FYS540

This course explores how children’s literature mediates the experiences of migrants and refugees; how it constructs national, ethnic, racial, gender, and other identities; and how it advances or challenges the European ideal of "unity in diversity." Students critically examine how children’s books depict flight and migration; the identities, needs, and aims of migrants and refugees; the roles of European societies in global conflicts; the negotiation of difference; and the possibilities and limits of intercultural understanding. They also consider whose experiences are highlighted or ignored and, crucially, who gets a voice in the lucrative children’s book market.