Title The big smallness : niche marketing, the American culture wars, and the new children's literature / Michelle Ann Abate

Published New York : Routledge, 2016

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Description 1 online resource Series Children's literature and culture Children's literature and culture. Contents Introduction: It's a small world after all : micro markets, specialty subjects, and customized culture -- The straight dope : Ricardo Cortés's It's just a plant, marijuana use, and the question of prohibition politics -- Nip/tuck truth : My beautiful mommy, the medicalization of motherhood, and the harmful condition of childhood innocence -- Good things come in small packages : Little Zizi, schoolyard bullying, and the sexualization of boys -- Will power : Maggie goes on a diet, the fully autonomous child, and the hazards of unsupervised adults -- Boys gone wild : Me Tarzan, you Jane; the crusade to "cure" prehomosexual children; and the new face of the ex-gay movement in the United States -- Epilogue. Change and continuity : niche market picture books and negotiation of artistic freedom, iconoclastic ideology, and consumer capitalism Summary This book is the first full-length critical study to explore the rapidly growing cadre of amateur-authored, independently-published, and niche-market picture books that have been released during the opening decades of the twenty-first century. Emerging from a powerful combination of the ease and affordability of desktop publishing software; the promotional, marketing, and distribution possibilities allowed by the Internet; and the tremendous national divisiveness over contentious socio-political issues, these texts embody a shift in how narratives for young people are being creatively conceived, materially constructed, and socially consumed in the United States. Abate explores how titles such as My Parents Open Carry (about gun laws), It?s Just a Plant (about marijuana policy), and My Beautiful Mommy (about the plastic surgery industry) occupy important battle stations in ongoing partisan conflicts, while they are simultaneously changing the landscape of American children?s literature. The book demonstrates how texts like Little Zizi and Me Tarzan, You Jane mark the advent of not simply a new commercial strategy in texts for young readers; they embody a paradigm shift in the way that narratives are being conceived, constructed, and consumed. Niche market picture books can be seen as a telling barometer about public perceptions concerning children and the social construction of childhood, as well as the function of narratives for young readers in the twenty-first century. At the same time, these texts reveal compelling new insights about the complex interaction among American print culture, children?s reading practices, and consumer capitalism. Amateur-authored, self-published, and specialty-subject titles reveal the way in which children, childhood, and children?s literature are both highly political and heavily politicized in the United States Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Online resource; title from PDF title page (EBSCO, viewed February 22, 2016) Subject Children's literature -- Publishing -- United States -- History -- 21st century Children's books -- United States -- History -- 21st century Children -- Books and reading -- United States -- History -- 21st century Publishers and publishing -- United States -- History -- 21st century LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES -- Journalism. Children -- Books and reading Children's books Children's literature -- Publishing Publishers and publishing United States Genre/Form Electronic books History Form Electronic book LC no. 2015041945 ISBN 9781317362418 1317362411 9781317362425 131736242X 9781315668871 1315668874 9781317362401 1317362403

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