Rhetorical Power of Children's Literature

John H. Saunders is visiting assistant professor at the University of Central Arkansas.

• Bedtime RhetoricJohn H. SaundersTSZ, TSZ, TSZ to Industrial ‘Cap’italism: A Marxist Analysis of Caps for SaleChristopher J. OldenburgPigs and Wolves: The Rhetorical Construction of a Traditional Tale and a Contemporary PasticheMary Elizabeth Bezanson and Deborah Lee NorlandThe Cat in the Hat: The Complexity of a Simple TaleJohn H. SaundersMommy and Daddy Were Married, and Other Creation Myths in Children’s Books About SexBrett L. Lunceford“Good Readers” in Narnia: C. S. Lewis’s Rhetoric of InvitationJoshua D. Hill“Why Do You Hurt These Children?”: The Rhetoric of “Risky Stories” in Children’s LiteratureLauren LemleySubversive Identification and the Coincidentia Oppositorum in Ursula Le Guin’s A Wizard of EarthseaMichael Warren Tumolo and Jennifer BeidendorfThe Multi-Gaze Perspective of Harry PotterLauren Rose CamacciConclusionJohn H. Saunders

These essays reveal, as Saunders (Univ. of Central Arkansas) writes in the first essay, that children’s literature is replete with "complex cultural or political messages, beyond what a child can comprehend, but which present children with obvious, superficial messages that act as seeds, some destined to take root and others to wither away.” Covering everything from picture books, to bedtime stories, to young adult literature, the essays look beyond story lines to reveal the rhetoric that lies beneath. For example, one essay uses a Marxist lens to examine allegories depicting the harmful effects of industrial capitalism; another uses a Western perspective in considering allegories supporting the notion that hard work and intelligence lead to security and economic prosperity. In other words, with their books children's authors often reveal the ideologies and values that they wish their readers to have. The rhetoric of children’s books also lends itself to instruction—for example, about sex, troubling/traumatic historical moments, race, violence—bypassing adult discomfort and the sad comedy of children pretending not know things in order to protect adults. In sum, children’s literature—from picture books to YA—has the power to help children comprehend a complex world. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals.