| | Editor's Preface | |
| | Contributors | |
| 1 | Introduction / Margaret Meek | 1 |
| 2 | Defining Children's Literature and Childhood / Karin Lesnik-Oberstein | 17 |
| 3 | History, Culture and Children's Literature / Tony Watkins | 32 |
| 4 | Ideology / Charles Sarland | 41 |
| 5 | Linguistics and Stylistics / John Stephens | 58 |
| 6 | Reader-Response Criticism / Michael Benton | 71 |
| 7 | Psychoanalytical Criticism / Hamida Bosmajian | 89 |
| 8 | Feminist Criticism: From Sex-Role Stereotyping to Subjectivity / Lissa Paul | 101 |
| 9 | Illustration and Picture Books / Perry Nodelman | 113 |
| 10 | Note on Bibliography / Peter Hunt | 125 |
| 11 | Intertextuality / Christine Wilkie | 131 |
| 12 | Early Texts Used by Children / Margaret Kinnell | 141 |
| 13 | Fairy Tales and Folk-tales / Ruth B. Bottigheimer | 152 |
| 14 | Myth and Legend / Maurice Saxby | 166 |
| 15 | Playground Rhymes and the Oral Tradition / Iona Opie | 177 |
| 16 | Poetry for Children / Morag Styles | 190 |
| 17 | Drama / Peter Hollindale | 206 |
| 18 | Development of Illustrated Texts and Picture Books / Joyce Irene Whalley | 220 |
| 19 | Modern Picture Book / Jane Doonan | 231 |
| 20 | Popular Literature: Comics, Dime Novels, Pulps and Penny Dreadfuls / Denis Gifford | 242 |
| 21 | Religious Writing for Children | 267 |
| | | Catechistical, Devotional and Biblical Writing / Ruth B. Bottigheimer | 267 |
| | | Moral and Religious Writing / Kate Montagnon | 273 |
| 22 | Animal Stories / Keith Barker | 282 |
| 23 | Real Gardens with Imaginary Toads: Domestic Fantasy / Louisa Smith | 295 |
| 24 | High Fantasy / C. W. Sullivan III | 303 |
| 25 | Science Fiction / Jessica Yates | 314 |
| 26 | Shaping Boyhood: Empire Builders and Adventurers / Dennis Butts | 326 |
| 27 | Family Story / Gillian Avery | 338 |
| 28 | School Stories / Sheila Ray | 348 |
| 29 | Pony Books / Alison Haymonds | 360 |
| 30 | Historical Fiction / Janet Fisher | 368 |
| 31 | Books for Younger Readers / Colin Mills | 377 |
| 32 | Teenage Fiction: Realism, Romances, Contemporary Problem Novels / Julia Eccleshare | 387 |
| 33 | Metafictions and Experimental Work / Robyn McCallum | 397 |
| 34 | Major Authors' Work for Children / Marian Allsobrook | 410 |
| 35 | Books Adopted by Children / Stuart Hannabuss | 422 |
| 36 | Information Books / Peggy Heeks | 433 |
| 37 | Children's Magazines / Marianne Carus | 443 |
| 38 | Children's Book Design / Douglas Martin | 461 |
| 39 | Children's Book Publishing in Britain / Margaret Clark | 472 |
| 40 | Children's Book Publishing in the USA / Connie C. Epstein | 478 |
| 41 | Reviewing and Scholarly Journals / Gillian Adams | 485 |
| 42 | Censorship / Mark I. West | 498 |
| 43 | Prizes and Prizewinners / Keith Barker | 508 |
| 44 | Translation / Ronald Jobe | 519 |
| 45 | Radio, Television, Film, Audio and Video / Michael Rosen | 530 |
| 46 | Story-telling / Mary Medlicott | 539 |
| 47 | Libraries and Research Collections / Karen Nelson Hoyle | 546 |
| 48 | What the Authors Tell Us / Peter Hunt | 555 |
| 49 | Reading and Literacy / Geoffrey Williams | 573 |
| 50 | Teenagers Reading: Developmental Stages of Reading Literature / Jack Thomson | 584 |
| 51 | Teaching Fiction and Poetry / Geoff Fox | 594 |
| 52 | Teaching Children's Literature in Higher Education / Tony Watkins | 606 |
| 53 | Librarianship / Ray Lonsdale, Sheila Ray | 615 |
| 54 | Bibliotherapy and Psychology / Hugh Crago | 634 |
| 55 | Publishing for Special Needs / Beverley Mathias | 644 |
| 56 | World of Children's Literature: An Introduction / Sheila Ray | 653 |
| 57 | Culture and Developing Countries / Anne Pellowski | 663 |
| 58 | British Children's Literature: A Historical Overview / John Rowe Townsend | 676 |
| 59 | Scotland / Stuart Hannabuss | 688 |
| 60 | Wales / Menna Lloyd Williams | 692 |
| 61 | Ireland / Valerie Coghlan | 695 |
| 62 | Nordic Countries / Boel Westin | 699 |
| 63 | Netherlands / Anne de Vries | 710 |
| 64 | France / Jean Perrot | 717 |
| 65 | Spain / Carmen Garcia Surralles, Antonio Moreno Verdulla, Marisol Dorao | 726 |
| 66 | Portugal / Natercia Rocha | 731 |
| 67 | Germany | 735 |
| | | German Children's Literature from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Century / Hans-Heino Ewers | 735 |
| | | German Democratic Republic / Bernd Dolle-Weinkauff | 744 |
| 68 | Switzerland / Verena Rutschmann | 748 |
| 69 | Austria / Lucia Binder | 752 |
| 70 | Italy / Laura Kreyder | 757 |
| 71 | Greece / Vassilis D. Anagnostopoulos | 761 |
| 72 | Russia / Ben Hellman | 765 |
| 73 | Eastern Europe / Sheila Ray | 774 |
| 74 | Turkey / Sheila Ray | 781 |
| 75 | Hebrew and Israeli / Zohar Shavit | 783 |
| 76 | Arab World / Julinda Abu-Nasr | 789 |
| 77 | Africa | 795 |
| | | English-Speaking Africa / Jay Heale | 795 |
| | | French-Speaking Africa / Marie Laurentin | 801 |
| 78 | Indian Sub-Continent / Manorama Jafa | 807 |
| 79 | Far East / Sheila Ray | 823 |
| 80 | China / Wong Yoon Wah, Laina Ho | 830 |
| 81 | Japan / Teruo Jinguh | 837 |
| 82 | Australia / Rhonda M. Bunbury | 843 |
| 83 | New Zealand / Betty Gilderdale | 855 |
| 84 | Canada | 862 |
| | | English-Speaking Canada / Alexandra West | 862 |
| | | French-Speaking Canada / Elvine Gignac-Pharand | 868 |
| 85 | Children's Literature in the USA: A Historical Overview / Jerry Griswold | 871 |
| 86 | Central and South America and the Caribbean / Enrique Perez Diaz | 882 |
