This volume examines a variety of utopian writing for children from the 18th century to the present day, defining and exploring this new genre in the field of children's literature. The original essays discuss thematic conventions and present detailed case studies of individual works. All address the pedagogical implications of work that challenges children to grapple with questions of perfect or wildly imperfect social organizations and their own autonomy. The book includes interviews with creative writers and the first bibliography of utopian fiction for children.

Chapter 1 Introduction, Carrie Hintz, Elaine Ostry; Part 1 Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: Utopia in Transit; Chapter 2 Getting to Utopia: Railways and Heterotopia in Children's Literature, Alice Jenkins; Chapter 3 American Boys' Series Books and the Utopia of the Air, Fred Erisman; Chapter 4 Travels through Dystopia: H. G. Wells and The Island of Dr. Moreau, Alberto Manguel; Part 2 Community and Socialism; Chapter 5 Sarah Fielding's Childhood Utopia, Sara Gadeken; Chapter 6 Tinklers and Time Machines: Time Travel in the Social Fantasy of E. Nesbit and H. G. Wells, Cathrine Frank; Chapter 7 The Writing on the Wall of Redwall, Holly V. Blackford; Chapter 8 'Joy but Not Peace': Zilpha Keatley Snyder's Green-sky Trilogy, Carrie Hintz; Chapter 9 Terrible Lizard Dream Kingdom, James Gurney; Chapter 10 Bridge to Utopia, Katherine Paterson; Part 3 Child Power; Chapter 11 Suffering in Utopia: Testing the Limits in Young Adult Novels, Rebecca Carol Noël Totaro; Chapter 12 Educating Desire: Magic, Power, and Control in Tanith Lee's Unicorn Trilogy, Maureen F. Moran; Chapter 13 The Struggle between Utopia and Dystopia in Writing for Children and Young Adults, Monica Hughes; Part 4 From the Wreckage: Post-World War II Dystopias and Utopias; Chapter 14 Presenting the Case for Social Change: The Creative Dilemma of Dystopian Writing for Children, Kay Sambell; Chapter 15 The Quest for the Perfect Planet: The British Secondary World as Utopia and Dystopia, 1945-1999, Karen Sands-O'Connor;