Children's Literature and Imaginative Geography

In Children’s Literature and Imaginative Geography, Aïda Hudson gathers together 17 essays that “examine imaginative geography in children’s literature from the early nineteenth century to the present” from compelling, unique, and refreshing perspectives (p. 3). These are presented in four thematically-focused chapters: (1) “Geographical Imaginaries—The Old World and the New”; (2) “Gardens and Green Spaces”; (3) “Fantasy Worlds and Re-enchantment”; and (4) “Space and Gender”.

Chapters One and Two are punctuated by “Interludes” while Chapter Four is terminated with a “Postlude”—all written by celebrated authors and all contributing to the liveliness of the work. The preceding are foregrounded by a strong introduction in which Hudson effectively defines key terms and delineates the overarching theoretical perspective that illuminates them—Edward Said’s (1978; 1993) postcolonial conceptualization of “imaginative geography” in his highly influential work, Orientalism and Culture and imperialism. In those monographs, Said adopted a geographical approach to not only literary production but also to the construction of Manichean ideologies—binaries of us versus them, good versus evil etc. that are projected on spaces, places and people—made by the mind—in other words imaged/imagined creations Fictions.

These fictions have impacts. In proposing a geographical approach, Said exigently directs us to mindfully “world” our construction and interpretation of the geographies and Others we construct. Hudson puts Said’s construct to good use in her introductory discussion of what is “made by the mind” through her insightful ruminations on the movement of Said’s theory into children’s literature via subsections entitled: “Imaginative Geography Travels”, “Worlding Books for the Young”, “Place Attachment and Environmentalism” and “Imaginative Geography and the Mythical”.

In each of the above, Hudson expertly applies Said’s theory to selected works. Those sections are followed by her excellent “[m]apping”—summary and explanation of each chapter and the overall organization of the book. Through the preceding, we bear witness to Hudson’s scholarly knowledge of classical—canonized, as well as contemporary pieces of diverse children’s literature. Unfortunately, omitted are examples from, for instance, Indigenous, Asian and Black African literary production for children from and beyond North America. That said, there is much to learn from Hudson’s theoretically robust introduction.

As concerns the four chapters, each packs a hefty punch. Regrettably, their contents cannot be fully discussed here. Among the noteworthy contributions of Chapter One are the following: Sampson’s irresistible navigation of the geographic imagination in the Pullman’s (1995) The Golden Compass that “plays out imperialist themes in three principal areas: the romance of geographic exploration; the nature of child adventurers and their education abroad; and the patterns of ethnic ‘othering’ that leave Europeans in a position of ascendancy over all ethnicities” (p. 27). Similarly, Hillel’s lyrical “Envisioning Ireland: Landscape and Longing in Children’s Literature” has much to tell about the importance of place, its histories, romanticization, and imaginative embellishments. Additionally, there is Murray’s vigorous “From Vanity to World’s Fair: The Landscape of John Bunyan’s Allegory in Frances Hodgson Burnett’s Two Little Pilgrims’ Progress”. Superb. And then readers will be delightfully pulled in by Fachinger’s deft exploration of ecocide and resistance: Healing Relationships with the Natural Environment by Reclaiming Indigenous Space in Aaron Paquette’s Lightfinder.

The “Interlude” betwixt Chapters One and Two features Hudson’s interview with Janet Lunn. Her adoring fans and aficionados of historical fiction will be charmed by Hudson’s dialogue with the cherished writer. Lunn’s passionate articulation of the geographies of her writing reveals that the personal and the literary are deeply intertwined.

Chapter Two centers gardens and green spaces. It brings forward a classic from the Anglo literary canon for children, The Wind in the Willows, (Grahame, 1909) offering fresh insights. Highlighted as well are two contemporary works, The Curious Garden, (Brown, 2009) and The Imaginary Garden (Larsen, 2009). In, “How does Your Garden Grow?” Li Sheung Ying employs the lens of ecocriticism to energetically explore the Eco-Imaginative Space of the Garden in contemporary children’s books, making it clear that the fundamental premise of the books is that “there is a connection between how human culture affects and is affected by the physical world” (p. 155).

Alan West’s “Into the (Not so Wild): On the Nature Without and Within” in Kenneth Grahame’s signature work is a captivating piece that explicitly engages the Saidian concepts unpacked by Hudson in the introduction. West declares, The Wind in the Willows “has an author who lamented the loss to humans of the animal self” and points to a passage “impossible not to read” as homoerotic” (p. 183). Through examination of Willows and some of Grahame’s other writings (e.g., “The Rural Pan”), West suggests that fear and repression of gay sexualities in the Edwardian period may explain “the need to maintain stability, to not break out, to not respond to the wild, animal self and its urges, to discourage your friends from doing so, and to be the perfect gentleman at all times” (p. 183) in Willows. Here, West “worlds” the Edwardian period and its throttling of “forbidden” sexualities.

In the Interlude following Chapter Two, self-identified “regional author” Deirdre Baker makes excellent use of the occasion to auto-telescope her writer’s process, and product—Becca at Sea, and its “unimaginative” setting, a small island in the Salish Sea of British Columbia. Baker opines that “a role of fantasy [is] to invent geography, if by geography we understand world, landscape, and earth-writing at its most literally figurative…” (p. 186). This essay evidences an astute thinker and writer. Through rich and vivid descriptions—language that is precise and pulsating—she animatedly answers the three questions set for the essay.

Entitled, “Fantasy Worlds and Re-enchantment”, Chapter Three offers powerful writing beginning with Findon’s unforgettable analysis of Kernaghan’s The Snow Queen that zooms “female friendship and heroism.” Worthy of every reader’s time too is Hilder’s reverent, richly detailed and perceptive piece on “Mythic Re-enchantment” based on the “Imaginative Geography of Madeleine L’Engle’s Time Quintet.” Through this fantasy literature, “L’Engle explored the existential questions of spirituality and related issues of moral virtue in her award-winning children’s fantasy literature the Time Quintet” (p. 243). Hilder’s is an appreciative journey into L’Engle’s imaginative geographies and her rejection of rationalism in favor of a faith-based, Christian orientation toward love through action, positive interrelationality, wonder, redemption and hope.

The final chapter of the book—its postlude—is rightly placed in the hands of an author; Alan Cumyn— member of the cast of hundreds responsible for the imagined geographies of the literature we hold dear. Cumyn has given much joy to countless students and teachers across Canada through his trilogy and other works set in evocative rural Canadian landscapes familiar to many. His essay engenders resonance, connectivity and validation of our lived world—le quotidian—as distilled to us through the magical “pen” of writers.

Children’s Literature and Imaginative Geography is a substantial scholarly contribution. The stellar essays—strong analysis, incisiveness, and riveting story-telling—compensate for those less so. As a work primarily aimed at scholars, researchers, librarians, teachers, students and interested others (e.g., parents/caregivers), such readers would be justified in asking this question: whose children’s literature is the focus of analysis and exploration? Contributors to Hudson’s book appear to focus solely on canonized Anglo and American classics by White authors (e.g., The Secret Garden (Hodgson Burnett); The Wind in the Willows; The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come (Bunyan); The Two Little Pilgrims’ Progress (Hodgson Burnett). The more contemporary hits (The Golden Compass (Pullman); Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Rowling); L’Engle’s Time Quintet; and A Wizard of Earthsea (Le Guin)) are similarly authored.

Another pertinent question is this: Do contributors take up the responsibility of living in a plural society of multiplicities by examining literature for the widely diverse users of children’s literature textbooks and the children on behalf of whom they work? As far as I can determine, the answer is no. Contributors are primarily from the dominant racial group (Li Sheung Ying excepted). And, with only one exception (Petra Fachinger for Lightfinder), they do not engage works of non-White authors of imagined geographies. Such authors might include, but are not limited to: Richardo Keens Douglas, Virginia Hamilton, Paul Yee and Laurence Yep, etc.). Greater author diversity offers opportunities to enhance and enlarge this noteworthy collection of essays in the interest of broader inclusivity and wider representation and is meritorious of a future volume. Bring it on!