Time-Play: Slipping the Bounds of a Classic Children’s Genre

Ruth Moore contemplates the term ‘time-slip’ and asks how writers in this genre-bending space might shape young readers’ understanding.

Abstract

The time-slip story is a classic of children’s literature. It has evolved over time, with more recent iterations using the form to re-read and re-write the past. This article offers a closer examination of time-slip as a genre, considering the nuances of ‘slip’, the possibilities of ‘living history’ and the tension between fantasy and realism. It proposes ‘time-play’ as a new way of claiming our practice when we write into this fertile space.