This study explores the connections between childhood and children's literature. In this connection there is an inherent tension between writing and reading "real" childhood, as it is being lived by children now, and interacting with an adult-normative, adult-reconstructed childhood that may or may not have existed in the past. The purpose of this study was to address this tension by analyzing fifteen recently published award-winning children's novels, from the United States, The United Kingdom, and Australia, in order to ferret out how present-day childhood is constructed within this text set. Using a hybrid methodology called critical discourse analysis, buttressed by the frameworks of postmodern childhood studies and critical children's literature studies, the novels were analyzed in a hermeneutic, reader-response oriented approach in order to excavate themes that addressed childhood in the narratives. Findings are presented as a meta-plot, wherein the child protagonists leave a failed home, set out on a journey of knowledge and experience gaining a sense of agency, and, at the end of the novel, construct a new home replete with the child protagonists' personal meaning. This meta-plot includes instances of the child protagonist performing parrhesiatic acts (Foucault) as well as developing non-hierarchical relationships as conceptualized by an I/You relationship (Buber). Other findings include the construction of childhood as a time of "becoming" and a time of "is-ness," childhood as a time of resilience, and childhood as a time of difficult decisions. Conclusions of the analysis speak to the idea of the child serving as a Modern bringer of hope, who manages to create moral order from within an adult-created postmodern milieu. Implications relate to the fields of literacy education, replications of the study with an interpretative community of children, and continuing to define the burgeoning methodology of critical content analysis.

The scrip involves a literature study to determine how the covenant child / teenager is accommodated in the Reformed church today versus his/her actual need. The question is posed: Is the covenant child accommodated in any way in our current format of church liturgy, or not? Globalisation has made such an impact on the youth of today (postmodern youth or Mosaics) that digital technology has become their focus. Has the church adapted to this? The findings in this script show that the Reformed churches are losing particularly the youth because they have not adapted fast enough to this technology and to the cultural change that is evident in the postmodern child / teenager. The study is not only about the child in the church, but what the child looks like (his / her postmodern attitude / lifestyle) that we want in the church service and what change we need to make to the liturgy of the Reformed church in order to accommodate them. During this study it was also very evident that we need to change the way in which we spread the Word, and not the Word itself. The Truth remains the same – the culture, technology, attitudes, communication methods and intellectual and emotional needs change constantly. And the change is happening at such an alarming rate that we cannot ever think that we have reached the perfect solution. Before we have found the answer, it has changed. We therefore need to constantly re-look at our presentation style. This however does not excuse us from making changes. We need to change with the times and much faster than is currently the norm. The study reveals that the Reformed church currently has a mono-perspective of the liturgy. What is needed is a multi-disciplinary approach when we worship God. It is not only about the child in the church, it is about the place of the church service in the child’s life amidst the enormous impact of culture and digital technology that they are faced with everyday. How can we attempt to be relevant if we still preach as we did 100 years ago? Although the majority of the information that is available on this subject comes from America, the writer believes that it is very relevant to the Reformed churches in South Africa. Further study and research will be needed to determine the exact needs of the South African child / teenager and how to address this. / Dissertation (MA (Theology))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Practical Theology / unrestricted