Hunt — Complexity and Diversity in Children's Literature Studies
Hunt, in his introduction chapter, The Expanding World of Children's Literature Studies, in Understanding Children's Literature, states that "children's books are complex and the study of them infinitely varied" (p.2). That sentence could serve as a summary statement for this course.
Hunt begins his essay with a discussion on how complex and problematic the terms literature and children are, and what consequences the theorizing around these two ideas can have for children's literature. From there he moves to looking at historical studies of children's literature, noting that it is impossible to separate this history from politics and ideology. Oftentimes we view politics and ideology as negatives, something dirty from the adult world that pollutes children's literature studies. What Hunt argues is that we cannot "see" without first having an ideological point of view.
The relationship between reader and text is a recurrent theme in children's literature studies. Implicit in any discussion of children's books is a theory of reading, and of how readers interpret and understand text. Where does the meaning reside? Is it in the text? Is it in the reader? Is it somewhere else? Hunt lays out the complexity and ideology involved when addressing these kinds of questions toward children's literature.
Hunt makes a provocative point on pages 9 & 10 about the importance that children's literature be useful. A good book is a book that is "good for" children. Implicit in most discussions of children's books is notion that a children's book ought to do something positive for the reader and books that potentially could cause harm ought to be avoided. Of course what counts as "good" and as "harm" will shift across groups and time.