Waking Sleeping Beauty

Roberta Seelinga Trites

ISBN 10: 0877455910 / ISBN 13: 9780877455912

Published by University of Iowa Press, US, 1997

The Sleeping Beauty in Roberta Seelinger Trites' intriguing text is no silent snoozer passively waiting for Prince Charming to energize her life. Instead she wakes up all by herself and sets out to redefine the meaning of "happily ever after." Trites investigates the many ways that Sleeping Beauty's newfound voice has joined other strong female voices in feminist children's novels to generate equal potentials for all children.Waking Sleeping Beauty explores issues of voice in a wide range of children's novels, including books by Virginia Hamilton, Patricia MacLachlan, and Cynthia Voight as well as many multicultural and international books. Far from being a limiting genre that praises females at the expense of males, the feminist children's novel seeks to communicate an inclusive vision of politics, gender, age, race, and class. By revising former stereotypes of children's literature and replacing them with more complete images of females in children's books, Trites encourages those involved with children's literature-teachers, students, writers, publishers, critics, librarian, booksellers, and parents-to be aware of the myriad possibilities of feminist expression.Roberta Trites focuses on the positive aspects of feminism: on the ways females interact through family and community relationships, on the ways females have revised patriarchal images, and on the ways female writers use fictional constructs to transmit their ideologies to readers. She thus provides a framework that allows everyone who enters a classroom with a children's book in hand to recognize and communicate-with an optimistic, reality-based sense of "happily ever after"-the politics and the potential of that book. Seller Inventory # LU-9780877455912

Synopsis:

The Sleeping Beauty in Roberta Seelinger Trites' intriguing text is no silent snoozer passively waiting for Prince Charming to energize her life. Instead she wakes up all by herself and sets out to redefine the meaning of “happily ever after.” Trites investigates the many ways that Sleeping Beauty's newfound voice has joined other strong female voices in feminist children's novels to generate equal potentials for all children.

Waking Sleeping Beauty explores issues of voice in a wide range of children's novels, including books by Virginia Hamilton, Patricia MacLachlan, and Cynthia Voight as well as many multicultural and international books. Far from being a limiting genre that praises females at the expense of males, the feminist children's novel seeks to communicate an inclusive vision of politics, gender, age, race, and class. By revising former stereotypes of children's literature and replacing them with more complete images of females in children's books, Trites encourages those involved with children's literature―teachers, students, writers, publishers, critics, librarian, booksellers, and parents―to be aware of the myriad possibilities of feminist expression.

Roberta Trites focuses on the positive aspects of feminism: on the ways females interact through family and community relationships, on the ways females have revised patriarchal images, and on the ways female writers use fictional constructs to transmit their ideologies to readers. She thus provides a framework that allows everyone who enters a classroom with a children's book in hand to recognize and communicate―with an optimistic, reality-based sense of “happily ever after”―the politics and the potential of that book.

About the Author: Roberta Seelinger Trites is a professor of English and acting dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Illinois State University, where she teaches children's and adolescent literature. She is the author of Waking Sleeping Beauty: Feminist Voices in Children's Novels (IOWA 1997), which won an ALA Choice Award and which was recently translated into Japanese.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Waking Sleeping Beauty
Publisher: University of Iowa Press, US
Publication Date: 1997
Binding: Paperback
Condition: New