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Review from: Choice, July 1999
Dresang (Florida State Univ.)
puts the hype into hypertext. The volume not only begins with three
pages of praise for itself, but Dresang devotes inordinate space to
testifying about the value of Internet culture and of both hypertexts and
contemporary books that function as "handheld hypertexts." Part of this
puffery comes from a laudable attempt to convince librarians and teachers
to accept an ideology that envisions the young as both capable of and
desiring connection with both peers and adults. Dresang argues that adults
should not engage in futile censorship but should encourage quests for
information and for challenging (often radical) stories relevant to young
people. Defining "radical" as "fundamental change," the author discusses
three areas of literary change: forms and formats, perspectives, and
boundaries enclosing acceptable subjects. Unfortunately her discussions
are superficial: they describe and praise without adequately explaining
the artistic or intellectual success of radically changed texts.
Nonetheless, the book offers a useful introduction to contemporary
literature for youth, a good annotated list of books, an inspiring call
for tolerance, and a basic approach for evaluation. For extensive academic
and general collections supporting studies of children's literature at the
undergraduate and professional levels.
Reviewed by R. E. Jones, University of Alberta
Review
from: Booklist
"A thoughtful and thought-provoking look at YA and
children’s contemporary literature that shows how ‘handheld’ books are
changing in today’s digital world... Professionals who work with youth will come away
from this with a new understanding of contemporary youth literature and how to evaluate it."
Review
from: Journal of Youth Services for
Librarianship
"A book that can empower readers... A
ground-breaking scholarly work with many exciting exemplars to draw others into serious
consideration of the ideas presented."
Review
from: Brenda
Bowen, Vice President and Publisher, Simon & Schuster’s Children’s
Publishing Division
"Not only intellectually challenging, thoroughly
researched, and written in clear and vivid prose, it is so clearly designed and organized
that it will attract readers both inside and outside academia..."
Review
from: Marc Aronson,
Senior Editor, Henry Holt & Co.
"...She combines her broad knowledge of the impact
of technology on culture with a lifetime of reading and study of children’s
literature. The result is a roadmap to the future which we will be discussing for years to
come. A radically literate approach to radical change."
Review
from: Violet J.
Harris, Professor and Head of Department of Curriculum and Instruction, College of
Education, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
"Dresang offers a way of evaluating books beyond the
traditional categories of genre, theme, award, or major author and/or illustrator... I
plan to adopt the book for undergraduate and graduate courses."
Review
from: John Katz, media critic, First
Amendment Center of the Freedom Forum; author, Virtuous Reality
"It’s hard for me to imagine a more valuable,
intelligent or timely book for librarians, teachers, school administrators, academics and
parents than Radical Change... For anyone who cares about teaching or raising kids, this
is a landmark work for the Digital Age." |
