Contributors offer different perspectives on advertising, girls' book series, rap music, realistic fiction, dolls, and movies, and demonstrate how images of the child reflect the entire culture. Subjects include female and male sex roles in teen romances, images of children in horror novels, and board games and the socialization of young adolescents. Paper edition (unseen), $25.95. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

"This book is a study of the woman-and-child motif as it appeared in the Bronze Age eastern Mediterranean, focusing on Egypt, the Levant, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Iran, Cyprus, and the Aegean. Rather than being a universal symbol of maternity, or a depiction of a mother goddess, the woman-and-child motif, called by the technical name kourotrophos, was relatively rare in comparison with other images of women in antiquity, and served a number of different symbolic functions, ranging from honoring the king of Egypt to giving extra oomph to magical spells"--Provided by publisher.

"The understandings which children have of Indigenous identity provide means by which to explore the ways in which Indigenous identity is both projected and constructed in society. These understandings play a powerful part in the ways in which Indigenous peoples are positioned in the mainstream society with which they are connected. The research presented in this edited collection uses children’s drawings to illuminate and explore the images children, both mainstream and Indigenous, have of Indigenous peoples. The data generated by this process allows exploration of the ways in which Indigenous identity is understood globally, through a series of locally focussed studies connected by theme and approach. The data serves to illuminate both the space made available by mainstream groups, and aspects of modernity accommodated within the Indigenous sense of self. Our aim within this project has been to analyse and discuss the ways in which children construct identity, both their own and that of others. Children were asked to share their thoughts through drawings which were then used as the basis for conversation with the researchers. In this way the interaction between mainstream modernity and traditional Indigenous identity is made available for discussion and the connection between children’s lived experiences of identity and the wider global discussion is both immediately enacted and located within broader international understandings of Indigenous cultures and their place in the world."

Why does the city of Reggio Emilia in northern Italy feature one of the best public systems of early education in the world? This book documents the comprehensive and innovative approach that utilizes the "hundred languages of children" to support their well-being and foster their intellectual development. Educators in Reggio Emilia, Italy, use a distinctive innovative approach that supports children's well-being and fosters their intellectual development through a systematic focus on symbolic representation. From birth through age six, young children are encouraged to explore their environment and express their understanding through many modes of expression or "languages," including verbal communication, movement, drawing, painting, sculpture, shadow play, collage, and music. This organic strategy has been shown to be highly effective, as the children in Reggio Emilia display surprising examples of symbolic skill and creativity. This book describes how the world-renowned preschool services and accompanying practical strategies for children under six in Reggio Emilia have evolved in response to the community's demographic and political transformations, and to generational changes in both the educators and the parents of the children. The authors provide the reader with a comprehensive introduction to the Reggio Emilia experience, and address three of the most important central themes of the work in Reggio in detail: teaching and learning through relationships; the hundred languages of children, and how this concept has evolved; and integrating documentation into the process of observing, reflecting, and communicating.

The essays in this volume examine the interplay of children and technology, and address critical questions about how we understand the nature of childhood in a modern technocratic society.