Childhood: creativity and representation.

Writing for children, or about children, is deceptively easy. Children remain an enigma represented by adults. They are not in a position to offer an alternative view of themselves. However, they can turn away from a book or an activity to show their lack of interest,just as a tale or a game might captivate them. Children's reception of material intended for them, and reaction to what they view or hear, is confined to gestures, interjections, and limited vocabulary--and grown-ups rarely seek to decipher children's reception aesthetics. Fortunately, some creative minds and hearts have preserved the child within them. Others have explored the universe of children, from toddlers to young adults, locally and globally, through attentive and intensive experience with children.

This issue of Alif is published on the centennial anniversary of founding the first Casa dei bambini, a progressive educational institution for children, which seeks an alternative mode in bringing them up, aimed at nurturing their independence. The pedagogue of this innovative method, Maria Montessori, is translated into Arabic for the first time in this issue. Her method remains exemplary today, and Montessori schools are found in the four corners of the world.

We sought to cover the universe of children by interviews, photo-essays, testimonies, and articles in psychology, philosophy, law, music, fiction, media, poetry, and drama. Articles in this issue address varied aspects of childhood: from Shakespeare for children to puppet theater in Egypt; from plays for dispossessed camp children to children enlisted in militias; from the affluent and leisurely childhood of a writer such as Virginia Woolf to the wonders of early years of a poet like Muhammad 'Afifi Matar. This issue explores heroism and ethical values in children's literature as well as musical adaptations of children's literature and the art and craft of making books for children.

Alif, a refereed multilingual journal appearing annually in the spring, presents articles in Arabic, English, and, occasionally, French. The different traditions and languages confront and complement each other in its pages. Each issue includes and welcomes original articles. The next issues will center on the following themes:

Alif 28: Artistic Adaptations: Approaches and Positions. Alif 29: The University and Its Discontents. Alif 30: Trauma and Memory.