Critical Thinking with the Hive Mind

[bondgwendabond]

(X-posted at my Real Blog.)

I'm about to start semester the third in the MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults at the fabulous Vermont College of Fine Arts (a program I highly recommend). Anyway, the third semester is when you do your critical thesis and I'm putting together the reading list for the bibliography of mine, attempting to get a

Comments

[rosefox]

Do you only want intentional political overtones? A Little Princess is rife with class politics, but they go entirely unexamined within the work itself.

[bondgwendabond]

I'm definitely looking at intentional works including politics (though the success and clarity of the politics can be up for grabs)... You're absolutely right though, that there's an obviously fabulous thesis on unintentional colonial-and-so-much-more politics in children's lit just sitting there.

[rosefox]

In that case, I think janni's got pretty much everything I would rec, other than The Pushcart War, and whether you count that as fantasy is debatable. (It's an alternate history, sort of, but with no obviously genre elements.)

[bondgwendabond]

I haven't read it, so I'll give it a look just in case. Thx!

[rosefox]

If you have trouble finding it, let me know; I currently have three copies, for the express purpose of one to keep and two to give away. It is one of my favoritest books EVAR.

Which makes me think of Richard Bach's Illusions, of which I also have multiple copies for the same reason, and I dunno whether that's YA but it's certainly fantasy with politics. It's been so long since I read Jonathan Livingston Seagull that I can't remember a thing about it and have no idea whether it would qualify.

Did I somehow forget to mention the Oz books? The Oz books! Crazy messed up politics (I'm reminded of Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, where they encounter a society where the royal family grow on trees and may not be crowned until they're ripe) but politics all the same. And the first one is a huge political allegory by some accounts--Yellow Brick Road = gold standard, that sort of thing--but I'm not sure I buy that.

[bondgwendabond]

Will do -- I think Christopher had a copy, so I will do a shelf search this weekend. Thanks so much and I hope you're feeling better!