In conclusion...

So, my journey through the realm of children's steampunk has lead me to believe that this is a dangerous territory for children. The way that it is marketed to young people focuses almost too heavily on the violent element of steampunk and too little on the more important elements such as imagination, invention, and exploration. However, while it is a dangerous genre to impart to children, I still believe that is has incredible potential, if authors and marketers realize the more important elements that will introduce children to the genre and enable them to think for themselves and most importantly, grow up to question the world we live in and not be satisfied with the alarming rate at which technology is progressing. In that sense, steampunk is an incredibly beneficial genre that is entirely acceptable for the audience of children, providing only that is marketed carefully and properly.

Steampunk Toys

Leaving the discussion of steampunk literature for children, I also found a selection of steampunk toys in the market throughout my searching. One such example was available for purchase at my book store, called 'Crazy Combat Catapults'.

This toy includes a series of perforated pieces that you can assemble into your very own steampunk-esque weapon, adorned with gears, clockwork, machinery, and tarnished metal. The goal is to use the ammunition of a tiny phone box (questionably unsteampunk...) to hit down the various 'steampunked' targets, which include a steam powered dolphin, a bear wearing goggles, and a steam powered igloo. This toy, more than Iwata's Alphabet book, runs headlong into the problem with adapting steampunk for children, in the fact that is relishes in the attempts to steampunk certainly essentially non-steampunk objects by adding gears and steam and goggles. The do-it-yourself feel of the toy however, does fit in with the steampunk culture, because it encourages the production of self-made tools that can be used to accomplish tasks...in this case knocking down the targets in a game. While it contradicts itself by being a mass-made product, it still provides the consumer with choices on how to build and decorate their catapult and the effort needed to build one is so extensive that the end result is a certain pride in the product. So while this toy is problematic in belonging to the steampunk world, it also emphasises certain steampunk elements that allow children to participate in that culture. 

Other problematic steampunk toys have hit the market however, that make the genre seem dangerous for children and encourage the wrong elements of steampunk. The 'punk' aspect of steampunk often includes a violent revolutionary attitude that includes the bearing of weapons. Some producers of the steampunk culture have deemed it appropriate for children as well to be adorned with weapons, which is something I found on another blog called Steampunk For Kids. They have entire page dedicated to weapons for children, which shows that there is a danger in marketing steampunk for children, that has to be considered when trying to incorporate younger generations into such a politically charged genre. The practice of dressing kids up in steampunk costumes also falls under this category...

While there is an incredibly large cuteness factor to this practice, I would argue that it is problematic unless the children are intelligent to what is going on when they are dressed up like this. If they are informed that their outfits are a result of great imagination, invention and discovery, then it becomes more acceptable for children to participate in the cosplay branch of steampunk culture. 

Not Exactly for Kids...But Why Not?

As I've mentioned a few times already, my efforts to find children's steampunk literature were thwarted again and again by the limited amount of material that actually exists in that category. However, I found a book in the adult fantasy section of the book store which oddly fits into my definition of children's steampunk. It is called Clockwork Fairy Tales: A Collection of Steampunk Fables, and it has a selection of shorts story fairy tales that have been revamped to fit into the steampunk world.

Such stories in the collection include "The Clockwork Suit" based on the tale "The Emperor's New Clothes", "The Mechanical Wings" based on "The Wild Swans", and "The Steampiper, the Stovepiper, and the Pied Piper of New Hamelin, Texas" based on the legend of the "Pied Piper". The stories incorporate the familiar fables with modern technology, perpetuating the essentially steampunk efforts to go back to simpler times, romanticizing the technology of the past. For example, the story "La Valse" in this collection which is based on Hans Christian Anderson's "Red Shoes" "forges a fable about love, the decadence of technology, and a gala dance that becomes the obsession of the young engineer - and the doom of those who partake in it..." which places heavy emphasis on the inclusion of technology. 

While the adaptations are completely charming and entertaining to the average steampunk fan, I was curious at first how adapting fairy tales could be deemed steampunk, especially as it seems to approach the problem of 'gluing on a few gears' in order to enter the genre. However, the more I read of them, and the more I thought about it, I came to the conclusion that this book fits in with the genre of specifically children's steampunk because it employs the use of something familiar in order to ease the reader into the genre, just like Iwata's Alphabet book seemed to do. By 'steampunking' various fairy tales, the authors of this collection are able to introduce the genre in gentle, but effective ways, displacing the issues enough that the same effect of novels like "The Difference Engine" and "Boneshaker" produce. In this way, the clockwork fairy tales fits into the genre because it takes modern stories and displaces them enough to make the reader reconsider what they had thought was normal and question the progress of technology. 

To this effect, the back cover introduces the collection, saying "Combining the timeless fairy tales that we all read as children with the out-of-time technological wizardry that is steampunk, this collection of stories blends the old and the new in ways sure to engage every fantasy reader..." which shows that not only is steampunk able to fit into the world of children's literature, but it is also able to use familiar children's tales in order to send messages to an adult audience as well. 

Potential for Children's Steampunk Literature

As I mentioned earlier, even though I work at a book store and have access to a plethora of children’s literature, it discouraged me how little I could find for children in the steampunk genre. Even searching online for different books, googling “steampunk books for kids” or even “for babies” only brought me to 9-12 and teen fiction, with books like A Series of Unfortunate Events, and The Golden Compass showing up again and again for kids, and The Infernal Devices series showing repeatedly for teens. In my research though, it turns out that I’m not the only one that finds this lack of kids steampunk discouraging. In my searching, I found a kickstarter page by Ryan Dunlap and his friend who, acknowledging this mostly untouched audience, have taken it upon themselves to write a steampunk story book for kids called “The Littlest Clockwork”. It is “an illustrated tale of a boy who wants to fly the family airship and the clockwork girl who helps him find his way home.”

On the kickstarter page, Dunlop says, “looking around at stories I could read to my daughter, I didn't find much in the way of steampunk or airship adventure when it came to illustrated books. It would be many years before she could read my current books, so I wanted to craft a story that would satisfy my geek heritage and share it with other steampunk and sci-fi/fantasy enthusiasts. I wanted a book that would spark my child's imagination with airship adventures from an early age.”

This passionate approach to the young audience from the steampunk genre is what I feel really exemplifies the steampunk culture. The enthusiastic desire to share the intricate elements of the genre with an impressionable audience, I think, is an important and admirable quality of the steampunk genre as a whole. It shows that the genre is based on imagination, innovation, and discovery, and those qualities are even more admirable when imparted to children. So with that in mind, feel free to explore the page for The Littlest Clockwork Kickstarter. 

When I started my research project, this kickstarter page was still a dream for Dunlop, but as of five days ago (December 11th, 2013), his efforts paid off and the project is now fully funded and in development, having over accomplished their goal of $6000, by reaching $7769. Two hundred and eight people are backing this project, which shows that there is a real audience for children's steampunk literature and there is great potential for the audience to grow. 

If authors can steer clear of the problems that Iwata ran into with his Alphabet book, by 'steampunking' relatively unimportant/useless things, then there can be real promise for the genre expanding into the children's market. What I believe makes Dunlop's project so importantly steampunk is not only his focus on the exploratory, imaginative, inventive aspects of the genre, but his real efforts to fight against what is deemed acceptable or appropriate for literature. Why can't children participate in the steampunk revolution? If children can be encouraged at early ages to think for themselves, imagine great possibilities, and question the world we live in, the efforts of the early/hardcore steampunkers will have paid off, because those children will grow into individuals who will have the base to continue the rebellion against modern technology. 

The Problem With the Steampunk Alphabet

While the images and short poems accompanying them in Iwata's little board book for kids is completely endearing, it does bring an underlying problem about children's steampunk to the surface. While I would argue that while the justification for the goggles is entirely valid in this book, the justification Iwata offers for other images as belonging in the steampunk world are not entirely convincing. 

For example, the letter D is for Dumpster...which is not a steampunk object at all. The poem that accompanies the image also struggles to make this fit into the steampunk world. Like other objects in the book, the dumpster is given an imagined history and a story for the children, which reads,

"These on-rail dumpters were compactors too

Deployed to the North city-states as they grew

Lined up and emptied on every Tuesday

'Here comes the trash train,' the children would say"

The little blurb that accompanies the picture also says, "To better deal with an ever-growing population and the problems of pestilence and disease that can come as the result of the garbage produced, a public system of waste removal was designed. Building upon the existing trolly tracks that ran through many of the cities, the dumpsters could easily be moved and returned regularly" , which is an admirable attempt at making something so far from steampunk fit into the genre, but it still raises questions. 

One of the problems with the growing culture of steampunk seems to be that the 'punk' element is disappearing or becoming less important with the rise of mass-produced apparel, decoration, and the essential fear that anyone can make something steampunk by just 'gluing a few gears on'. This example of the dumpster seems to fall into that category, manifesting that very fear and turning an ordinary trash receptical into a steampunk necessity by simply turning it into a machine. Even the picture provided shows an ordinary dumpster that has been 'steampunked' by adding pipes, steam, clocks, and wheels. Therefore, while it is still an encouraging effort to include children in the world of steampunk, it exemplifies a bigger problem surrounding the genre. Several other examples of this are present in the book, such as "I is for Instrument", "J is for Jar", and "P is for Purse", which are all ordinary objects that have been deemed necessary to the steampunk world by adding gears, clockwork, and steam-power. Perhaps if the author had created an entirely new object to represent the letter D or any of the other letters, that fit the needs of the revolutionary steampunkers, the book would be less problematic and more fitting. 

However, I would still argue that despite this problem of becoming less 'punk' through the lens offered for children, the Steampunk Alphabet book is still an encouraging step towards the effort to include younger generations in the growing culture of steampunk. The quality of imagination and invention is still a major element of this book, and I think that is what is most important for children's steampunk because it encourages children to think outside the limitations that society places on their thoughts and to plant the seeds for individuals to be intelligent, open-minded beings that are not afraid to question the politics and media of their world, which is what steampunk essentially allows us to accomplish. 

Steampunk Alphabet

One fantastic specimen that I stumbled upon during my journey through children's steampunk was a little board book called “Steampunk Alphabet” by Nathanael Iwata. 

Just like a regular ABC book for ages of about 0-4, this book dedicates a page spread to each letter and in this edition, a delightful little poem to accompany the letter and explain it’s validity as a steampunk object. For example…

A is for Apple….well I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t immediately strike me as an essentially steampunk object…but the little poem and the illustration included with this page make an effort to demonstrate how an apple can in fact be steampunk. It reads,

“A is for APPLE – 

An apple shaped music box made to revere, 

The Capital’s founding of two hundred years. 

Though many were made in all shapes and sizes, 

Most were converted to listening devices”

Therefore, the apple is made into a mechanical device, fitting into the steampunk world. There is also a blurb of text on the page that explains the object in more detail, and on this page, it says 

“These elaborate music boxes, powered by a small amount of water and an occasional winding, are rare, as most of them were lost in the colony wars. The apples, also called “note stems”, have become a much sought after item among historical collectors, and it is believed that no more than six still exist in the world today.” 

In this case, the author, like many of the cosplayers at steampunk conventions, invents a world and a backstory where these inventions exist. In this way, the book participates in the welcoming, exploratory, collaborative element of steampunk and invites the young audience to expand not only their vocabulary, but their understanding of the contemporary world.

Another favourite of mine in Iwata’s alphabet book, was the letter G, which I found rather fitting for an early childhood introduction to the world of steampunk. For what do we and other steampunkers think of primarily when we consider the genre? What is one of the main images that comes to mind? Iwata has picked up on the steampunk aesthetic of the genre and satisfied that craving to associate the genre with articles of clothing. Hence, in the Steampunk Alphabet, what else could G stand for, but Goggles? 

Of course! But while the 'hardcore' steampunkers might scoff or shake their heads at just adding goggles and calling something steampunk, I especially loved the way the little poem for letter G made goggles a completely valid part of the steampunk world. It reads, 

“A good pair of goggles was becoming a must, 

With all of that steam and the smoke and the dust, 

As industrial sectors put themselves in a haze, 

Goggles were starting a new fashion craze.” 

So here, reminiscent of Cherie Priest's Boneshaker, the goggles are explained as having a practical purpose to avoid the dust and steam, and also referring to the fashionable culture that has risen up around steampunk aesthetics.

Therefore, Iwata's "Steampunk Alphabet" made for a solid start on my journey through the children's branch of the genre. It focuses a great deal on the imaginative, inventive, exploratory qualities that I mentioned in my definition of steampunk, and encourages children to imagine a world where things work differently and they can invent things that are not only aesthetically pleasing, but also useful, efficient, and importantly rooted in self-production (ie, the genre prides itself in rebelling against mass production in modern society, so the intricately beautiful, and extremely efficient tools/apparel/objects etc. seen in steampunk are a product of care and focus on the usefulness of things). 

My Journey Through Children's Steampunk

Now that my definition of steampunk and the branch of steampunk for kids has been outlined, I want to provide a little road map of where I am going with this exploration and the bumps I hit along the way.

Firstly, I took advantage of my job at a book store to really explore the children's section for steampunk-related story books, and to my chagrin, it took a great deal longer to find anything resembling my definition. Finally though, I stumbled upon a few steampunk related books that I'll discuss in further detail in a later post. So this blog is going to detail my little journey through the land of children's steampunk, looking closely at some of the literature I found, a kickstarter page for a potential steampunk kids story book, and I will conclude by addressing the problematic facet of kids steampunk with regards to the way the genre is marketed to children in the media.

Here we go!! ...

Let's Start With My Definition of 'Steampunk'...

 Based on what little familiarity I had with the genre before taking Professor Danahay's Victorian Afterlives class, and what I've learned during the course of that class, my understanding of the Steampunk genre has come to require an amalgamation of steam or clock powered technology and a historical (Victorian) setting, which work together in effort to make a comment upon contemporary society. However, in my research of the genre of Steampunk for children, I found that a lot of what we’ve talked about either doesn’t apply at all, or is twisted in ways that appeal to a younger audience. 

The one element that stood out in most of my research regarding children was the exploratory element, which we see in steampunk fashion with the safari hat, long coats, buckles, goggles, vests etc.. Most of the kids steampunk I saw focused heavily on this aspect of the genre, and by extension, there was also a big focus on the inventive aspect, introducing interesting steam and clock powered devices that appeal to children. Therefore, for the purposes of discussing Steampunk as a genre for children, my definition has transformed to become a genre centred on a historical displacement with the inclusion of contemporary or futuristic technology that focus closely on the typical aesthetics of steampunk that we associate with the genre in our culture, with the particular focus on the imaginative aspect. 

Unlike perhaps some of the more hardcore 'steampunkers' who are strict about the requirements of their fan base, the children’s facet of the genre is focused on the welcoming, exploratory motive. This expansion of the genre into the realm of children’s culture allows fanatics of Steampunk to share their passions of the genre in its most basic forms, and promote an appreciation of detailed technology, fantastical inventions, encouragement of exploration, and lastly, an essentially ‘cool’ style for kids to participate in.