Into the Closet

<p><em>Into the Closet</em> examines the representation of cross-dressing in a wide variety of children’s fiction ranging from picture books and junior fiction to teen films and novels for young adults. It provides a comprehensive analysis of the different types of cross-dressing found in children’s narratives raising a number of significant issues relating to the ideological construction of masculinity and femininity in books for younger readers.</p><p>Many literary and cultural critics have studied the cultural significance of adult cross-dressing yet although cross-dressing representations are plentiful in children’s literature and film very little critical attention has been paid to this subject to date. <em>Into the Closet</em> fills this critical gap. Cross-dressing demonstrates how gender is symbolically constructed through various items of clothing and apparel. It also has the ability to deconstruct notions of problematizing the relationship between sex and gender. <em>Into the Closet</em> is an important book for academics teachers and parents because it demonstrates how cross-dressing rather than being taboo is frequently used in children’s literature and film as a strategy to educate (or enculturate) children about gender.</p>