Children select role models from their friends, movies, television, and books. As teachers, librarians, and
parents, we can provide alternative roles that present well-rounded male and female characters who have choices
and options. How we can do this through the many genres in children's literature is the subject of this fine collection
of essays.
Beauty, Brains, and Brawn offers diverse perspectives on what it means to be a male or female child in children's
literature, presenting stimulating views from the field's best-known authors, illustrators, and educators. The
award-winning authors and illustrators talk about their motivation for creating the boys and girls in their books
and they examine the child as audience. Essays from educators explore larger issues related to current research
on gender and the classroom, multiethnic experiences and gender, and gender portrayals in contemporary fiction,
historical fiction, and picture books.
Topics include parental roles in books for children, the kinds of books available for very young children and the
gender issues housed within them, diversity and gender, the politics of gender and gender stereotypes in children's
literature, finding authentic female and male voices in historical fiction, and the clash of conservative and liberal
values in children's literature. Popular images in the media are also considered.
Table of Contents
1. The Hidden Curriculum, S. Lehr Author Profile: Virginia Hamilton Author Profile: Katherine Paterson
2. The Unquenchable Source, T. A. Barron Author Profile: Gary Paulsen
3. Deconstructing Harry, D. Thompson
4. Popular Series Books and the Middle-Class Children Inhabiting Them, J. Armstrong
5. Picture Books for Preschool Children, B. Chatton Author Profile: Mem Fox Illustrator Profile: Jerry Pinkney
Author Profile: Andrea Pinkney
6. Are Authors Rewriting Folklore in Today's Image?, M. Chang Illustrator Profile: Paul O. Zelinsky
7. Truth as Patchwork, J. Hickman Author Profile: Karen Cushman Author Profile in Two Voices: Patricia and Fredrick
McKissack
8. Separating the Men from the Boys, D. Woolsey
9. Representations of Native American Women and Girls in Children's Historical Fiction, D. Reese
10. Why Gender Stereotypes Still Persist in Contemporary Children's Literature, B. Louie Author Profile: Alice
Mead Author Profile: Pat Mora
11. Parent Characters in Children's Novels, S. Vardell
12. Parallels, Polarities, and Intersections, A. Trousdale
13. Why Do Educators Need a Political Agenda on Gender?, K. Short
14. The Anomalous Female and the Ubiquitous Male, S. Lehr
