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…

Seeking the solution to the problems of contemporary man and approaching the social events through mythology is the other way to use the healing power of literature education. Having served as a guide for people in the past, mythology is the mirror of the past, which indicates the reasons and possible results of the events that have experienced…

The publication of Noah & Eckstein's "Toward a Science of Comparative Education" (1969, Macmillan, NY) marked the beginning of an increasingly narrow research trajectory in comparative education, claiming a universality for Western knowledge and privileging scientific rationality in research. Juxtaposing the 'science' to Lewis…

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…

This not quite "final" ending of this special issue of "Environmental Education Research" traces a series of hopeful, if somewhat difficult and at times challenging, openings for researching experiences of environment and place through children's literature. In the first instance, we draw inspiration from the contributors who…

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)

This children's tale details the rivalry between dogs and cats according to Ojibway Indian legend. (RTS)

This Sioux tale recounts the death of a village after the destruction of sacred snakes. (RTS)

Begins an examination of dragons in literature, particularly in the works of J.R.R. Tolkein, K. Grahame, E. Nesbit, J. Yolen, U. Le Guin, and A. McCaffrey. (CRH)

Argues that the authors of children's literature, especially those who write fairy and folk tales, are the new mythmakers. (RB)

A student of Carlisle Indian School (Carlisle, Pennsylvania) wrote this story in 1910 describing a Pima legend concerned with the origin of the human race. (JC)