The Encyclopedia offers comprehensive and international coverage of children's literature from a number of perspectives - theory and critical approaches, types and genres, context, applications and individual country essays.

1 Introduction; Part I Theory and Critical Approaches; 2 Defining Children's Literature and Childhood; 3 History, Culture and Children's Literature; 4 Ideology; 5 Linguistics and Stylistics; 6 Reader-Response Criticism; 7Psychoanalytical Criticism; 8Feminist Criticism: From Sex-Role Stereotyping to Subjectivity; 9llustration and Picture Books; 10A Note on Bibliography; 11Intertextuality; Part II Types and Genres; 12Early Texts Used by Children; 13Fairy Tales and Folk-tales; 14 Myth and Legend; 15 Playground Rhymes and the Oral Tradition; 16Poetry for Children; 17Draman; 18he Development of Illustrated Texts and Picture Books; 19The Modern Picture Book; 20Popular Literature: Comics, Dime Novels, Pulps and Penny Dreadfuls; 21Religious Writing for Children; 22Animal Stories; 23Real Gardens with Imaginary Toads: Domestic Fantasy; 24High Fantasy; 25Science Fiction; 261Shaping Boyhood: Empire Builders and Adventurers; 27The Family Story; 28School Stories; 29Pony Books; 30Historical Fiction; 31Books for Younger Readers; Chapter 1Teenage Fiction: Realism,Romances, Contemporary Problem Novels; 33Metafictions and Experimental Work; 34 Major Authors' Work for Children; 35 Books Adopted by Children; 36Information Books; 37 Children's Magazines; Part III The Context of Children's Literature; 38 Children's Book Design; 39 Children's Book Publishing in Britain; 40Children's Book Publishing in the USA; 41Reviewing and Scholarly Journals; 42Censorship; 43Prizes and Prizewinners; 44 Translation; 45 Radio, Television, Film, Audio and Video; 46Story-telling; 47 Libraries and Research Collections; 48 What the Authors Tell Us; Part IV Applications of Children's Literature; 49 Reading and Literacy; 50 Teenagers Reading: Developmental Stages of Reading Literature; 51Teaching Fiction and Poetry; 52 Teaching Children's Literature in Higher Education; 53 Librarianship; 54Bibliotherapy and Psychology; 55Publishing for Special Needs; Part V The World of Children's Literature; 56The World of Children's Literature: An Introduction; 57 Culture and Developing Countries; 58 British Children's Literature: A Historical Overview; 59 Scotland; 60Wales; 61Ireland; 62 The Nordic Countries; 63 The Netherlands; 64 France; 65 Spain; 66 Portugal; 67 Germany; 68 Switzerland; 69 Austria; 70 Italy; 71 Greece; 72 Russia; 73 Eastern Europe; 74 Turkey; 75 Hebrew and Israeli; 76 The Arab World; 77 Africa; 78 The Indian Sub-Continent; 79 The Far East; 80 China; 81 Japan; 82 Australia; 83 New Zealand; 84 Canada; 85 Children's Literature in the USA: A Historical Overview; 86 Central and South America and the Caribbean

'The International Companion is a very welcome addition to the reference books available on children's literature. There are excellent bibliographical references here, where you can find information on everything from journals, libraries and collections to censorship, television and video. This book will prove indispensable for scholars and librarians.' - Children's Books in Ireland'Containing enough information to fuel dozens of separate books, it communicates clearly without losing academic rigour in a way that has sometimes marred previous collections. Students of children's literature will surely fall upon this volume; their tutors could learn much from it too ... every chapter is original.' - Times Higher Education Supplement'An exceedingly valuable reference work ... Peter Hunt is to be congratulated on taking on such a formidably ambitious task, with results which will ensure its usefulness well into the coming century.' - School Librarian'An excellent purchase for any library ... will prove useful to students starting off their reading in the field as well as to readers further into the topics. The reader is struck by the wide range of bibliographical information. We really have been waiting for a book like this for a long time. It will satisfy most readers' needs and expectations...and will serve as an essential resource work wherever children's literature is seriously discussed.' - Reference Reviews'this encyclopedia offers oce againa aninspiring model for exploring the complex nature of children's literature' - Buchbesprechungen