They Also Write for Kids : Cross-Writing, Activism, and Children's Literature

They Also Write for Kids: Cross-Writing, Activism, and Children''s Literature seeks to draw these cross-writing projects together and bring them to the attention of readers. In doing so, this book invites readers to place children''s literature in conversation with works more typically understood as being for adult audiences, read multiethnic US literature alongside texts by global writers, consider children''s poetry and nonfiction as well as fiction, and read diachronically as well as cross-culturally. These ways of reading offer points of entry into a world of books that refuse to exclude young audiences in scrutinizing topics that range from US settler colonialism and linguistic prejudice to intersectional forms of gender inequality. The authors included here also employ an intricate array of writing strategies that challenge lingering stereotypes of children''s literature as artistically as well as intellectually simplistic. They subversively repurpose tropes and conventions from canonical children''s books; embrace an epistemology of children''s literature that emphasizes ambiguity and complexity; invite readers to participate in redefining concepts such as "civilization" and cultural belonging; engage in intricate acts of cross-cultural representation; and re-envision their own earlier works in new forms tailored explicitly to younger audiences. Too often disregarded by skeptical adults, these texts offer rich rewards to readers of all ages, and here they are brought to the fore.