KERRY MALLAN is Professor in Education at Queensland University of Technology, Australia. Her co-edited book Youth Cultures: Texts, Images and Identities is an IRSCL Honour Book (2003). She is a co-author of New World Orders in Contemporary Children's Literature (2008). Her most recent book is Gender Dilemmas in Children's Fiction (2009). CLARE BRADFORD is Professor of Literature at Deakin University, Australia. Her 2001 book, Reading Race, won both the ChLA Book Award and the IRSCL Award. She is a co-author of New World Orders in Contemporary Children's Literature (2008). Her most recent book is Unsettling Narratives: Postcolonial Readings of Children's Literature (2007).

'An interesting and thought-provoking read. It traverses a diverse theoretical field and should be commended for providing an impressive collection of essays that showcases many of the new directions in contemporary children's literature research.' - Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures 'The book's major contribution is to showcase contemporary forms/iterations of theory such as posthumanism, cognitive poetics, and spatiality studies. This very fine collection of essays will be of use to a wide range of students as well as to established scholars.' - Kenneth Kidd, Associate Professor of English, University of Florida, USA 'A volume like this is long overdue: a single work that not only talks about literature and film alongside each other without making either seem the poor relation, but which also makes theory work in a practical, productive, and even (dare I say it), pleasurable manner. Students, and the rest of us, should benefit hugely.' - David Rudd, Professor of Children's Literature, University of Bolton, UK

• List of FiguresNotes on ContributorsAcknowledgementsIntroduction: Bringing Back Theory; K.Mallan & C.BradfordSchemas and Scripts: Cognitive Instruments and the Representation of Cultural Diversity in Children's Literature; J.StephensJourneying Subjects: Spatiality and Identity in Children's Texts; C.Bradford & R.BaccoliniLocal and Global: Cultural Globalisation, Consumerism and Children's Fiction; E.Bullen & K.MallanMonstrous Women: Gothic Misogyny in Monster House; M.TakolanderSplitting the Difference: Pleasure, Desire and Intersubjectivity in Children's Literature and Film; C.Wilkie-StubbsChildren as Ecocitizens: Ecocriticism and Environmental Texts; G.Massey & C.BradfordFrom 'Wizard' to 'Wicked': Adaptation Theory and Young Adult Fiction; D.BuchbinderAll That Matters: Technoscience, Critical Theory and Children's Fiction; K.MallanIndex.