Simmons-Bah, Seraphina ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-9590-533X (2025) Using critical race theory to explore the potential of children's texts as counternarratives: inside the Gingerbread House. In: Lindahl-Wise, Mette, Oulton, Harry, Macleroy, Vicky and Corbett, Emily, (eds.) Reading Children’s Fairytales. Routledge - Taylor & Francis Group, New York, pp. 41-53. ISBN 978-1003559474 (doi:10.4324/9781003559474-5)

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Abstract

This chapter will provide an overview of the key tenets of critical race theory (CRT) and offer an insight into how the framework, which has its roots in the American legal system, has been applied to children’s literary criticism both in the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK). Within this, the tensions which arise from applying a critical lens that was primarily developed in and for a US context to the UK will be discussed. The author will then focus on how CRT can be employed as a lens for exploring the counternarrative potential of children’s books featuring characters from racially marginalised backgrounds. This will be done through a close critical reading of Rachel Isadora’s (2009) Hansel and Gretel, which depicts the characters of the story as Black, and is said to be set in Africa. Through applying the tenets of both CRT and critical literacy, these analyses will situate the primary text within the context in which it was created and in which they may be read. The text’s subversive potential will be interrogated through an exploration of markers which may differentiate narratives which undermine dominant, discriminatory portrayals of racially marginalised people from those which reinforce them. The chapter will conclude by considering implications for children’s literary criticism and classroom practice.

Item Type:	Book Section
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Children's literature, Literary criticism, Critical Race Theory, Critical content analysis
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) P Language and Literature > PZ Childrens literature
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences > School of Education (EDU)
Last Modified:	12 Feb 2026 13:26
URI:	https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/52460

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