Sowing Seeds: Phyto-criticism and the Botanical Dimensions of Indonesian Literature for Children and Young Adults (LCYA)

Ecocritical studies of literature for children and young adults (LCYA) tend to focus on aspects of sustainability and environmental justice in the Western LCYA canon. Ecocritics call attention to LCYA texts as possible ecopedagogical tools for promoting knowledge of the natural world and for nurturing environmental ethics in young readers. A seminal early study, the edited collection Wild Things: Children's Culture and Ecocriticism (2004), examines the interplay between LCYA works and the environmental experiences of young readers. While many ecocritical analyses of LCYA focus on the role of animal protagonists in particular within the narratives, a smaller segment of scholarly research examines the prominent botanical dimensions of texts and the potential of the genre to promote much-needed awareness of the plant world. Of note is a study by Goins (2004) on the botanical content of children's science picture books published between 1990 and 2000. Goins observed a substantial increase during this ten-year period in the number of botanically-themed LCYA works addressing plant biodiversity, botanical life cycles, plant ecology, ethnobotany, and traditional cultural knowledge of flora. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to ecocritical studies of the genre in South-east Asia by examining the representation of plants in contemporary children's literature by Indonesian creators. The authors and illustrators discussed in this study include Toety Maklis, Murti Bunanta, Joan Suyenaga, and Salim Martowiredjo. The paper concludes that South-east Asian LCYA presents a powerful means for contributing to awareness of botany and human-plant relations in the region.