Literature

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Wordless Picturebook

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Dowhower (1997) defines a book as wordless when the book’s primary meaning or message is conveyed through the illustrations.

Adaptation

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Adaptation implies the ability to evolve and change according to changing environments and demands. It is an ongoing process in all parts of the world and can be applied to many different fields. The term arises in regards to, for example, biological processes, technological advancements or reworkings in the arts (film or literature).

Dual Readership

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Dual Readership refers to the process of constructing a work or text, also called crossover literature, which can play to two different levels of understanding for various audiences. This practice is most commonly employed in children’s literature.

BookTube

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BookTube is a community on YouTube that focuses primarily on creating content, specifically videos, around the subject of literature and book-related subjects.

Fairy Tale

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A fairy tale is a work of literature that is set in a fictional world and typically incorporates magical elements.

Postcolonialism in Children’s Literature

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Postcolonialism in children’s literature refers to literary works created for children by individuals living in former colonies. This term can also be applied to the analysis and reinterpretation of literary works written from a Western perspective, to present diverse viewpoints.

Ecofeminism

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Ecofeminism, as a theoretical framework, delves into the intricate web of oppression, examining the linkages between the subjugation of marginalized communities and the exploitation of the natural world (Warren, 2000). At its core, this perspective underscores the interdependence of various forms of injustice, weaving together the threads that connect the mistreatment of nature, women, animals, and the environment (Gaard, 2009).

Multimodality

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Multimodality is frequently characterized as either the interaction among semiotic modes or the integration of semiotic modes or resources (Poulsen, 2014). It approaches comprehending communication and representation to be more than about language.

Agency in Children's Literature

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Agency in children's literature refers to the empowerment and independence of children's characters. It involves portraying children as active participants in their own lives, capable of making choices, influencing their surroundings, and shaping their destinies.

Refugee Literature

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Refugee literature refers to literary works, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and other forms of written expression, that focus on the experiences of refugees. These works often explore the challenges, struggles, and triumphs of individuals or groups who have been forced to leave their homes due to conflict, persecution, or other forms of hardship.

Metaphor

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A metaphor is a trope, or a figure of speech, that directly refers to one thing by mentioning features of another one; an object, or an idea, is viewed as a metaphor which offers people new ways of examining ideas and viewing the world.

Children's Literature

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Children’s Literature (often abbreviated as CL) is literature written specifically for children, about children, consumed by children and even written by children. It is often also referred as Children and Young Adult Literature because its general audience is less than eighteen years old but also often addresses people in their mid twenties. For instance, picturebooks and YA novels are important book publishing formats in this literature. However, it is mainly adults who are responsible for the production, distribution and reception of children's books. 

YA novel

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Young Adults novel (shortened as YA novel) is a literature subcategory within the Young Adult fiction genre. The concept of the young adult (YA) refers to adolescence and youth, though it is very context-dependent. According to the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) YA books are those aimed at people from 12 to 18 years old (teenagers). In most of the cases, the protagonists of the novels fall within those age ranges, and the story is told through teenage eyes.

Graphic Novel

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Graphic novels are a contemporary literature form of long stories told in comics format. They have the same characteristics of comics: multimodality, cartooning techniques and elements (panels, gutters).

Comics

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Comics (generally referring to comic books and comic strips) are a popular form of visual storytelling that combines still images and text.

Otherness

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process of differentiation and demarcation, by which the line is drawn between ‟us” and ‟them” – between the more and the less powerful – and through which social distance is established and maintained (Lister 2004).

Fiction

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Etymologically, the word “fiction” is derived from the Latin word “fictus,” which means “form.” According to Searle (1979), works of fiction result from an author's intention to perform a particular sort of illocutionary act. In the same vein, fiction is produced when authors of stories intend that readers may believe the stories are true (Currie, 1990). In literature, fiction is significant in describing imaginary events and people.

Picturebook

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The picturebook is a storytelling medium that presents its text in both verbal and visual language. According to Barbara Bader (1976), a picturebook is words and illustrations in a total design, “an item of manufacture and a commercial product; a social, cultural, historic document; and foremost, an experience for a [reader / beholder]. As an art form it hinges on the interdependence of pictures and words, on the simultaneous display of two facing pages, and on the drama of the turning page” (ibid., p.1).

Transmedia Storytelling

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Transmedia Storytelling is a concept that explains the distribution of media content across multiple media platforms. In a multi-layered media landscape, content is no longer confined to one medium, but rather works across media boundaries.

Canon

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The term canon, or canonicity, describes the rules of what is presented as true and what has happened within an imaginary world.

Young Adult

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The concept of the ‘young adult’, also synonymous with adolescence and youth, is one which is heavily context-dependent. Over time, the perception of the concept has shifted from merely a developmental outlook to one which is also bound by a socio-cultural understanding. Broadly, it is believed to be a stage between childhood and adulthood, and is influenced by several social, economical and cultural factors.

Where is the Eco-anxiety in Children’s Literature?

Academic paper
Suzanne van der Beek
26/08/2024
26 minutes to read

This article proposes that Bould’s concept of the “Anthropocene unconscious” helps us to recognize the latent eco-anxiety in two popular works of fiction for young readers: Rowling's Harry Potter series and Schaap's Lampje

Mourid Barghouti, ramallah, gaza, palestine, poetry, literature

Return to Palestine: Mourid Barghouti

Column
Odile Heynders
15/07/2024
9 minutes to read

After thirty years of exile, Palestinian poet Mourid Barghouti returned to Palestine for the first time in the summer of 1996. In this column, Odile Heynders discusses how the close reading of Barghouti's poetic writing about his return and alienation provides insights to criticise the disastrous war in Gaza today.

Keep on Reading Fiction. 2023 in three fictional novels

Column
Odile Heynders
22/12/2023
6 minutes to read

The Orphanage by Serhi Zhadan, Tremor by Teju Cole, and The End of Days by Jenny Erpenbeck are literary texts that put 2023 in perspective. How does literature counterbalance oversimplification in the complicated times we live in?

"Can A Dog be Twins?" and Other Questions No One Is Talking About

Paper
Clara Daniels
30/10/2023
8 minutes to read

"Can A Dog be Twins?" Is all it takes for the main character to blow up online, to travel the world attending conferences to talk about how the internet has changed, transformed, yes, revolutionised communication! Yet all WE get is memes