For decades, feminists have tried to dismantle and argue against the image of the Medusa as a figure of female monstrousness. This paper claims that the celebrated British author and poet Ted Hughes, in his novella for children, The Iron Woman, redeemed the Medusa and presented her in a new light that revealed her as a victim, a healer, and a…

Russell Hoban died in December 2011. In this article, Victoria de Rijke celebrates this mysterious writer's huge contribution to children's literature over 52 years; a career which began and ended with two mythological books: "The Mouse & His Child" (1967) and "Soonchild" (2012). Published in "CLE" over…

The impetus for the incredible variety found in the modern literary dragon is commonly seen to stem from the creative genius of either E. Nesbit or Kenneth Grahame. However, examination of dragon stories in the late nineteenth century shows that several different authors, on both sides of the Atlantic, were producing similar stories at about the…

The potential for picture books in national collections to act as mirrors reflecting the reader's cultural identity, is widely accepted. This paper shows that the books in a New Zealand Picture Book Collection can also become windows into unfamiliar worlds for non-New Zealand readers, giving them the opportunity to learn more about a context in…

In 1992, the 500th anniversary of Columbus's landing in the Bahamas was simultaneously celebrated and denounced in the US. Damaging facts about Columbus and the impact of his voyages were aired along with demands for truth and change. This study analyzes the power relationships and political ideology of picturebooks about Columbus published…

This article analyses the symbolic meaning of the Moon in two "bande dessinee" books from the Tintin series, Herge's "Destination Moon" ("Objectif Lune," 1953) and its sequel "Explorers on the Moon" ("On a Marche sur la Lune," 1954). It argues that these two volumes stand out in the series for their graphic, narrative and philosophical emphasis on…

Considers how both the device and John Masefield's book called "The Box of Delights" construct a vision of childly imagination by playing with genre and through the use of myth and magic. Considers how magic is a plot maneuver, but is more profoundly a metaphor for the child making sense of the world. (SG)

Discusses connecting with the Middle Ages in adolescent fiction. Discusses how, in "The Owl Service," Garner addresses a relationship between adolescence in the late twentieth century and an aspect of the past--specifically the Middle Ages. Considers how "The Owl Service" is a story energized by myth, concerning the…

Examines how the heroine's process of growth and survival in "Z for Zachariah" is played out against the background of a Biblical collage that imbues her struggle with mythic significance. (HOD)

Discusses the theme of survival against overwhelming odds in children's books as portrayed by the tale of Noah and the great flood. (HOD)

Examines trends and forms of myth and fantasy in children's literature during the past decade. (HOD)

Describes a number of techniques employed by the Greek mythographers in the reconstruction of ancient myths to appear as if the male Olympian deities and the patriarchal social order that they modeled were both of vast antiquity, even autochthonic. (HOD)

Discusses Disney's version of the folkloric dwarfs in his production of "Snow White" and weighs the Disney rendition of the dwarf figure against the corpus of traits and behaviors pertaining to dwarfs in traditional folklore. Concludes that Disney's dwarfs are "anthropologically true." (HOD)

Notes that J.R.R. Tolkien's work is commonly supposed to be greatly influenced by Norse mythology and legend. Compares Tolkien's account of the creation of Middle Earth to the Norse myth of Yggdrasil. Concludes that Tolkien took qualities of language, a code of bravery and honor, and many incidental Norse details and absorbed them into a very…

This article examines the challenges that faced two storytellers when developing an oral retelling of Homer's "Iliad" for use with children aged 9-11. Drawing on evidence from two schools in a deprived area of London the discussion explores the extent to which the storytellers have been successful in creating a version of the story that…