Debbie Olson is associate professor of English at Missouri Valley College.

Stephen King is known for many things from horror to the gross-out, but to finally see an entire volume devoted to the innocence, fragility, and power of the children who populate King’s fictions is refreshing. Indeed, King scholars have been trying to keep up with his output, taking baby steps here and there; this volume is a giant leap forward that closes the gap of scholarship with a wide selection of essays that are not only focused on the theme of children, but also the endurance of this theme throughout King’s entire career. This book brings forward many new voices in the field of King studies, and each voice, each essay, creates an exceptional volume with insightful and incisive examinations of those who are often subjected to the worst of humanity but who also, in enduring such, show us just how beautiful humanity can be…in some cases.

• Introduction: Stephen King’s Fictional ChildrenDebbie Olson1970sCh. 1 Degeneration through Violence and Stephen King’s Rage by Karen J. RennerCh. 2 “Such a tragedy might have been averted”: Gothic Childhood, American Monstrosity, and the Male Gothic in Stephen King’s Carrieby Sarah GrayCh. 3 The Children as Nemesis: a Reading of Stephen King’s “The Children of the Corn” and its Adaptations by Debaditya MukhopadhyayCh. 4 Of “Pagan Devil-Children” and Monstrous Plants: Vegetal World, Human Enslavement, and Precarious Existence in “Children of the Corn” by Tatiana Prorokova-Konrad Ch. 5 The Spectacle of Child-Suffering in Stephen King’s The Long Walk by Joshua Garrison1980sCh. 6 Monstrosity, Ethic of Care, and Moral Agency in Stephen King’s Firestarter by Ingrid E. CastroCh. 7 Boys in The Body by Jennifer MantheiCh. 8 “Not if I see you first”: Playspace, Friendship, and Nostalgia in Stand By Me by Shastri AkellaCh. 9 “Performing a kind of self-pyschoanalysis”: childhoo

Debbie Olson is associate professor of English at Missouri Valley College.

Stephen King is known for many things from horror to the gross-out, but to finally see an entire volume devoted to the innocence, fragility, and power of the children who populate King’s fictions is refreshing. Indeed, King scholars have been trying to keep up with his output, taking baby steps here and there; this volume is a giant leap forward that closes the gap of scholarship with a wide selection of essays that are not only focused on the theme of children, but also the endurance of this theme throughout King’s entire career. This book brings forward many new voices in the field of King studies, and each voice, each essay, creates an exceptional volume with insightful and incisive examinations of those who are often subjected to the worst of humanity but who also, in enduring such, show us just how beautiful humanity can be…in some cases.

• Introduction: Stephen King’s Fictional ChildrenDebbie Olson1970sCh. 1 Degeneration through Violence and Stephen King’s Rage by Karen J. RennerCh. 2 “Such a tragedy might have been averted”: Gothic Childhood, American Monstrosity, and the Male Gothic in Stephen King’s Carrieby Sarah GrayCh. 3 The Children as Nemesis: a Reading of Stephen King’s “The Children of the Corn” and its Adaptations by Debaditya MukhopadhyayCh. 4 Of “Pagan Devil-Children” and Monstrous Plants: Vegetal World, Human Enslavement, and Precarious Existence in “Children of the Corn” by Tatiana Prorokova-Konrad Ch. 5 The Spectacle of Child-Suffering in Stephen King’s The Long Walk by Joshua Garrison1980sCh. 6 Monstrosity, Ethic of Care, and Moral Agency in Stephen King’s Firestarter by Ingrid E. CastroCh. 7 Boys in The Body by Jennifer MantheiCh. 8 “Not if I see you first”: Playspace, Friendship, and Nostalgia in Stand By Me by Shastri AkellaCh. 9 “Performing a kind of self-pyschoanalysis”: childhoo

Debbie Olson is associate professor of English at Missouri Valley College.

Stephen King is known for many things from horror to the gross-out, but to finally see an entire volume devoted to the innocence, fragility, and power of the children who populate King’s fictions is refreshing. Indeed, King scholars have been trying to keep up with his output, taking baby steps here and there; this volume is a giant leap forward that closes the gap of scholarship with a wide selection of essays that are not only focused on the theme of children, but also the endurance of this theme throughout King’s entire career. This book brings forward many new voices in the field of King studies, and each voice, each essay, creates an exceptional volume with insightful and incisive examinations of those who are often subjected to the worst of humanity but who also, in enduring such, show us just how beautiful humanity can be…in some cases.

• Introduction: Stephen King’s Fictional ChildrenDebbie Olson1970sCh. 1 Degeneration through Violence and Stephen King’s Rage by Karen J. RennerCh. 2 “Such a tragedy might have been averted”: Gothic Childhood, American Monstrosity, and the Male Gothic in Stephen King’s Carrieby Sarah GrayCh. 3 The Children as Nemesis: a Reading of Stephen King’s “The Children of the Corn” and its Adaptations by Debaditya MukhopadhyayCh. 4 Of “Pagan Devil-Children” and Monstrous Plants: Vegetal World, Human Enslavement, and Precarious Existence in “Children of the Corn” by Tatiana Prorokova-Konrad Ch. 5 The Spectacle of Child-Suffering in Stephen King’s The Long Walk by Joshua Garrison1980sCh. 6 Monstrosity, Ethic of Care, and Moral Agency in Stephen King’s Firestarter by Ingrid E. CastroCh. 7 Boys in The Body by Jennifer MantheiCh. 8 “Not if I see you first”: Playspace, Friendship, and Nostalgia in Stand By Me by Shastri AkellaCh. 9 “Performing a kind of self-pyschoanalysis”: childhoo