Hertfordshire College "How do issues of theory and practice converge in the area of children's rights and participation? This collection brings impressive scope, specificity and insight to that key question." Barrie Thorne, University of California, Berkeley, US "By linking the local to the global, this book presents a wide-ranging multi-disciplinary focus on various aspects of children's lives. Collectively the chapters effectively demonstrate the integration of theory and practice through the use of relevant and informative case studies. " Professor Madeleine Leonard, School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work Queen's University, Belfast