diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 4d01c6c..61f2771 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -2,3 +2,6 @@ node_modules
 coverage
 lib
 *.tgz
+**/package-lock.json
+.idea/
+**/*.iml
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/xmldom-decorators-test/src/xmlserializer.test.ts b/packages/xmldom-decorators-test/src/xmlserializer.test.ts
index 875d58d..c3f5b8a 100644
--- a/packages/xmldom-decorators-test/src/xmlserializer.test.ts
+++ b/packages/xmldom-decorators-test/src/xmlserializer.test.ts
@@ -44,6 +44,15 @@ class TextInRoot {
 	value: string = "";
 }
 
+@XMLRoot()
+class CDataTextInRoot {
+	@XMLAttribute()
+	name: string = "";
+
+	@XMLText({cdata: () => true})
+	value: string = "";
+}
+
 @XMLRoot()
 class IntegerInRoot {
 	@XMLElement()
@@ -279,6 +288,17 @@ export class SetOfTests {
 		expect(x).toEqual(o);
 	}
 
+	@Test("CDATA text in root")
+	public cdataTextInRoot() {
+		const o: CDataTextInRoot = { name: "Hello CDATA", value: "CData text" };
+		const result = serialize(o, CDataTextInRoot);
+		expect(result).toBe('<CDataTextInRoot name="Hello CDATA"><![CDATA[CData text]]></CDataTextInRoot>');
+
+		const x: any = deserialize(result, CDataTextInRoot);
+		console.log(x)
+		expect(x).toEqual(o);
+	}
+
 	@Test("String in root")
 	public stringInRoot(){
 		const o: StringInRoot = { name: "Hello World" };
diff --git a/packages/xmldom-decorators/src/decorators.ts b/packages/xmldom-decorators/src/decorators.ts
index bf8b5ad..55932ce 100644
--- a/packages/xmldom-decorators/src/decorators.ts
+++ b/packages/xmldom-decorators/src/decorators.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@ type FactoryWriter = (value: any, ctx: SerializerContext) => string;
 type FactoryTuple = [FactoryReader, FactoryWriter];
 type TypeGetter = () => Function;
 type IsTypeGetter = (o: any) => boolean;
+type CDataGetter = (t: string) => boolean
+
+const ALWAYS_FALSE_CDATA: CDataGetter = () => false
 
 export interface RootOptions {
     /**
@@ -92,6 +95,7 @@ export interface AttributeOptions {
 }
 
 export interface TextOptions {
+    cdata?: CDataGetter
 }
 
 export interface BaseSchema {
@@ -124,6 +128,7 @@ export interface TextSchema extends BaseSchema {
     xmlType: "text";
     propertyKey: string;
     type: Function;
+    cdata: CDataGetter
 }
 
 export interface AttributeSchema extends BaseSchema {
@@ -299,6 +304,7 @@ export function XMLText(opts: TextOptions = {}) {
             propertyKey: propertyKey,
             type: type,
             xmlType: "text",
+            cdata: opts.cdata || ALWAYS_FALSE_CDATA
         };
 
         targetChildren.push(textSchema);
diff --git a/packages/xmldom-decorators/src/deserializer.ts b/packages/xmldom-decorators/src/deserializer.ts
index 249cb1a..c9f2b17 100644
--- a/packages/xmldom-decorators/src/deserializer.ts
+++ b/packages/xmldom-decorators/src/deserializer.ts
@@ -100,17 +100,20 @@ class DeserializerBuilder implements DOMBuilder, DeserializerContext {
             return;
         }
 
-        // console.log("chars", xt, start, length)
+        // Normally 'start' will be 0 and 'length' will be the length of the
+        // character data. However, for CDATA, the xmldom parser passes in the
+        // entire input XML string and the 'start' index within that string.
+        let chars = xt.substring(start, start + length)
 
         if (parent.contextType === "root" || parent.contextType === "element") {
             if (parent.type === Number || parent.type === Boolean || parent.type === String || parent.type === Date) {
-                parent.value = this.convertValue(xt, parent.type);
+                parent.value = this.convertValue(chars, parent.type);
             } else if (typeof parent.type === "function") {
                 // Text inside object, check for a property with XMLText decorator:
                 const children: BaseSchema[] = Reflect.getMetadata("xml:type:children", parent.type) || [];
                 const childSchema = children.find(c => isTextSchema(c)) as TextSchema;
                 if (childSchema) {
-                    parent.value[childSchema.propertyKey] = this.convertValue(xt, childSchema.type);
+                    parent.value[childSchema.propertyKey] = this.convertValue(chars, childSchema.type);
                 }
             }
         }
diff --git a/packages/xmldom-decorators/src/serializer.ts b/packages/xmldom-decorators/src/serializer.ts
index c41dca6..2045dac 100644
--- a/packages/xmldom-decorators/src/serializer.ts
+++ b/packages/xmldom-decorators/src/serializer.ts
@@ -107,7 +107,15 @@ export class XMLDecoratorSerializer implements SerializerContext {
             } else if (isTextSchema(child)) {
                 const value = this.convertValue(data[child.propertyKey], child.type);
                 if (value !== undefined) {
-                    element.appendChild(this.document.createTextNode(value));
+                    let appendCData = false
+                    if (child.cdata) {
+                        appendCData = child.cdata(value)
+                    }
+                    if (appendCData) {
+                        element.appendChild(this.document.createCDATASection(value))
+                    } else {
+                        element.appendChild(this.document.createTextNode(value));
+                    }
                 }
             }
         }