Publisher's Synopsis
"Children's Literature and the Politics of Equality" will help teachers ensure that children develop an awareness of the prejudice expressed in books and other reading material they encounter. "Political correctness" in this area is easily caricatured, yet more needs to be done to ensure that children's books deal fairly with bias in relation to gender, race, language, disability and age. The author reviews recent work that aims to counter prejudice in children's literature, tracing its historical and theoretical basis. She then discusses equality issues and stereotyping in a wide range of books - old and new, popular and "classic". The focus throughout the text is on the practical ways in which teachers and librarians can help children develop an awareness of bias, so that they are less likely to adopt the prejudices consciously or subconsciously expressed by the authors whose works they experience
