Catholicism in YA Literature: A Theological Perspective

  • Jennifer Miskec Longwood University
  • Katherine G. Schmidt University of Dayton

Abstract

Though modern children’s literature owes a clear debt to religious tradition, the majority of literature written for young readers today avoids discussion of religion. Texts invested in explicitly religious exploration are often a product of religious or non-mainstream presses—and are quite often proselytic, resulting in a binary distinction of children’s and young adult literature as either secular (religiously neutral) or religious (overtly proselytizing). What results in mainstream children’s and young adult literature is a noticeable dearth of texts in which the religious experience is handled as a serious and significant element of the child’s life.

Author Biographies

Jennifer Miskec, Longwood University
Javid Beagley is Lecturer in Children's Literature and Literacy at La Trobe University's Bendigo campus, Victoria, Australia, where he teaches units in Genres, History, Australian and Post-colonial children's literature. He has previously taught in secondary schools, and has been a school and university librarian.
Katherine G. Schmidt, University of Dayton
Katherine G. Schmidt is a Ph.D. student in Theology at the University of Dayton.
Section
Alice's Academy