Abstract

Recent research on non-fiction for children has tackled linguistic and non-linguistic features and strategies from different domains, genres and perspectives. As for health issues, relevant studies have been conducted, inter alia, on health websites and a range of online materials and informational books dealing with the spread of COVID-19 and other viruses and bacteria. The present contribution aims to add to this varied field of enquiry by exploring the multimodal rhetoric of knowledge dissemination about cancer, as part of a larger project on non-fiction introducing children to delicate topics closely related to strong emotionssuch as fear, anxiety and distress. A qualitative analysis is carried out of a small corpus of non-fiction picture books and guides in English, which represent and explain cancer and its consequences to children of different age groups. The analysis shows how the verbal mode variously interacts with the visual one to make information not only more accessible and appealing, but also more tolerable to the young target readers. The intention is to enhance understanding and mitigate the impact on them of knowledge about the possible negative effects of the disease on their lives and on those of their loved ones. Indeed, resilience appears to be promoted via a carefully orchestrated distribution of information, advice and reassurance over different modes