A Multimodal Analysis of Picture Books for Children goes beyond the relation between the representation of reality and language alone; instead, it aims to analyze the intersemiosis between verbal and visual elements in a sample of nine picture books. The chapters included in this book take the most relevant systemic-functional and visual social semiotic theories a step further from previous studies and apply them to the genre of children's tales. Within the frameworks of Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics and Kress and van Leeuwen's Visual Social Semiotics, the aim is to identify the verbal and visual strategies available to the writer and illustrator (i) to convey representational meanings, (ii) to set up interpersonal relationships within the tale itself, as well as external relationships between writer and reader and, finally, (iii) to create coherent tales. This is achieved by analyzing and identifying the ideational, interpersonal and textual choices available to the writer to make meaning in picture books, and comparing them with the corresponding representational, interactive and compositional choices made by the illustrator. The analysis reveals how the verbal and visual modalities contribute to each other's meaning and makes the potential of combining verbal and non-verbal language in picture books evident.

Product Description: J. K. Rowling's popular series of books about the boy wizard Harry Potter has captivated readers of all ages around the world. Selling more than 400 million copies, and adapted into highly successful feature films, the stories have attracted both critical acclaim and controversy...read more

Product Description: Fairy tales are a particularly concrete, visual, and cinematic form of writing in which location plays a significant role. This book examines the significance of place in children's literature. It demonstrates how children's authors use fictional landscapes to create compelling texts...read more

Product Description: Windows on the World: International Books for Elementary and Middle Grade Readers helps librarians and teachers open the eyes of elementary and middle grade readers to what life is like for children like themselves around the globe...read more

Re-reading Harry Potter is the first extended analysis of the social and political implications of the Harry Potter phenomenon. Arguments are primarily based on close readings of the first four Harry Potter books and the first two films, and a "text-to-world" method is followed. This study does not assume that the phenomenon concerns children alone, or should be lightly dismissed as a matter of pure entertainment as the amount of money, media coverage, and ideological unease involved indicates otherwise. The first part of the study provides a survey of responses (both of general readers and critics) to the Harry Potter books. The second part examines the presentation of certain themes, including gender, race, and desire, with a view to understanding how these may impinge on social and political concerns of our world.

Product Description: Reading Harry Potter Again: New Critical Essays extends the discussion of the Harry Potter books by covering the entire series in one new and comprehensive volume.This new volume of essays covers the entire seven-book sequence. Contributors consider a number of themes from a variety of perspectives...read more

The Harry Potter books have become ubiquitous early texts for children, and are also a popular choice for many adults. Potter-mania has expanded to become a significant cultural phenomenon complete with a feature film and a wide range of paraphernalia. However, there has been little critical attention devoted to these books and the cultural phenomenon surrounding them. Containing powerful, thought-provoking literary themes as well as portrayals of social and cultural normalcy, the Potter books cumulatively serve as a powerful form of social text and deserve serious critical attention. Elizabeth Heilman brings together scholars from various disciplines to provide literary, cultural, sociological, and psychological examinations of the Harry Potter books as both cultural product and social text. DISCLAIMER: This book is not authorized, approved, licensed, or endorsed by J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., or anyone associated with the Harry Potter books or movies.

Product Description: Help your students see the light. With its myriad of techniques, concepts and formulas, business statistics can be overwhelming for many students. They can have trouble recognizing the importance of studying statistics, and making connections between concepts...read more

Product Description: Edited by Morag Styles and written by an interational team of acknowledged experts, this series provides jargon-free, critical discussion and a comprehensive guide to literary and popular texts for children. Each book introduces the reader to a major genre of children's literature, covering key authors, major works and contexts in which those texts are published...read more

Product Description: Children's Literature: New Approaches is a guide for graduate and upper-level undergraduate students of children's literature. It is structured through critics reading individual texts to bring out wider issues that are current in the field...read more

Product Description: Book by Jane M. Gangi

Product Description: Today's young children are occupied with numerous activities taking place in settings that are isolated from nature or merely simulations of the earth's natural environment. As a result, unless they receive appropriate nature education, many children may never develop a familiarity with and positive attitudes toward the natural world that are so crucial to its preservation...read more

Product Description: Today's young children are occupied with numerous activities taking place in settings that are isolated from nature or merely simulations of the earth's natural environment. As a result, unless they receive appropriate nature education, many children may never develop a familiarity with and positive attitudes toward the natural world that are so crucial to its preservation...read more

Product Description: This book studies canonical children's literature during what is perceived to be the first Golden Age of this genre. Building upon critical studies, such as Jacqueline Rose's The Case of Peter Pan, the instability at the heart of children's literature is examined...read more

A noted Presbyterian minister defends the Harry Potter series from conservatives who denounce the books as paganism, demonstrating how they promote the values of faith and morality, and profiling the main character as a Christ figure who battles the forces of darkness. Reprint. (view table of contents)

Product Description: This study examines the function and significance of houses in children's literature, concentrating on a close reading of a large number of representative texts. The houses that children live in, move to or visit in these novels are especially striking and unforgettable...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Offers a biographical sketch of the popular author as well as essays discussing her work.

Contains a series of essays discussing children's literature, the early years, series books, common themes, and controversy.

J K Rowling's 'Harry Potter' books have entranced millions of people all over the world. Ever wondered why chocolate is a good cure for a Dementor attack? Or maybe why Voldemort puts the 'Dark Mark' on Death Eaters? This title is an investigation of J K Rowling's work.