Consumable Reading and Children's Literature

By examining material and sensory interactions in children's literature in the past, present and theorizing on the future, this monograph studies how multisensory experiences may enhance early childhood literacy practices. Embodied engagements that focus on the gustatory experience and the sense of taste in particular are explored through food-related narratives and the potential for reading scenarios involving consumable objects, packages, tableware and utensils in stories and even in everyday life. The entanglements of texts and the self are reevaluated through hybrid narratives for early readers some involving cross-modal sensations such as synesthesia supported by modern media and groundbreaking technology. The interdisciplinary nature of this work on children's literature that draws on material and surface science, HCI, arts and food studies could inspire the interest of not only students, teachers and scholars of children's literature and child development but researchers and practitioners in various creative and scientific fields--