Lecture: Interpretive and Hidden Controversies in Literature for Children

The Centre for Research on Children’s and Young Adult Literature at the University of Wrocław would like to invite you to

Prof. Junko Yokota's online lecture: 'Interpretive and Hidden Controversies in Literature for Children'

DATE: Wednesday, September 23, 2020

TIME: 18:00 Warsaw time (CET, Central Eastern Time)

VENUE: MS Teams

Event Concluded. Lecture available here

Controversies are found in many ways in the pages and pictures of books for children. Sometimes, those controversies are overt and the books are intended to be provocative. At other times, what might be considered controversial is presented in ways that normalize those topics and issues so as to be naturally inclusive. Controversies are often matters of reader interpretation whether authors have knowingly or unintentionally placed them, and some are subjected to interpretation that occurs years and even decades after the book is first published. What makes some controversies even more provocative is when the controversies are overlooked or seemingly hidden. Examples of interpretive and hidden controversies in both illustrations in picutrebooks as well as in texts of longer works will be presented.

If you are interested in taking part in the lecture, please contact us by email by 22 September at the following address: barbara.kalla@uwr.edu.pl

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ABOUT THE PRESENTER:

Junko Tokota is Director of the Center for Teaching through Children's Books, Professor Emeritus at National Louis University (Chicago), and formerly a classroom teacher and school librarian. Her research focuses on visual literacy of picturebooks, multicultural and international literature, digital storytelling, and literacy instruction through quality literature. Her publications include six editions of the coauthored books, Learning through Literature for Children and Books Come Alive: Read Aloud to Young Children, over 60 journal articles, 20 book chapters, two children's literature review columns, and edited Kaleidoscope. She has held research fellowships at the International Youth Library and the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, and was a Fulbright Scholar at University of Wrocław.