Welcome to SLIDING! We invite you to join us in the wondrous, diverse, and ever-changing world of children’s literature, children’s media, and all things child-oriented.
We created SLIDING because we want to open up academic discussions about children’s and young adult literature and media to the wider public. We wish to create an inclusive community where anyone with an interest in the field can seek inspiration, find knowledge, and share their own perspectives, experiences, special interests, and creative input. Everyone is welcome at SLIDING – from scholars, teachers, and librarians to parents, literature lovers and young people from all over the world.
The idea for SLIDING was born in the autumn of 2024 and has now come to life thanks to a collaborative effort between a group of classmates from the Children’s Literature, Media, and Culture Erasmus Mundus Master’s programme. We are a diverse group of people from all over the world. Despite a wide variety of languages and educational backgrounds we all share a passion for the culture of children. Our name is inspired by Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop’s foundational analogy of children’s literature as windows, mirrors, and sliding doors from 1990. Her article emphasises the importance of diversity in the stories children encounter. Literature (and other forms of narrative) can act as mirrors in which we see ourselves reflected, as windows through which we can see and explore other realities and ways of being in the world, and as sliding glass doors that we can step through and engage with new places and ideas. We wish for all children to encounter stories in which they see themselves and their own lives reflected, as well as stories in which they encounter and can enter other worlds, learn about other people and develop their empathy.
It is our aim in this magazine to create relevant, novel, and varied content with, about, and for young people. We aspire to educate, illuminate, inspire, and create food for thought.
We hope you will read along!
With love, the SLIDING MAGAZINE Team
Bibliography
- Bishop, R. S. (1990). Mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors. Perspectives: Choosing and Using Books for the Classroom, 6(3), pp. 9-11.
SLIDING MAGAZINE 
Leave a comment