Changes in and to children's literature mirror, as well as construct, changes in social norms. For example, the 1908 book by Kenneth Grahame, Wind in the Willows, is a frolicking fantasy tale starring a cast of anthropomorphic animals. Themes of camaraderie, friendship, and adventure do not serve as vehicles for political discourse. When Jan Needle published Wild Wood nearly a century later in 1981, the author imbued the basic structure of Grahame's story with political awareness. Issues like social justice are explored in Wild Wood, issues that were not touched upon in Wind in the Willows. A similar vehicle of storytelling was used for a different literary function. Both 1908 and 1981 were times ripe for the exploration of labor issues and class-consciousness, and it is in many ways ironic that Needle would have been more overtly political than his forebear.

There seems to have been a deliberate awakening of...
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