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This document provides a list of contributors to the journal Book History. The contributors come from various academic backgrounds and specialize in different areas of research related to literature, publishing, and book history. Their research interests include children's literature, medical and erotic print networks, early modern printing, Canadian literatures, religion and reading, the history of the book trade, and African American studies. The contributors are affiliated with universities and research institutions in France, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany. [Extracted from the article]

Novels from the Dear Canada series of historic fiction, published by Scholastic Canada, currently populate the shelves of school classrooms and libraries across Canada. This study explores two Dear Canada novels that chronicle significant moments in Atlantic Canadian history: Janet McNaughton’s novel (Flame and ashes: The great fire diary of Triffie Winsor. St. Johns, Newfoundland, 1892, Scholastic Canada, Toronto, 2014) which explores the Great Fire of Newfoundland in 1892, and Julie Lawson’s novel, No Safe Harbour (No safe harbour: the Halifax explosion diary of Charlotte Blackburn, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1917, Scholastic Canada, Toronto, 2006), which explores the Halifax Explosion of 1917. Kenneth Kidd (Child Lit 33: 120-149, 2005) notes that “subjects previously thought too upsetting for children are now deemed appropriate and even necessary” in children’s literature (p. 12); indeed, the themes of both Flame and Ashes and No Safe Harbour resonate with recent attempts to represent broader and more diverse ranges of experiences in children’s fiction. Like many other texts in the series, these texts explore economic hardship and psychological distress. Furthermore, they explore events through the eyes of subjects who have, historically, had very little agency: female children. Drawing on narrative theory and feminist standpoint theory (Fuller in Writing the everyday: women’s textual communities in Atlantic Canada, McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal, 2004), this study examines the narrative techniques McNaughton and Lawson rely on to counterbalance difficult historical events with the appeal of young protagonists who offer subjective responses to the historical moment. This study considers both the ideological challenges and the possible advantages of circulating historical knowledge that is linked to girlhood and profoundly rooted in place. Ultimately, I argue that these young female narrators provide important inroads for interrogating what counts as history in historical narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the results of a content analysis of 1,132 picture books published by French Canadian editors from 2003 to 2012. We took into account the representations of members of visible minorities, as well as the cultural origins of the authors and illustrators. Results show important gaps between the Canadian demographic reality and the representation of visible minorities in picture books. Consequences of the scarcity of multicultural picture books on children's development are discussed. A few strategies that public libraries can use to alleviate the situation are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article draws on research conducted in Britain and Canada into representations of the Inuit in juvenile non-fiction. Through the examination of text and pictorial representations in reference books, and geographical and historical non-fiction, attention is drawn to the continuing prevalence of a wide range of stereotypes. With the help of a discussion group of Inuit and other residents of the Arctic, key issues are confronted and strengths and weaknesses of a variety of representations identified. The article concludes by recommending various approaches that would result in a more balanced image of the Inuit, and by analogy, of other indigenous people worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the influence of the trend of reading Harry Potter books on Canadian fiction. The ways in which Harry Potter books have contributed to Canadian children's literature and to Canadian adult literature are explored. Children's fascination with fantasy and the role of fantasy in their lives and their implications for education are discussed. Details of the group of writers responding in ways to the Harry Potter phenomenon are presented. Books which have also crossed the lines between adult and child readers are discussed.