A content analysis of selected World War II-related juvenile fiction by American and British authors

In a world faced with the task of finding ways to develop peaceful resolutions to international conflicts, the authors of children's literature have addressed the topic of war across genres and cultures. Proponents of children's literature have encouraged authors and publishers to consider what content reveals about war and peace. The purpose of this descriptive analysis was to examine a focused sample of juvenile fiction set during World War II. The trade books investigated for this study were written by American or British authors. The content settings were in one of the respective countries, and the significant adolescent characters were American or British. The aim was to determine how war was presented in the selected books.; Nineteen titles were coded and analyzed for content relating to World War II. A coding continuum defining characteristics demonstrating pro-war, anti-war, conditional support, and indifference was employed to categorize all war-related episodes. Eight hundred and forty-five vignettes were identified by the researcher and coders as relevant to this study. Numerical data revealing the breakdown of the coded scenarios was placed on table graphs, and employed to discuss the contents. Descriptions of exemplary passages, the relationships between the characteristics developed for the coding continuum, and the questions guiding the investigation, revealed significant findings.; The examination of the 19 trade books in the sample, pointed to the significance of the author's nationality and the proximity of the war in relationship to content. The titles written by American authors were generally more supportive of World War II, and the juvenile fiction by the British writers reflected a greater degree of conditional support for the war effort. Anti-war stances were prevalent throughout the literature. The findings illuminated the need to provide children with literature across cultures.