cfp.english.upenn.edu

Book Title: Philosophy and/on Children's Literature

We are looking for abstracts of articles by philosophers, critical theorists, literary scholars, and cultural historians on the intersection between philosophy and children's literature. The selected abstracts will be submitted for review to the Children's Literature Association, which has already been contacted about this proposal.

The goal of the book, which is to be a collection of articles, is to allow professional philosophers and theorists (and works of philosophy) to comment on the philosophical problems, issues, and implications of major pieces of children's literature. Each article will strive to 'open up the text' of the children's book to show what philosophy or
philosopher is already implied by the characters, narration, or illustrations. The book is intended for the benefit of philosophy of education courses, philosophy of literature courses, critical theory courses, and introduction to philosophy courses. The general reading public, too, especially parents looking to read up on
how to help their children interpret the literature they read would, it is hoped, find
this book interesting and helpful.

Possible topics include (but are in no way limited to) the following:

"Love and Friendship in Lobel's Frog and Toad." The main thesis of this essay might be to chronicle how the life that Frog and Toad strive to live together is one that brings to light the main tenets of Aristotle's description of a certain kind of complete friendship.

"Language Games in Ramona the Pest by Beverley Cleary." Such an article might allow for an analytic philosopher to comment on how a child acquires and deploys language, particularly in how Ramona experiences her first day of Kindergarten during which her new teacher asks her to "sit here for the present."

"Toward a Phenomenology of the Family in Hoban's Bread and Jam
for Frances". This article might allow for a discussion of the
rubric of the family and its relationship to meals and eating (and to a
girl's notion of self within the project of eating) as it appears in the
Hobans' impressive story.

Please submit an Abstract (100-750 words) and CV (for each author/
coauthor) for consideration electronically to the editor, Dr. Peter Costello, Associate Professor in the Philosophy Department at Providence College at pcostell@providence.edu

Deadline for abstracts is 1 January 2010.

Acceptances will be notified by 15 February 2010. If selected, the
deadline for a 1st draft (roughly 12-18 pages, double spaced) would be
30 June 2010.