This article profiles Orson Scott Card, the winner of this year's Margaret A. Edwards Award for his outstanding contributions to teen literature, specifically for Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow (1999, both Tor), a companion tale. Card, the magician behind both of these best sellers, is one of the nation's most prolific--and contentious--authors.…

The following essay is a close reading of Madeleine L'Engle's science fantasy novel, "A Wind in the Door", in which young Meg Murry travels first to outer space and then into her younger brother's ailing cells. The novel is a fine example of high fantasy (also known as heroic fantasy) wherein a humble protagonist is called to a quest to fight a…

There is a "reality" to being online which we know to be false. We are simultaneously "there" but "not there" as we talk, work and play with others in online spaces. We move between physical and virtual spaces in ways that realise the predictions made for computers in the mid-20th Century and enact scenarios from science fiction. We are left…

The author has argued that the central concern for the Frankfurt School of critical theory remains a foundationally necessary task for ecopedagogy generally: to understand the domination of nature in all of its complexity and totality as part of an ongoing transformative inquiry (inclusive of both theorization and transgressive action) into the…

An in-depth qualitative study with nine secondary pre-service teachers from an undergraduate "Language and Literacy" class was conducted to examine the potential of simulation using Second Life (SL) in teacher education. Games and simulations were operationally defined in the broadest sense to distinguish key characteristics between…

This article discusses Philip Reeve's young adult science fiction novels as literary collages. It explores the ways in which the author uses postmodernisms to introduce big ideas and construct a compelling futuristic world that combines fast-paced adventure with the "bildungsroman".

This essay juxtaposes concepts created by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari with worlds imagined by Ursula Le Guin in a performance of "rhizosemiotic play" that explores some possible ways of generating and sustaining what William Pinar calls "complicated conversation" within the regime of signs that constitutes an increasingly internationalized…

Of the more than 5000 books reviewed in "School Library Journal's" ("SLJ's") pages in 2008, the 67 books listed in this article stood out as having distinctive voices, singular vision, and/or innovative approaches. They include books for toddlers and preschoolers, terrific picture books and easy readers, and some highly original novels. Fantasy,…

A listing of new science fiction books with entries arranged alphabetically by author followed by title, distributor and/or imprint, series note, date of publication, LC and/or ISBN, and price. (JPF)

A Committee for the Science Fiction Writers of America offers its chocies. (Author)

In an age which has seen the death of religion as an important influence on the intellectual and emotional life of western man, science fiction is the only remaining art form which appeals to the mythopoeic side of the human psyche. (Author)

In this paper we explore students' engagement in a new media enhanced problem-based learning (PBL) environment and investigate the characteristics of these environments that facilitate learning. We investigated both student experiences using a new media enhanced PBL environment and the specific elements students found most supportive of their…

"Playesque" (in the manner of a play), Volume 1 features original plays for performances in high school, junior college, and other amateur venues. The plays are reproducible and royalty free for educational and nonprofit performance. They are easily duplicated and performed, and provide complete directions for costuming and staging. Each…

Science fiction is discussed from the following standpoints: What Is Science Fiction?; The History of Science Fiction; and The Themes of Science Fiction. A list of films, books, and records about science fiction is given. (DB)

Contends that the four major types of popular literature (science fiction, mayhem, horror, and whodunit) reveal the personalities of their readers. (DD)