“The books that we give to children, that are written for children, say profound things about how we view ourselves as people, how we see our place in the world, how we construct time and space. The deepest underlying matrix of a culture can be found in the unspoken assumptions in children’s books: how the genders interact, what makes a family, who is in charge in the world, who has power, who brings grace.” ~GraceAnne A. DeCandido

This is the introductory paragraph to the courses I taught in children’s literature for the Rutgers online graduate program.