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<p>Environmental literature is increasingly popular within children’s literature and can serve an important ecopedagogical function. The didactic nature of this work is often taken for granted. However, didacticism has also long been seen within children’s literature as largely condescending and coercive. Drawing on Marah Gubar’s concept of ‘toothless pedagogy’ (Child Lit 48:153–197, 2020), and Martha Kenney’s writing on didacticism in feminist science literature (Catal: Fem, Theory, Technosci 5(1):1–29, 2019), particularly the concepts of ‘response-ability’ and ‘involutionary’ literature advocated for in her work, this article examines the emancipatory potential of didacticism in environmental literature for children. The article considers two picturebooks by the Northern-Irish author Oliver Jeffers, <i>This Moose Belongs to Me</i> and <i>The Fate of Fausto</i>. The methods used by Jeffers to create opportunities for critical engagement on the part of child readers are highlighted, as are Jeffers’s efforts to foreground and critique the process of teaching and learning. The article argues that Jeffers adopts a ‘toothless’ approach, as part of a wider effort to involve the child reader and foster their ability to respond effectively to the environmental crises with which they are increasingly faced.</p>

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Emancipatory Didacticism and the Environmental Picturebooks of Oliver Jeffers

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年2月6日

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  • Sinéad Moriarty

摘要

Environmental literature is increasingly popular within children’s literature and can serve an important ecopedagogical function. The didactic nature of this work is often taken for granted. However, didacticism has also long been seen within children’s literature as largely condescending and coercive. Drawing on Marah Gubar’s concept of ‘toothless pedagogy’ (Child Lit 48:153–197, 2020), and Martha Kenney’s writing on didacticism in feminist science literature (Catal: Fem, Theory, Technosci 5(1):1–29, 2019), particularly the concepts of ‘response-ability’ and ‘involutionary’ literature advocated for in her work, this article examines the emancipatory potential of didacticism in environmental literature for children. The article considers two picturebooks by the Northern-Irish author Oliver Jeffers, This Moose Belongs to Me and The Fate of Fausto. The methods used by Jeffers to create opportunities for critical engagement on the part of child readers are highlighted, as are Jeffers’s efforts to foreground and critique the process of teaching and learning. The article argues that Jeffers adopts a ‘toothless’ approach, as part of a wider effort to involve the child reader and foster their ability to respond effectively to the environmental crises with which they are increasingly faced.