Potent Fictions: Children's Literacy and the Challenge of Popular Culture

Based on close empirical work with children and a knowledge of cultural theory,Potent Fictionsdescribes and discusses the current market for children's popular culture, and the implications this has for classroom practice. It shows how children use many literacies and experiences to make sense of the world around them. Thus popular culture can take a place alongside more crafted literature as a vital resource of meaning. This book will help teachers to understand and engage with children's literacy practices outside school, while at the same developing more traditional school practices of reading and writing. By developing an integrated approach to different narratives, teachers will enable children to develop literacy in its widest and most empowering sense.