Age

Abstract: Although age is central to definitions of children\u2019s literature as well as a central concern in many of the narratives, only recently have the fields of age studies and children\u2019s literature studies started interacting with each other. This chapter opens with a consideration of different concepts of age that have been developed in childhood and age studies, paying attention to developmental and constructivist approaches. Starting from the latter, it reflects on the role that age plays in society in the form of age norms (including ageism, pleas to move to a post-age society and considerations of how age intersects with other markers of identity). It then considers how children\u2019s literature contributes to establishing and challenging age norms in its characterisation and narrative plots. The chapter pays particular attention to the decline narrative that is a recurrent concern in age studies, as well as to constructions of adulthood, old age and intergenerational relationships more broadly. In its discussion of a short case study, the chapter complicates a straightforward connection between fictional representations of age and age in real life. It closes with a reflection on the impact of the age of the reader in interpreting fictional age