children's literature, citizenship, humanities, interpretation, philosophy with children & Clad 2012). On the face of it, this encounter between the world of philosophy-a discipline often considered difficult and typically reserved for adolescents in high schools or young adults in universities-and the world of childhood could appear to be a clash between two seemingly irreconcilable cultures. However, the past 50 years of experimentation and research in this field have shown not only that rigorous study of philosophy is possible from a very young age, but also that a profound connection exists between childhood and philosophy.

Addressing children's metaphysical questionings also seems to reflect a major parallel trend in contemporary 'youth literature'. Since the 1960s, our societies, notably through the critical contributions of psychology and psychoanalysis, have recognised very young children as subjects in their own right, who need guidance on their existential and intellectual journey. In 1976, the popularity of The Uses of Enchantment by Bruno Bettelheim meant that many educators became convinced that children are capable of unconsciously interpreting the latent message of a story in such a way as to make better sense of their world and existence (Bettelheim 1976). Today, numerous authors, such as Maurice Sendak, Tomi Ungerer and Shel Silverstein, offer their young readers, implicitly, poetically, and never in a saccharine or moralising way, the opportunity for an initiatory encounter with themselves and others.

In addition to the publication of these narratives (picturebooks, novels, comic books) that intricately address complex questions, there has emerged in the youth publishing market in recent years a series of what could be termed 'philosophy lessons for children' (in France, Goûters philo published by Milan, Chouette penser! by Gallimard, and books by the publishing house Les Petits Platons, some of which are widely translated). This marks the appearance of an innovative publishing genre that heralds a new age for youth literature which seeks more than ever to distance itself from its reputation for the moralising, edifying, or purely instructive content that has always, rightly or wrongly, seemed to characterise it. This recognition of the 'philosopher child' and the 'reading child' is institutionalised in numerous elementary school syllabi in the Francophone world, particularly in 'moral and civic education' lessons.