Acknowledgments1. Six TextsDifferent Texts, Same GenreLanguage: The Text and Its ShadowsFocalization: Who Sees and What They KnowDesire Confronts KnowledgeHome and Away: Essential DoublenessVariationSummary2. Exploring AssumptionsReading as an AdultMaking Choices: Exploring RepresentativenessAssumptions about GenreGenre and FieldGenre and Genres3. Children's Literature as a GenreDefining Children's LiteratureNo GenreDifferent but Not DistinctLiterature and ChildrenFor the Good of ChildrenLiterature for Boys and Literature for GirlsMiddle-Class SubjectivityDoublenessSpecific MarkersAbout ChildrenThe Eyes of ChildrenSimplicity and SublimationThe Hidden AdultNarrator and NarrateeShowing, Not TellingHappy EndingsAchieving UtopiaBinariesRepetitionVariationA Comprehensive Statement?The Genre in the FieldSameness and DifferenceThe Sameness of Children's LiteratureDifferent Children's Literatures: The Effects of Personality and HistoryDifferent Children's Literatures: The Effects of Nationality4. The Genre in the FieldDistinctive Texts in the GenreConclusion: Children's Literature as Nonadult?NotesBibliographyIndex

A 'must' for any collection catering to librarians or any studying children's literature, especially at the college level. Midwest Book Review 2008 Without question essential reading for professionals of all stripes engaged in the study of children's literature. BCCB, The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books 2009 Drawing on his deep understanding of literary scholarship, postmodern theory, and children's literature for this learned work, Nodelman builds extensive arguments informed by philosophy, psychology, and culture studies as well as literary criticism. Highly recommended. Choice The capstone of a long and distinguished career, by an author who relishes the complexity and ambiguity he finds inherent in books intended for children. School Library Journal 2009 The Hidden Adult is ground breaking; it will inform the study of children's literature for a long time to come. Children's Literature 2009 This is a massively important book. Go buy it. -- Peter Hunt Children's Literature Association Quarterly 2009 It is without question essential reading for professionals of all stripes engaged in the study of children's literature. Professional Connections: Resources for Teachers and Librarians 2009 Orbiting around children and their books are hundreds of academic books and courses, puzzling out what children's literature is, and what it does, and how it works. A lot has been thought and written about this (some good, some bad) - and Perry Nodelman's brilliantly comprehensive and accessible analysis pulls it all together. No need to keep re-inventing the wheel of defining children, children's books, response, literature, value, or why and how we talk about these books... it's all here. This book shows the kind of knowledge that I only wish I had - and it's a model of readability and generosity of spirit. Anyone who wants to know what has been thought about children and books - from the absolutely essential to the rather strange - could not find a better place to start. -- Peter Hunt Books For Keeps, The Children's Book Magazine Online 2010

Perry Nodelman is a leading scholar of children’s literature and The Hidden Adult is arguably his magnum opus.—Beverly Lyon Clark, author of Kiddie Lit: The Cultural Construction of Children’s Literature in America

Perry Nodelman is a leading scholar of children's literature and The Hidden Adult is arguably his magnum opus. -- Beverly Lyon Clark, author of Kiddie Lit: The Cultural Construction of Children's Literature in America