Children's Picture Books - Words To That Effect Ep 38

Unlike modernist poetry or Shakespearean drama, when it comes to children’s picture books, everyone has an opinion. Most of us are exposed to kids’ books in some shape or form and, crucially, 100% of us have been children.

For an academic working with children’s literature, this can have its rewards and its frustrations. “Yes! I love that classic children’s picture book too!” / “Sorry, I don’t know why your child doesn’t like this one particular book”

This week I’m joined by Dr Jane Carroll to chat about children’s picture books. How do text and image work together to create books that can spark wonder and imagination, that young children can completely lose themselves in? What’s happening in children’s fiction today, and what’s the best children’s picture book of all time?

Guest

Dr Jane Carroll is Ussher Assistant Professor in Children’s Literature and Co-Director of M.Phil. in Children’s Literature, at Trinity College Dublin.

Here research and teaching interests centre on children’s literature and role of landscape and place in fiction. Before joining the Trinity School of English, she taught with the National Centre for Research in Children’s Literature at the University of Roehampton. She has also worked at the Sussex Centre for Folklore, Fairy Tales and Fantasy at the University of Chichester and with the Student Disability Services at TCD.

She has published many articles in the area of children’s literature and is the author of Landscape in Children’s Literature, which you can find out more about here