Metafiction as a Dialogic Space: A Bakhtinian Exploration of Metafictional Children's Novels.

This article examines how metafictional elements in two children's novels—*The Bad Beginning* (1999) by Daniel Handler (writing as Lemony Snicket) and *The Name of This Book Is Secret* (2007) by Raphael Simon (writing as Pseudonymous Bosch)—create dialogic spaces that foster critical thinking and dialogic engagement in young readers. Using Mikhail Bakhtin's concept of dialogism, the study analyzes narrative techniques such as metalepsis (crossing of narrative levels), heteroglossia (multiple voices), and the conflation of author, narrator, and reader roles, showing how these devices invite readers to actively participate in meaning-making and question narrative authority. The article highlights that, unlike metafictive picture books, these text-only novels require readers to detect narrative disruptions through linguistic cues alone, potentially enhancing abstract thinking and critical literacy skills. It argues that such metafictional novels mirror the complexities of contemporary digital information environments and thus hold significant educational value for developing children's adaptability and dialogic thinking.