20 replies to this topic

[floss]

Just finished Children's Lit. last year. Some of the fantasy books were Diana Wynne Jones Howls Moving Castle, Terry Pratchett's disc world novels and Sky Legs (not entirely fantasy and can't quite remember author)
Check to see if you have "The Lion and the Unicorn" journal at your university, also books or articles written by Robyn McCallum, Rosemary Jackson, Jack Zipes, and John Stephens may be useful.
Also Tvetzan Todorov [the marvellous, the fantastic, the uncanny], Joseph Campbell [hero, monomyth, separation- initiation-return paradigm], Rosemary Jackson[ fantasy = literature of desire] and Jacques Lacan [the mirror phase] may be concepts to consider.

[JaneD]

Thanks for reminding me of The Rose and the Ring. I loved that when I was around 11.

There was one other book which I was trying to remember when I posted before, but could not recall either the title or the author. I've got it now.

Shadowmancer by G P Taylor - created quite a hit in when it came out England last summer, and was another one that got children wanting to read. I would say around 9-14, but a good read as an adult, and there are promises of more from the same author. Another story of children against evil, with some mysticism thrown in for good measure.

A footnote: The blurb states that the author "Lives in an abandoned cemetary" - yes, he's a vicar and hisvicarage is next to the church.

[floss]

dancing frog you are right when you say that Pratchett's Disc World novels are not for young children they are written for the teenage audience however rebekah did not mention a particular age group so I included those books in my recommendation.

rebecka another book within the fantasy genre that children (primary school age)love is "The Day my Bum went Psycho" by Andy Griffiths and I remembered that Irini Savvides wrote Sky Legs.

Some other researchers to keep in mind are Maria Nikolejeva, C.W.Hunt III, and Katheryn Hume ("Fantasy and Mimesis"). Also, the popularity of Harry Potter has led to quite a few journal articles which you could check.

[rebekah]

Hi Dancing frog-I agree that the Discworld novels aren't for children but luckily Terry Prachett has more recently written fantasy books for children-Amazing Maurice and  his Educated Rodents, The Wee Free Men and just out, A Hatful of Sky. The last two are Discworld books for kids, which is great because it means I can include them in my dissertation!  I've just finished The Wee Free Men and if you like Discworld books then you'll love it! A Hatful of Sky is the sequel to it. Enjoy! And thanks for the recommendation too xx