Treasure Islands: Studies in Children’s Literature

From Daniel Defoe to Siobhan Parkinson, from Shakespeare to Enid Blyton, this collection of essays takes the reader on a fascinating voyage to the ‘Treasure Islands’ of children’s literature. Picture books, myths, movies, newspaper columns, and boys’ periodicals all come under scrutiny, and the critical journey takes the reader to America, Australia, and Scotland, as well as to the more familiar islands of English and Irish stories. The book celebrates in particular the contribution of Irish writer Eilis Dillon to the form. It includes two scintillating essays by her children, respected writers and scholars Eilean Ni Chuilleanain and Cormac O Cuilleanain. Among the other notable scholars who contribute to the book are Robert Dunbar and David Rudd. Contents include: Maroons, Darwin and the Question of Humanity * From Utopia to Weslandia, via Terabithia * Peter Pan, Wildcat Island, and the Lure of the Real * C.S. Lewis’ The Voyage of the Dawn Treader * Islands and I-lands in Enid Blyton * Enid Blyton’s Relevance * Changes in Island Adventure in the Mid-20th Century * Textual Ownership in Recent Young Adult Fiction * Scottish Children’s Literature * The Sea in Gary Crew’s Picture Books * Tradition and Modernity in Into the West and Whale Rider * Catholic/Nationalist Ideology in Irish Popular Culture * Irish Nationalist Propaganda Aimed at Children, 1910-16 * The Celtic Otherworld in Retellings of Old Irish Tales * Siobhan Parkinson’s Four Kids, Three Cats, Two Cows, One Witch (Maybe) * Islands, Ireland, and Writing for Children * Islands in Modern Children’s Literature in Ireland * The Wild and the Tame in Children’s Literature * Growing Up in a Writer’s Head * Eilis Dillon’s Children’s Fiction. (Series: Studies in Children’s Literature)