July 17, 2006

Et In Terra Pax

Just received an email from a friend who has family in Lebanon...

I'm not singing and plugging my ears, but close. Worlds away, bombs are falling as usual. The literature of a time period usually lags about ten years behind, but according to a recent study, already themes of war and terrorism are filtering into children's lit. There's always been talk of war, because this country always seems to be at war -- or having a 'skirmish' or doing a 'police action' somewhere somehow. Dr Rebecca-Anne Do Rozario, of the Monash's School of English, Communications and Performance Studies, did her study on J.K. Rowling's Potter series, Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus Trilogy, Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl series and, oddly enough, the Disney movie Lilo and Stitch. Do Rozario's study determined that authors are finding ways to examine and interpret world events in a way our readers can understand. Check it out.

Meanwhile, Cynsations' War & Peace in Children's Literature is also a great resource.

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