How are the two literatures – the classic, the heritage, the scholarly versus the children’s literature, the overly easy editorial productions – much less opposed in reality than one might think? How can a real complementarity exist between literatures which will perhaps never be patrimonial but which can become school and the “great” literature? We will show how the reading of mythographic works seeks to design a teaching which makes the encounter with the book a triple opportunity for enrichment: to be moved, to escape, to learn. We will show how the reading of mythographic works seeks to design a teaching which makes the encounter with the book a triple opportunity for enrichment: to be moved, to escape, to learn. By taking into account the requirements of the time and the need for the school not to operate apart from opinions and practices, by a literature and a reading which accept to be useful for something, the French course must make sense by offering a new culture which is first and foremost a culture of oneself. It is first of all to show a living classical literature.

The Hunger Games trilogy, an international commercial success, enables us to question the relationship between sales records and literary quality as well as to think critically about the literary status of Young Adult Literature. Are there some objective criteria that make it possible to establish a literary status, and can they be applied to Young Adult literature, especially as those works are usually perceived as “popular culture”?

In the past, literature for children and adolescents reflected society’s belief that young readers were not supposed to think for themselves. Stories were vehicles to provide direct, simple moral lessons. Those moralistic books reinforced gender and good / evil tropes, leaving little room for interpretation, moral grey areas and non-traditional gender roles. In this paper, we examine two contemporary books, Le Combat d’hiver (2006) et Le Chagrin du roi mort (2009), as examples of how youth literature has evolved. In both books, readers are presented with complex characters, plots and themes that encourage personal reflection. Morals are not something to be taught but rather felt.

The article “Understand and Respect the Other: Autonomy and Autism in the Novel for Teenagers and Young Adults” is a comparative reflection of books that focus on the human relationships that are formed around young protagonists trying to find their own way and the true values of life. These are mostly realistic novels / mirror novels in which illness, disability
or death represent a plot that puts the characters to the test. At crucial moments they are forced to deploy their energy and perseverance, and on that side, they learn to live and be independent. Novels about autism allow to consider new questions concerning identity and otherness, norm and outside the norm. The notion of freedom is viewed differently by the characters who are faced with the dilemma whether the need to care for the sick is a sacrifice or a duty.

Children’s literature is sometimes considered to be the poor relation of literary genres throughout the world, as it is often confined to the rank of literature for the very young. Yet, on closer inspection, does this literature not play an important role in establishing national identity? In other words, does it contribute to the spread of tolerance and therefore to living together? Backed by Pierre Barbéris’ sociocriticism and structured in three parts, this contribution first illustrates the motivations behind the characters’ behavioural imposture; then examines the internal components that articulate the novel’s literality. Finally, the analysis shows that Jeanne Abou’ou’s Lettre à Tita 2, beyond the stigmatization of a poorly assumed modernism or the exaltation of traditional values, deeply encapsulates the writer’s desire to postulate an emerging world in which Cameroonians would readily identify themselves.

There are many publications on witches both in children’s literature and in scholarly essays. Mona Chollet’s Witches, the Undefeated Power of Women explains that the word has become an emblem of feminism. This article offers a comparative analysis of several recent novels, based on the latter’s thesis, whose aim is to examine how the witch character is constructed, how the authors treat historical data (healer witch, witch-hunt, stake, etc.) and how they renew this character regarding certain issues (identity, transmission, emancipation, etc.). Are the witches of children’s novels carrying feminist demands for young readers?

Nowadays, young adult literature is becoming increasingly popular and occupies an important place in the book market. Among the different genres offered to young readers, urban fantasy has a considerable potential. The aim of the present study is to examine if Patricia Briggs’ series about the adventures of Mercy Thompson can be considered as a literary work for young feminists. The analysis of the protagonist (an urban hunter and a shapeshifter) and some events in her life (relationship with her partner and rape) demonstrates the feminist aspect of the series.

The focus of this analysis is a representation of girlhood in Erin Bow’s 2010 novel Plain Kate. The novel has been categorized as “Young Adult Literature” which has come to indicate subversive and a transformative potential in that it often evokes traditional narrative models only to de- and re- construct them. The eponymous Plain Kate, therefore, is a prototypical Other: an ugly, orphaned and homeless girl who has to flee her hometown under the accusations of being
a witch. She is a transitional character and a boundary-crosser; as such she does not belong anywhere. Importantly, the story makes it clear that what transforms Kate into an outsider is, among other things, her gender, which is why the protagonist’s evolution from a child into an adult is shown through metaphors of the fluid female body. This paper aims to discuss the topography of girlhood on the example of Bow’s novel, focusing specifically on the questions of marginality, otherness, liminality, and transgression, inscribed in the category of Young Adult Literature.

The aim of this paper is to show how contemporary children’s fantasy fiction offers alternative methods to children and teenagers for confronting real-life issues, such as self-discovery, sense of belonging and the process of individuation, through the analysis of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline. In his contemporary children’s fantasy book, Gaiman empowers his protagonist to explore her sense of self, overcome her insecurities and fears in a fantastic mirror-like home. This paper argues that fantasy is an effective device for explaining the complexities and dilemmas of the self and examining a child’s quest for self-discovery in the process of maturation and individuation.

The present paper aims at discussing What Sunny Saw in the Flames by Nnedi Okorafor as a fantasy novel for children and young adults focused upon the question of self-identification. In the framework of fiction for younger audiences, the fantasy mode becomes a tool which allows to examine the topics important to young readers, such as identity and their place within the society, by providing a confrontation with the Other. The example of Nnedi Okorafor’s book, known in the USA as Akata Witch, shows how the instrumentation of a fantasy novel enables an exposition of the process in which the protagonist grows on the intellectual, emotional and cultural levels. In other words, the fantasy mode aids in the exploration of Sunny’s American-Nigerian origin, her albinism, coming of age and the comprehension of her identity. Simultaneously, as additional topics emerge from the analysis, it becomes visible that the question of the Self cannot be separated from the concept of the Other, with the lesson of empathy and respect for what is different.

Letters from My Old Friend Sancho
- Synopsis
- Author’s biography
- Preface
- “From the Land of Totalitarianisms”
- “From the Land of Altruism”