I am pleased to announce that our book entitled Introducing children’s literature: A guide to the South African classroom, edited by Rinelle Evans, Ina Joubert and Corinne Meier, has just been published and is available in both print and eBook format (more information — and prices — at Van Schaik’s).
Another book on children’s literature in the classroom, you may ask? This one comes with a difference…Yes, all the basics are there for the prospective teacher: a strong theoretical introduction to the genre and how to encourage children to become enthusiastic readers. But, as this one was specifically written for teachers in the South African context, it does offer less written about solutions for the multi-cultural classroom. As such, it may also provide valuable insights for other diverse cultures: How does one choose appropriate texts? How does the teacher take into account the cultural history of a literature such as the oral tradition? How do we deal with the influence of the hidden curriculum in terms of moral development, stereotyping, sanitising and representation?
We hope that our book will become the trusted companion of teachers, student teachers and parents.
Rinelle Evans 