Critical Summary of Journals on Children's LiteratureChildren's LiteraturePhaedrusChildren's Literature Association QuarterlyThe Lion and the UnicornBookbirdENG 401 Introduction to Graduate StudiesDr. Ron StricklandMid-term Research PaperAugust 10, 2003Hyejin ChoCritical Summary of Journals on Children's LiteratureTalking about the “disconnection argument,” Petros Panaou researches the historical background for the development of children’s literature in his article ‘Children’s Literature in the 60s and 70s and the “Disconnection Argument”: A Movement Towards Children's Literature for both Children and Adults.’ There are introduced some journals in the field of children’s literature, and they are still influential ones along with their long histories.Children's LiteratureFounded by Francelia Butler in 1972, Children’s Literature is a journal which has been published annually by Yale University Press. From this year, Children’s Literature moved to The Johns Hopkins University Press, and is being provided online by the MUSE site (http://muse.jhu.edu - This site ie being operated by Johns Hopkins Press in collaboration with the Milton S. Eisenhower Library. If subscribed, one can get a full access to all of the journals included there. Of course, if accessed through the network ofany universities, limited journals, especially the recent ones, can be downloaded or viewed with any web browser). Children’s Literature is an annal of the MLA division onchildren’s literature and the Children’s Literature Association. In volume 30, published - 1 -1as the last book type, the six articles pay attention to children’s state as ‘agent’ in children’s literature. It was very interesting to me because, during the research, Panaou asserts that children’s literature had to struggle to be established as a field of study, insisting children’s books are good for adults, too, that is, ‘disconnecting from children.’ To me, having had a kind of skeptical opinion about children’s literature that ‘For whom does children’s literature exist?’, this volume’s attitude for children’s literature was persuasive than ‘disconnection theory.’ Of the articles, especially, Jackie E. Stallcup’s ‘Power, Fear, and Children’s Picture Books’ is talking about the intersection between fearand adult-child relationships. The writer says in the first footnote that the idea corresponds with Bruno Bettelheim’s argument in The Uses of Enchantment, in that most traditional fairy tales are therapeutic. (The book is a kind of basic reference book in this field, and I came to know about the book last year for the first time, when I was thinking about the cruelty and morbidness of the Grimm Brothers’ tales.) Stallcup’s opinions that various figures of children coping with fear in many books function as a guide to young readers to adulthood, and that even the efforts and desires of adults to control children with the tales is projected into the scary tales, will be, I think, a great help even for beginners of children’s literature study to understand many grim tales.Volume 31, the first online version of this journal, deals with ‘the purpose of storytelling’ in children’s literature. In fact, most tales and books for children are written by adults, and it means that, after all, there must be some kinds of prejudice or idealization about children. About this, volume 31 is still in the same context with volume 30, considering children as the center in children’s literature. - 2 -2Though I perused just two volumes of this journal, I think Children’s Literature iswell-organized and coherent.PhaedrusEstablished in 1973, Phaedrus claims to stand for the study of the international histroy of children’s and youth literature. It has a German subtitle, ‘incorporating die Schieffertafel.’ Though I am not sure if its meaning is just ‘a wooden board’ reminding me of the one used in the classroom by students in earlier days in the western world, or ‘awooden printing block’ with engraved letters to be printed, I think it is an interesting image for a journal studying children’s literature. As this journal concentrates its interest mainly on the history of children’s literature, we can see many discussions about children’s books of early modern Europe and Asia. Some points which I feel sorry for in this journal is that it makes just a general survey, not raising new critical topics on international children’s literature. Of course, it is surely helpful to get information about children’s literature of other countries, because many articles and books here seem to be biased to American children’s literature (though it would be no wonder because I am studying here in America in English). Nevertheless, it is also not satisfying to me that it is just perusing the phases of development of the field of other countries. Moreover, despite advocating ‘An International Annual,’ most of the topics stress European children’s literature, especially of German. Although there is one article discussing early translations of Japanese fairy tales and children’s literature, it seems to me just a window-dressing for the title ‘International Annual.’ One more thing I realized is that original versions of most of the articles might be written in German, and translated into English - 3 -3afterwards. I have always wondered if it can be called children’s literature as one of the fields of English studies when the textbooks are from other countries not speaking English as a mother tongue. So, by this case, I came to be more confused about the so-called ‘identity’ of children’s literature (but I do not mean I start to doubt the meaning of my study of children’s literature here).These are just two trivial questions about this journal. The title ‘Phaedrus’ seems to mean ‘Phaedra’ who is a figure in Greek and Roman myths. As we know, she is a wifeof Theseus, and fells in love with his son, Hippolytus, to whom she is a stepmother. But her love is turned down, and it is said that, in the end, she kills herself after speaking ill ofhim to Theseus. I guess ‘Phaedrus’ is a male form for ‘Phaedra.’ Why that name for a title of children’s literature, who is a symbol of immorality of loving one’s son? Is it because the world of myth can be related to children’s literature? Then, why she? Why 'Phaedrus'?