New Directions in Childhood Studies: Innocence, Trauma, and Agency in the Twenty-first Century acknowledges that the conceptual frameworks for understanding the experience of childhood in the twentieth century are no longer adequate and offers important updates to the construct of American childhood. The chapters in this collection examine contemporary children’s literature, film, and video games to explore the ways in which everyday realities like trauma, disaster, and death impact the experience of childhood in America today. In many ways, the essays show, the narratives blur traditional lines between children’s and adult content, taking children series as subjects while also guiding them through the processes of dealing with the particular challenges. Collectively, the essays develop a more contemporary construct of the American child and offer new insights into what that construction might mean for contemporary American society and culture.
