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

The Girl Body At Large: Examining Fat Representation In Young Adult Literature, Valerie Owens Sep 2021

The Girl Body At Large: Examining Fat Representation In Young Adult Literature, Valerie Owens

Graduate Review

Fat representation of female heroines in young adult literature generally centers around the protagonist’s struggle to accept her body or situates her body as vehicle for the message of body positivity. Both alternatives keep the narrative focus on the body, defining it as the most important part of the character. This essay examines in depth the pitfalls of fat representation by deconstructing Jennifer Niven’s 2016 Holding up the Universe and comparing to a more commendable more portrayal of fat representation in Rainbow Rowell’s 2012 Eleanor and Park. In particular, this essay focuses on the fallacies of the body positivity movement, …


Adult Influences In The Construction Of Youth War Diaries, Amanda Slater Jan 2016

Adult Influences In The Construction Of Youth War Diaries, Amanda Slater

Undergraduate Research Journal

In her article, “Youth Voices in the War Diary Business,” Susan Honeyman argues that interviews with children and youth – although influenced by the adult population – “resist being reducible simply to war propaganda or protectionist sentimentality” (74). This is especially true for award-winning author and peace activist Deborah Ellis, whose recent nonfiction – Children of War: Voices of Iraqi Refugees (2009), Off to War: Voices of Soldier’s Children (2008), and Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children (2004) – tend to lack “imposing adult interpretation” (Honeyman 82). While this may be accurate within the work of Ellis as well as …