The Nineties in America - Salem Press (2009)

The Dancer Who Flew: A Memoir of Rudolf Nureyev
(1999) details the childhood, rise to stardom, defec-
tion, and death, in 1993, of the ballet superstar who
died of AIDS.

Poetry Following a decade of renewed interest in
poetry for children, as reflected partly in awards gar-
nered for children’s books in this genre, the 1990’s
saw a blurring of the distinction between prose and
poetry with the introduction of novels in verse. Pio-
neers of this form are Virginia Euwer Wolff and Mel
Glenn. Wolff’sMake Lemonade(1993) depicts a teen-
ager who is a babysitter for a seventeen-year-old
mother of two. As their friendship develops, the
babysitter goes to college and has her own ups and
downs, but they learn things from each other, and
the young mother returns to school. In Glenn’sWho
Killed Mr. Chippendale? A Myster y in Poems(1996), the
murder of a respected English teacher results in a se-
ries of free-verse commemorations and comments
from students as well as from colleagues, police offi-
cers, and community figures. Karen Hesse’sOut of
the Dust(1997) uses free-verse poems to paint a real-
istic verse picture of the hardships of the Depression
era set in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl. For the
very young, Eric Metaxas wroteThe Birthday ABC
(1995); the illustrator, Tim Raglin, provides ele-
gantly costumed animals to highlight the alphabet
birthday rhymes. Another trend of the decade was
the increasingly sophisticated artistic technique and
graphic capability.
The belief among Canadian writers, shared by
U.S. poets, that while a single poem may take only
seconds to read, its sound and rhythm as well as the
effect of illustrations may remain in a child’s mind
forever fueled the output of children’s poetry
books. One such collection of poems is David
Booth’s edition of Doctor Knickerbocker and Other
Rhymes: A Canadian Collection(1993), illustrated by
Maryann Kovalski. Rudeness, fantasy, wisdom, and
advice derived from the lore of Canada’s British,
Scottish, Irish, and Welsh heritage fill this volume.
Lois Burdett teaches second-graders Shakespeare by
using her volumes from her series Shakespeare Can
Be Fun!, begun in 1995, in which seven of Shake-
speare’s plays are adapted and simplified.

Impact In a time when change seems to be acceler-
ated with each passing decade, it is noteworthy that
children’s literature of all types has met the chal-
lenge of keeping up with the pace of modern life.

Subject matter not addressed widely in earlier de-

cades became the norm in the 1990’s: multicultural

topics, issues regarding AIDS and other diseases, en-

vironmental concerns, and social problems brought

on by changing views of what the family unit is or

should be, for example. In an age when children

have become dependent on visual stimulation,

sometimes to the detriment of other senses, the ex-

pertise of the illustrator has become a high priority

in children’s literature.

Further Reading

Baker, Deirdre, and Ken Setterington.A Guide to Ca-

nadian Children’s Books. Plattsburgh, N.Y.: McClel-

land & Stewart, 2003. Compendium of recom-

mended Canadian titles for children.

Jones, Raymond E., and Jon C. Stott. Canadian

Children’s Books: A Critical Guide to Authors and Illus-

trators. Don Mills, Ont.: Oxford University Press,

2000. Compendium of a variety of Canadian au-
      thors and illustrators, including ethnic and re-
      gional writers.
      Nikolajeva, Maria, and Carole Scott.How Picturebooks
      Work. New York: Garland, 2001. Examines the
      function of the picture book format in a number
      of international books.
      Norton, Donna E., et al.Through the Eyes of a Child: An
      Introduction to Children’s Literature.6th ed. Upper
      Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2003. Useful
      guide for children’s literature teachers that offers
      information on multiple genres.
      Victoria Price

See also Canada and the United States; Children’s

television; Education in Canada; Education in the

United States; Harry Potter books; Literature in

Canada; Literature in the United States; Poetry.

 Children’s television

Definition Television programming designed

primarily for children or for a mixed child and

adult audience

Efforts to protect young television viewers from violent, sex-

ual, and other such content continued in the 1990’s. Both

the Canadian and U.S. federal governments responded

with legislation requiring the V-chip filtering system in all

new television sets. Despite a lack of agreement about the ef-

fects of television violence on young viewers, new limits were

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