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journal contribution
posted on 2025-06-30, 06:15authored byLissa Paul
The use of standardised reading schemes to introduce early readers to literature may be convenient for curricula and publishers, but it also can stifle interest, enthusiasm and exploration by those readers. In particular, Paul draws on Bakhtin's concept of monologic texts to examine the limited language of the Ladybirds (and similar) series, and Margaret Meek's demand for texts that challenge language in order to develop playful, polyphonic texts and laughing, independent readers.
History
Journal
The Looking Glass : New Perspectives on Children's Literature
ISSN
1551-5680
Volume
1
Issue
4
Publisher
La Trobe University
Section Title
Alice's Academy
Author Biography
Lissa Paul (Professor, University of New Brunswick) teaches children's literature. She has a new piece on "dirt" in the September 1997 issue of Horn Book. And Reading Otherways, a little book on interpreting children's books, is forthcoming from The Thimble Press.
Date Created
2018-11-27
Rights Statement
Essays and articles published in The Looking Glass may be reproduced for non-profit use by any educational or public institution; letters to the editor and on-site comments made by our readers may not be used without the expressed permission of that individual. Any commercial use of this journal, in whole or in part, by any means, is prohibited. Authors of accepted articles assign to The Looking Glass the right to publish and distribute their text electronically and to archive and make it permanently available electronically. They retain the copyright and, 90 days after initial publication, may republish it in any form they wish as long as The Looking Glass is acknowledged as the original source.
Data source
OJS data migration 2025: https://ojs.latrobe.edu.au/ojs/index.php/tlg/article/view/993