Equipping Space Cadets

Equipping Space Cadets is a requisite resource for those interested in embracing the symbiotic relationship between words and images in imagining new worlds for/with young children. Primary SF, Midkiff insists, can transcend traditional boundaries and captivatethe imaginations of a new generation of speculative explorers.–Emily Ashton “Science Fiction Studies”Equipping Space Cadets is a masterful exploration of the discussion of the field of children’s science fiction so far and a genuine intervention and challenge to untested hypotheses around children’s engagement with the genre.–Farah Mendlesohn, author of Rhetorics of Fantasy and The Inter-Galactic Playground: A Critical Study of Children’s and Teens’ Science Fiction

Emily Midkiff is an instructor at the University of North Dakota, where she teaches children’s literature and literacy instruction. She spent nine years performing fantasy stories alongside children for an improv children’s theater group, and she now studies children’s fantasy and science fiction stories with attention to what children have to say.