(Re)imagining the World

(Re)Imagining the world: Children's Literature's Response to Changing Times considers how writers of fiction for children imagine 'the world', not one universal world, but different worlds: imaginary, strange, familiar, even monstrous worlds. The chapters in this collection discuss how fiction for children engages with some of the changes brought about by new technologies, information literacy, consumerism, migration, politics, different family structures, cosmopolitanism, new and old monsters.  They also invite us to think about how memory shapes our understanding of the past, and how fiction engages our emotions, our capacity to empathise, and our desire to discover, and what the future may hold. The contributors bring different perspectives from education, postcolonial studies, literary criticism, cultural studies, childhood studies, postmodernism, and the social sciences. With a wide coverage of texts from different countries, and scholarly and lively discussions, this collection is itself a testament to the power of the human imagination and the significance of children's literature in the education of young people. ?  

Prof. Yan is a well-known science fiction writer in China and he is the first person teach science fiction course in both undergraduate and graduate level. He is the President of World Chinese Science Fiction Association. He was awarded Xingyun(Nebula) Award, and three times of Yinghe(Galaxy) Award in Chinese science fiction. He is the Director for the Research Center for Science Fiction and Creative Education at Faculty of Education of BNU. Prof Mallan has published widely in the field of Children's Literature. She is the Vice President of the International Research Society for Children's Literature. She was awarded the Dame Annabel Rankin Award for Outstanding Services to Children's Literature. In 2005 she was made an Honorary Professor of Bejing Normal University. She is the Director for the multidisciplinary research centre - Children and Youth Research Centre at QUT.