Full Description
The experience of growing up in the U.S. is shaped by many forces. Relationships with parents and teachers are deeply personal and definitive. Social and economic contexts are broader and harder to quantify.
Key individuals in public life have also had a marked impact on American childhood. These 18 new essays examine the influence of pivotal figures in the culture of 20th and 21st century childhood and child-rearing, from Benjamin Spock and Walt Disney to Ruth Handler, Barbie's inventor, and Ernest Thompson Seton, founder of the Boy Scouts of America.
Contents
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface (Kathy Merlock Jackson and Mark I. West)
L. Frank Baum (1856-1919): Brains, Heart and Courage (Dina Schiff Massachi)
Ernest Thompson Seton (1860-1946): Founder of the Boy Scouts of America (Martin Woodside)
A.A. Milne (1882-1956): Influencing American Childhood After World War II (Sarah Minslow)
Walt Disney (1901-1966): When You Wish Upon a Star (James Plath)
Benjamin Spock (1903-1998): Dr. Spock and THE BOOK (Lucy Rollin)
Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904-1991): Dr. Seuss—The Power and Potential (and Joy!) of Children's Literature (Carl F. Miller)
Augusta Braxton Baker (1911-1988): The Art of Storytelling and a Gateway to Children's Literacy and Literature (Michelle H. Martin)
Jonas Salk (1914-1995) and Albert Sabin (1906-1993): Conquering Polio (Kathy Shepherd Stolley)
Ruth Handler (1916-2002): Toys, Barbie and Girls' Choices (Kathy Merlock Jackson)
Stan Lee (1922-): Making Misfits Heroes (Gabriel Sealey-Morris)
Fred Rogers (1928-2003): Everyone's Neighbor (Richard Bilsker)
Jim Henson (1936-1993): The Lovers, the Dreamers and Him (Andrew Grunzke)
Bill Cosby (1937-): Recoding Bill Cosby's Legacy (Gary R. Edgerton)
Judy Blume (1938-): Shaping Subjects (Susan Larkin)
Steve Jobs (1955-2011): Technology for a Beginner's Mind (Lisa Lyon Payne)
LeVar Burton (1957-): Promoting Children's Literature and Literacy (Mark I. West)
Joanne Kathleen Rowling (1965-): More Magic for the Young at Heart (Sue Matheson)
Daniel Handler (1970-): Lemony Snicket's Noir Narrative and the Shaping of the Millennial Generation's Advocacy as Opposition to Generations X's Apathy (Lisa Arter)
Bibliography: Sources on Childhood in America in the 20th and 21st Centuries (Camille McCutcheon)
About the Contributors
Index
