Forging Hope Creatively: Supporting Possibility Thinking with Contemporary Children’s Literature

Farrar, J. (2023) Forging Hope Creatively: Supporting Possibility Thinking with Contemporary Children’s Literature. Sheffield Literacies and Language Conference: Forging Hopeful Literacies, Sheffield, UK, 16-17 June 2023.

Abstract

Talking about the future with young children has always been a complex task, one that is made all of the more challenging in a world that is facing local and global challenges related to climate crisis, war, poverty and injustice. While the very presence of hope within these conversations is crucial, just as important is its function: too much hope can lack meaning and direction, while too little hope can cause despair and fear. In this paper, I explore some of the ways that contemporary children’s literature can help readers and co-readers by offering a Goldilocks amount of hope – one that may be ‘just right’ for simulating powerful conversations about the way things are in the hope of changing them, for individuals and communities. Framed by understandings of the act of hoping as a mode of being in order to ground hope as something inherent to the everyday rather than located in a future as yet unknown, I draw together the concept of possibility thinking – an approach often found in the area of creativity and early years education - alongside a close reading of some recently published texts to explore how contemporary children’s literature can provide spaces for hope and considerations of ‘what if?’ This presentation will look at some of the response inviting structures present in these children’s texts and will consider the hopeful literacy practices they might promote and support in classrooms and beyond, including critical literacies.

• Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Farrar, Dr Jennifer
• Authors: Farrar, J.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Education > Pedagogy, Praxis & Faith