AustLit

Plank's examination of Robin Klein's novel Came Back to Show You I Could Fly, questions the role children's literature plays in socializing its readers 'into culturally appropriate behaviour' and 'socially acceptable values and beliefs' (31). Plank utilises the work of literary theorists who interrogate a texts 'reader-subject positioning and focalisation' as deliberate narrative strategies whereby 'the author is able to subtly manipulate the reader' (33), and subsequently challenge the 'unspoken and unrecognised desire of authors to claim the child' (31-33). Plank argues that Klein's use of an 11 year old boy as the text's focus 'successfully socializes her child readers in the desirability of acceptance of the dominate values' as they are positioned to accept Seymour's qualities as 'necessities for becoming an accepted member of the community' (41).