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Full-Text Articles in Children's and Young Adult Literature

The Tragedy Of Caspian: C. S. Lewis And His Trauma, Chandler Hanton Jan 2022

The Tragedy Of Caspian: C. S. Lewis And His Trauma, Chandler Hanton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis reconsiders C.S.Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia as a type of scriptotherapy that enabled Lewis to process and come to terms with a life full of serious and significant traumatic events. Trauma theory offers a vehicle for us to consider the alignments and connections between Lewis himself and his fictional creation, Caspian. In the specifics of both characterization and incident, Lewis mirrors the events and relationships that instilled and healed the trauma in his own life. In situating Caspian as his alter-ego, Lewis allowed his writing to function as a gender-specific therapeutic process for addressing the effects of his …


Femininity Reclaiming Chivalry In The Harry Potter Series, Ashley M. Watson Jan 2022

Femininity Reclaiming Chivalry In The Harry Potter Series, Ashley M. Watson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper focuses on the reclaiming of chivalric values by female characters in the Harry Potter series by comparing them to Arthurian characters. Scholars have extensively compared the narrative of the Knights of the Round Table to the global phenomenon of the Harry Potter series, but in this paper I explore, through a feminist lens, a character comparison of the Harry Potter novels and Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur. I will show how female characters in modern literature reclaim chivalry. This is important because it exemplifies a shift in the position of women into a more active role. I …


Cultures And Colonization In Tamora Pierce's Young Adult Novels, Jessica R. Dube Jan 2021

Cultures And Colonization In Tamora Pierce's Young Adult Novels, Jessica R. Dube

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The content represented in young adult literature can be a shaping force for adolescents as they begin to understand more about themselves and the world around them. Fantasy fiction is especially powerful, as it allows readers to consider issues outside of their own experiences and learn through the characters of a fictional world. This thesis focuses specifically on the works of Tamora Pierce, and the ways in which she represents sociopolitical issues in her fictional world of Tortall. I analyze the ways in which Pierce’s works fulfill Landt’s standards of good multicultural literature, and how the representation she presents can …


From Wanderer To Warrior: Martin's Journey To Sainthood In Brian Jacques's Redwall Series, Marie A. Bliemeister Jan 2019

From Wanderer To Warrior: Martin's Journey To Sainthood In Brian Jacques's Redwall Series, Marie A. Bliemeister

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Children’s fantasy series have been set in the Medieval Era, a way to explore contemporary themes. This use of the Medieval Era is known as medievalism, where authors can explore contemporary issues by comparing them to the past (Bradford 3). Brian Jacques, the author of the popular children’s series Redwall, uses many aspects of the Medieval Era such as prophecies, glory, and battle, and visions or dreams to effectively spin a good yarn while commenting on the religious development of England in the late twentieth century. English moral was down due to the devastation of World War Two and …


Poetically Composed, Educationally Imposed: Exploring Imagination And Poetics In Curriculum—A Memoir, Whitney J. Presnal Jan 2019

Poetically Composed, Educationally Imposed: Exploring Imagination And Poetics In Curriculum—A Memoir, Whitney J. Presnal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Through the use of memoir, my work centers on how poetry is situated within public education curriculum. I explore the curricular context of poetry through the lenses of my lived experiences in early childhood, as a K-12 student, and as an early career classroom teacher. My dissertation draws upon a wide array of literature, honing in on the poetic perspectives of philosophers (Aristotle, 1996; Heidegger, 1947 & 1971/2013; Plato, 1955/2007), poets (Hall, 2003; Eliot, 1920 & 2009), and curriculum theorists (Leggo, 1997 & 2018; Pinar, 1994; Sameshima, 2007). The foundation of my work is drawn from my own circular experiences, …


From Beyond The Grave: Dead Narrators In Young Adult Literature, Jessica L. Branton Jan 2019

From Beyond The Grave: Dead Narrators In Young Adult Literature, Jessica L. Branton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While scholars and critics have explored various aspects of young adult literature, few have focused on the popular, but odd, use of dead narrators. When examining the dead narrators of Veronica Roth’s Allegiant, Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why, Lauren Oliver’s Before I Fall, and Jess Rothenberg’s The Catastrophic History of You and Me, it becomes clear that the dead narrators are used as a foil for adolescent growth and maturation, and they also allow young readers to empathize with and accept death through the protagonists. These protagonists experience a proto-adulthood as they die too soon to …


Creating Socialization And Empathy Through Athletics In Chris Crutcher’S Fiction, Joseph P. Korwin Jan 2014

Creating Socialization And Empathy Through Athletics In Chris Crutcher’S Fiction, Joseph P. Korwin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis aims to highlight the ways participation in athletics promote greater physical, psychological, and social health for adolescents in Chris Crutcher’s fiction. In his novels, Ironman and Whale Talk, published in 1995 and 2001 respectively, Crutcher uses athletically minded protagonists and the teams which form around them to display the benefits of being involved in athletics, especially team sports. In Ironman, a mandatory high school anger management group embodies all the aspects of team support and camaraderie in their attempt to assist Bo in achieving his athletic goals. Crutcher’s Whale Talk depicts the ways that official team …