If I were in the mood to create a long, polemical introduction, the arguments
embedded in this volume could no doubt be presented in a sufficiently contentious
and controversial manner. For I believe that there is a strong and inevitable rela-
tionship among the three categories of expression in my title; that science fiction
naturally seeks to appeal, and succeeds in appealing, to children and the general
public; and that the resulting interactions have been beneficial to all concerned.

First, science fiction has been continually invigorated and inspired by its rela-
tionship with youthful readers--the audience that the genre has always enjoyed--
and science fiction has more recently been strengthened and empowered by its
relationship with the masses--the audience that the genre had to work harder to
attract, or perhaps an audience that had to evolve in order to appreciate the genre.
Of course, there have also been ongoing struggles to pull science fiction away from
its young readers, to make the genre more mature, and to pull science fiction away
from its general readers, to make the genre more a literature for an elite class,
whether it is a scientific elite or a literary elite; and these efforts have proved
beneficial as well, both in the noteworthy works they have engendered and in the
stimulating tension they have generated.

Children's literature and popular culture have also benefitted from their con-
nections to science fiction, for the genre can effectively serve as both a refreshing
new conduit for ancient myths and time-honored truths and a device to challenge
old beliefs and construct new paradigms. While one cannot be entirely pleased by
the profusion of films, television programs, juvenile series books, computer games,
music videos, and merchandise that draw upon the conventions and imagery of
science fiction, I would argue that today's children's literature and popular culture
have generally become livelier, more variegated, and more imaginative due to the
successful invasions of science fiction and fantasy.

A further reason to study these three fields together is that they collectively re-
flect, and influence, the process of coming of age in our contemporary

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