Equipping Space Cadets

Emily Midkiff is an instructor at the University of North Dakota, where she teaches children's literature and literacy instruction. She spent nine years performing fantasy stories alongside children for an improv children's theater group, and she now studies children's fantasy and science fiction stories with attention to what children have to say.

Midkiff's book should be included in the libraries of schools of education, and considered by public and school librarians as they review their acquisition policies and make more invitations to authors to visit for book talks in the children's room. It matters.--Bruce Lindsley Rockwood "SFRA Review" Starting from the history of both children's literature and science fiction, this title builds a compelling case for adult gatekeepers to reconsider any resistance they may have to the idea of science fiction for children. Midkiff emphasizes the speculative power of science fiction to support young readers as they develop their own reasoning skills, and she argues that children have the capacity to understand science and technology in their narratives and are eager to do so, despite the scarcity she identifies in genre titles geared at children. The work highlights over 350 children's books through three empirical studies. Even better, it presents the voices of real children and practitioners. Black-and-white images and over 21 charts break up the text. VERDICT A good choice for genre studies shelves.-- "School Library Journal" Equipping Space Cadets is a masterful exploration of the discussion of the field of children's science fiction so far and a genuine intervention and challenge to untested hypotheses around children's engagement with the genre.--Farah Mendlesohn, author of Rhetorics of Fantasy and The Inter-Galactic Playground: A Critical Study of Children's and Teens' Science Fiction