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In:Children’s Literature Across Media: Concepts and perspectives of transmedia narratives
Edited by Nina Christensen, Ute Dettmar and Sarah Mygind
[Children’s Literature, Culture, and Cognition 21] 2026
► pp. 67–88

Chapter 4
Exploring rooms where children can read

The transmediality of Filipino Room to Read picturebooks

This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
The chapter examines how picturebooks in the Philippines are developed, (re)produced, consumed, and expanded, and analyses how these new forms relate to the characteristics of transmedia storytelling from Jenkins (2007, 2011) and Long (2007). The case is a series with 20 picturebooks produced by the international organization Room to Read, through partnerships with Philippine children’s literature publishers and developed by Filipino writers and illustrators, including the author of this chapter. Drawing on how stories are experienced across various platforms, modalities, and languages, as well as children’s experiences as readers and actors, this chapter examines how a transmedia world is created through children’s literature where the child is centre.
Article outline
  • Children and transmediality
  • The Room to Read picturebooks in the Philippines
  • Translation, transmediation, and expansion
  • Conclusion: Transmediating the Filipino child character
  • Author queries
  • Notes
  • References
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