<b>Illuminating Texts</b>: - A Short Primer on Children's Books in the Global Economy

  • Daniel D. Hade Pennsylvania State University

Abstract

Eight publishing corporations produced over 84% of the books reviewed in The Horn Book Magazine in 2000 and over 75% of the books that received a starred review in The School Library Journal in 2000. These corporations' interests in children's books have little to do with bringing compelling stories to children. Rather, their interests run to "branding," "licensing," "vertical integration," "meaning brokering," and "synergy," because these are the paths to greater sales and profits. When we unpack what these words and phrases mean, what we find is chilling.

Author Biography

Daniel D. Hade, Pennsylvania State University
David Beagley is Lecturer in Children's Literature and Literacy at La Trobe University's Bendigo campus, Victoria, Australia, where he teaches units in Genres, History, Australian and Post-colonial children's literature. He has previously taught in secondary schools, and has been a school and university librarian.
Issue
Vol. 5 No. 1 (2001)
Section
Jabberwocky
Essays and articles published in The Looking Glass may be reproduced for non-profit use by any educational or public institution; letters to the editor and on-site comments made by our readers may not be used without the expressed permission of that individual. Any commercial use of this journal, in whole or in part, by any means, is prohibited. Authors of accepted articles assign to The Looking Glass the right to publish and distribute their text electronically and to archive and make it permanently available electronically. They retain the copyright and, 90 days after initial publication, may republish it in any form they wish as long as The Looking Glass is acknowledged as the original source.