The Trope of Disability in Fiction for Children as a Model For Teaching Children’s Literature

The chapter provides an example of a model of setting up a program to teach children’s literature using the trope of disability in fiction. The texts are studied by setting them in a dynamic relationship with their literary, social, and historical contexts by combining a diachronic and synchronic approach. The case study demonstrates how attitudes have developed over the course of a century. Although the emphasis here is principally on English children’s literature, the model can be readily applied to any other cultural perspective using the same or different themes.