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In:Geopolitics and Activism in Children’s and Young Adult Literature
Edited by Giuliana Fenech and Justyna Deszcz-Tryhubczak
[Children’s Literature, Culture, and Cognition 18] 2026
► pp. 190–210

Chapter 12
Empowering teachers and readers

Comparative understanding of social justice issues through inclusive youth literature in Germany and the UK

This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Inclusive children’s literature is vital. Books can shape how young readers from socially marginalized backgrounds see themselves as well as how readers from dominant groups see and understand diversity. This chapter presents results of our cross-cultural, interdisciplinary research project, which explored the role of inclusive children’s literature in empowering teachers and readers in understanding social justice issues. Our project focused on books for 8–11-year-olds, which is a critical period in academic development, and one where there is often a decline in children reading for pleasure. Through our project, we engaged with Scottish and German teachers, student teachers, and pupils in an interactive inquiry into reading for pleasure. We could thus better understand how primary school teachers curate and engage with inclusive books, increasing the potential to foster critique of cultural imperialism and exclusionary master narratives by creating stronger and more equitable learning platforms.
Article outline
  • Framing inclusive youth literature: Social literacy, representation,
    and the power of stories
  • Data collection
  • Research findings
    • Empowerment as being equipped to critique problematic books
    • Empowerment as systematically building a diverse book collection
      to mirror a diverse student body
    • Empowerment as giving value to groups who have been devalued historically
    • Empowerment as exposure to sociopolitical and geopolitical diversity
    • Empowerment as taking economic barriers into account
      and searching for remedies to counter their effects
  • Notes
  • References
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