In children’s literature childhood is frequently represented as a state of being – as an imaginary ‘state’ even. There are numerous key texts of and about childhood in which we can see forms of child governance in action or in contention. Narnia is just one of these childhood nations, a fairyland closed to adults, a place where children rule. Children’s texts like these play with the idea of child autonomy. This critical anthology explores a range of texts in which children are, in various ways, empowered. We discuss whether childhood itself may be thought of as a nationality, and what that may imply.