The purpose of this course is to provide students with the opportunity to study current and emerging issues in children's literature which reflect social and cultural trends in literacy education. Students will draw on the disciplines of Arts and Education in order to explore these issues in children's and young adults' literature. A variety of perspectives on these issues will be presented by writers from different disciplines and different roles in the field of children's literature - from academics to authors, illustrators, publishers and critics. Students will incorporate views from each perspective, together with their own reading of current works of children's literature, in order to construct a personal view about children's and young adults' literature and education.