Cover page; Halftitle page; Series page; Title page; Copyright page; Dedication; Contents; Figures; Note to the Reader; Acknowledgements; Introduction; Age studies; Methodological refl ections; Opening up adult minds and experiences; Reconfi guring the adult as reader; Chapter overview and corpus; 1 Defining Adulthood in Children's Literature; To know or not to know; Kidults; Big bodies
adult minds?; 2 Grown- up Children?; Free as an adult; 'Childlike' adults; The playful adult; Adult themes; Didactic messages for the adult reader; 3 Hair, Hair, Everywhere; Social skin

Hair, hair, everywhereAdult sexuality; 4 The Disdainful Adult; The disdainful adult, the disdained child; Childist adults in children's literature; Mieke Mom's mad mum; Childism in God's name; His Dark Materials; Grown-ups, yuk!; 5 From Writer's Block to Wonderful Friend; Allegories of telling; Ironic representations; The children's writer as ally; Between irony and sympathy: The Story of Tracy Beaker; A famous alter ego; Writers as parental fi gures; The children's author
a child's best friend?; 6 Second Childhoods; A narrative of decline; The alliance between young and old

The puer senex tropeThe elderly storyteller; A parody of the connection between youth and old age; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index