The Bus Trip: children's literature and the roadmap for emancipation

Abstract

In this study we will focus on works by authors/illustrators, published in recent years, and coming from different contexts at the global level, addressing the contribution of children's literature to the social and civic education of young people.In this study, we propose to approach two children's books: Last Stop on Market Street (2015), by American authors Matt de la Peña and Christian Robinson and Rosa Parks' Bus (2011), signed by Italian authors Fabrizio Silei and Maurizio Quarello. The objectives of this study are to introduce two contemporary children's books, written on two different continents (America and Europe), but whose narrative contents are similar; to understand what values and messages are being shared with young readers; to understand the importance of these books for the civic education of children. Our hermeneutic analysis will focus on the books' texts and illustrations, with the aim of interpreting the themes, messages and values they contain.