Book excerpt: This collection of essays explores a wealth of topics in children’s and young adult (YA) literature and culture. The contributions include an examination of the Watchbird cartoons by Munro Leaf and their attempts to teach morals and manners; an ethnographic study about the role of public youth librarians; and an exploration of the role popular video games can play in the secondary classroom. Other topics investigated here encompass the presentation of environmentalism in Hayao Miyazaki’s films, psychological analyses, and the role of race, gender, and culture in children’s and YA literature.