Joe Sutliff Sanders's Books

A Literature of Questions

Nonfiction for the Critical Child

By: Joe Sutliff Sanders

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A Literature of Questions

Nonfiction for the Critical Child

By: Joe Sutliff Sanders

Nonfiction books for children—from biographies and historical accounts of communities and events to works on science and social justice—have traditionally been most highly valued by educators and parents for their factual accuracy. This approach, however, misses an opportunity for young readers to participate in the generation and testing of information. In A Literature of Questions, Joe Sutliff Sanders offers an innovative theoretical approach to children’s nonfiction that goes beyond an assessment of a work’s veracity to develop a book’s equivocation as a basis for interpretation. Addressing how such works are either vulnerable or resistant to critical engagement, Sanders pays special attention to the attributes that nonfiction shares with other forms of literature, including voice and character, and those that play a special role in the genre, such as peritexts and photography. The first book-length work to theorize children’s nonfiction as nonfiction from a literary perspective, A Literature of Questions carefully explains how the genre speaks in unique ways to its young readers and how it invites them to the project of understanding. At the same time, it clearly lays out a series of techniques for analysis, which it then applies and nuances through extensive close readings and case studies of books published over the past half century, including recent award-winning books such as Tanya Lee Stone’s Almost Astronauts: Thirteen Women Who Dared to Dream and We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson. By looking at a text’s willingness or reluctance to let children interrogate its information and ideological context, Sanders reveals how nonfiction can make young readers part of the project of learning rather than passive recipients of information.

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Page Count

311

Publisher

U of Minnesota Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1452955778

ISBN 13

9781452955773

Disciplining Girls

Understanding the Origins of the Classic Orphan Girl Story

By: Joe Sutliff Sanders

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Disciplining Girls

Understanding the Origins of the Classic Orphan Girl Story

By: Joe Sutliff Sanders

At the heart of some of the most beloved children’s novels is a passionate discussion about discipline, love, and the changing role of girls in the twentieth century. Joe Sutliff Sanders traces this debate as it began in the sentimental tales of the mid-nineteenth century and continued in the classic orphan girl novels of Louisa May Alcott, Frances Hodgson Burnett, L. M. Montgomery, and other writers still popular today. Domestic novels published between 1850 and 1880 argued that a discipline that emphasized love was the most effective and moral form. These were the first best sellers in American fiction, and by reimagining discipline as a technique of the heart—rather than of the whip—they ensured their protagonists a secure, if limited, claim on power. This same ideal was adapted by women authors in the early twentieth century, who transformed the sentimental motifs of domestic novels into the orphan girl story made popular in such novels as Anne of Green Gables and Pollyanna. Through close readings of nine of the most influential orphan girl novels, Sanders provides a seamless historical narrative of American children’s literature and gender from 1850 until 1923. He follows his insightful literary analysis with chapters on sympathy and motherhood, two themes central to both American and children’s literature, and concludes with a discussion of contemporary ideas about discipline, abuse, and gender. Disciplining Girls writes an important chapter in the history of American, women’s, and children’s literature, enriching previous work about the history of discipline in America.

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Page Count

240

Publisher

JHU Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1421403188

ISBN 13

9781421403182

Batman: the Animated Series

By: Joe Sutliff Sanders

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Batman: the Animated Series

By: Joe Sutliff Sanders

A deep dive into the wildly successful 1990s animated series Batman. It's possible that no other version of Batman has been more influential than the one that debuted as a children's cartoon in 1992. For millions of fans around the world, the voices of Batman and the Joker introduced in Batman: The Animated Series (BTAS) remain the default. The characters, designs, and major themes of the show went on to shape other cartoons, films, and bestselling video games. In this study, Joe Sutliff Sanders argues that BTAS is not only a milestone of television but a milestone in the public persona of one of the most recognizable characters in the world. The series introduced a new generation to Batman and provided the foundation for a family of cartoons that expanded the superhero universe. It introduced or reinvented major characters including Mr. Freeze, Robin, the Joker, and Harley Quinn. In three chapters, Sanders pursues the intricate arguments that still energize BTAS. Chapter 1 explores the visuals of the show, the artistic histories and tensions that inform its revolutionary style, and what ideas—intentional and otherwise—its aesthetic implies. Chapter 2 turns to the task of defining a "good" wealthy person against a backdrop of "bad," getting to the heart of one of Batman's most problematic characteristics. Lastly, chapter 3 considers Harley Quinn, a character who emblemizes much of what made BTAS successful. From her first appearance, Harley has been both sexy and witty, victor and victim, and this chapter explains the duality that defines her. Since its debut in 1992, BTAS has garnered multiple awards, launched or developed the careers of countless important artists, and created aesthetic styles—in terms of both visuals and voice acting—that continue to resonate. Sanders's book follows an informative and exciting path through the material and is designed to be accessible to aficionados as well as relative newcomers. Batman fans, popular culture enthusiasts, and media studies scholars will find within these pages insights and ironies to provoke endless conversations.

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Page Count

114

Publisher

Wayne State University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0814345417

ISBN 13

9780814345412

A Literature of Questions

Nonfiction for the Critical Child

By: Joe Sutliff Sanders

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A Literature of Questions

Nonfiction for the Critical Child

By: Joe Sutliff Sanders

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Page Count

311

Publisher

U of Minnesota Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1452955778

ISBN 13

9781452955773

China Miéville

Critical Essays

By: Tony Venezia,Sherryl Vint,Raphael Zähringer,Dougal McNeill,Joe Sutliff Sanders,Paul March-Russell,Ben De Bruyn,Matthew Sangster,Anthony F. Lang, Jr.,Mark P. Williams,Roger Luckhurst

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China Miéville

Critical Essays

By: Tony Venezia,Sherryl Vint,Raphael Zähringer,Dougal McNeill,Joe Sutliff Sanders,Paul March-Russell,Ben De Bruyn,Matthew Sangster,Anthony F. Lang, Jr.,Mark P. Williams,Roger Luckhurst

The chapters in this collection respond to the range of interests that have shaped Miéville's fiction from his influential role in contemporary genre debates, to his ability to pose serious philosophical questions about state control, revolutionary struggle, regimes of apartheid, and the function of international law in a globalized world. This collection demonstrates how Miéville's fictions offer a striking example of contemporary literature's ability to imagine alternatives to neoliberal capitalism at a time of crisis for leftist ideas within the political realm.

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