The American Revolution in Children's Fiction: An Analysis of Historical Meaning and Narrative Structure

Perspectives, Voices, and Worldviews in Frequently Read Children's Books

“…As demonstrated in this study, without conscious efforts, educators will inadvertently contribute to the legitimatization and reproduction of the existing, unequal social order (Freire, 1970(Freire, /1999Taxel, 1984). The key is not necessarily to discard favorite or "classic" books but to examine the entire collection of books across grade levels to discern if there are voids that need to be filled or necessary updates that need to be made (Boutte, 2002).…”

Discussing Controversial Issues: Four Perspectives on the Teacher's Role

“…These theories, while imperfect, represent a most significant challenge to mainstream conceptions of social redity and distributive justice. Disturbingly, theirs is a perspective which has too long been neglected or misrepresented in the traditional curriculum (Apple & Weis, 1983;Newmann, 1985;Taxel, 1984).…”

“But This Story of Mine Is Not Unique”: A Review of Research on African American Children’s Literature

“…Harris (1990) argues that the "selective tradition in children's literature regarding African Americans has been replete with stereotypes" (p. 541). Several scholars have applied the theory of the selective tradition within the sociopolitical context of children's literature (McNair, 2008c;Power, 2003;Taxel, 1984) and found that it is useful for examining various phenomena such as book offerings available in Scholastic Book Club order forms, the representation of girls in historical fiction, the portrayal of the American Revolution in books, and so forth. Like these scholars, we contend throughout that children's books written by and about African Americans emerged, in large part, as an oppositional and creative endeavor that challenged the selective tradition in children's literature.…”