Picture-Book Professors: Academia and Children's Literature

Melissa Terras

doi:10.1017/9781108529501

Picture-Book Professors: Academia and Children's Literature

Research output: Book/Report › Book

Abstract / Description of output

How is academia portrayed in children’s literature? This Element ambitiously surveys fictional professors in texts marketed towards children. Professors are overwhelmingly white and male, tending to be elderly scientists who fall into three stereotypes: the vehicle to explain scientific facts, the baffled genius, and the evil madman. By the late twentieth century, the stereotype of the male, mad, muddlehead, called Professor SomethingDumb, is formed in humorous yet pejorative fashion. This Element provides a publishing history of the role of academics in children’s literature, questioning the book culture which promotes the enforcement of stereotypes regarding intellectual expertise in children’s media.

Original language	English
Place of Publication	Cambridge, UK
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
Number of pages	304
ISBN (Electronic)	9781108529501
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108529501
Publication status	Published - 22 Oct 2018

Publication series

Name	Elements in Publishing and Book Culture
Publisher	Cambridge University Press

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

children's literature
literary studies
literature
feminism
representation

Access to Document

10.1017/9781108529501Licence: Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND)

Terras2018Picture-BookProfessorsFinal published version, 8.01 MBLicence: Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND)

Melissa Terras
- Edinburgh College of Art - Professor of Digital Cultural Heritage
- Edinburgh Futures Institute
Person: Academic: Research Active

Cite this

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Picture-Book Professors: Academia and Children's Literature

Abstract / Description of output

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Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

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Melissa Terras

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