Picturebook Makers by Sam McCullen (review)

Abstract

61.1 – 2023 | 71 reflections from the analysis of a corpus of texts that deal with the subject of migration in general and international adoption in particular—the subject of her doctoral thesis. The author warns that in many cases, these texts approach complex issues in a simplistic way, telling singular stories of people who migrate and mobilize the help of the locals: “The operation of these stories is to leave out of our knowledge something that would seem harmful for us to know: global injustice” (84). “Necropolitics in The Isle and The Mediterranean” builds on the theme of the previous chapter with Achille Mbembe’s concept of necropolitics. García González analyzes here two works by Armin Greder, which highlight the brutality with which certain populations are left to die. “The Problem with Narratives of Empowerment for Girls” problematizes certain books for children aligned with mainstream “girl power” discourses. According to the author, the problem with these narratives is that they suggest a simplistic idea of individual empowerment. From an intersectional perspective, the author wonders: “Can a text be feminist and, at the same time, reproduce colonial imaginaries? I am afraid that a merely post-feminist text that embodies ideas of achievement and overcoming, or an approach to liberal feminism with the slogan for gender equality does not involve rethinking how dominations are produced, and how some lives develop more precariously than others” (121).3 “Narrating the Silences of the Dictatorship” studies the way the Chilean dictatorship is presented in books for children. The author analyzes several texts to understand how both references and silences work to express the intensity of grief and loss: “Gaps in these works...may not be there for adults to pick up, but to be filled in the silence. A silence that is not the lack of something, but the presence of it” (146). “Nets of Poverty and Reading” presents an ethnographic study about “reading affections, and hard topics” carried out in two marginalized neighborhoods in the suburbs of Santiago de Chile. The author narrates the experience with sincere reflections: “As the months went by, I realised how I myself had been trapped by the promise of happiness through reading that I have been criticising in this book” (159). Overall, Macarena García González’s work is critically engaging and highly accessible. By introducing a social and political perspective, García González invites readers to think about the emotional dimension in children’s fictions as an ethical matter. It is valuable as a work that opens questions instead of closing conclusions, and as such, I consider it an essential reading for scholars, teachers, librarians, publishers, parents, and anyone interested in the encounters between books and children. Agustina Palenque Glasgow University and University of Buenos Aires BOOKS ON BOOKS