By: Jennifer Polish
Journals
The Lion and the Unicorn: “The Lion and the Unicorn is a theme- and genre-centered journal of international scope committed to a serious, ongoing discussion of literature for children.”
Bookbird: “Published by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), Bookbird communicates new ideas to the whole community of readers interested in children’s books, publishing work on any topic in the field of international children’s literature.”
Children’s Literature: “Children’s Literature is the annual publication of the Modern Language Association Division on Children’s Literature and the Children’s Literature Association. Encouraging serious scholarship and research, Children’s Literature publishes theoretically based articles that address key issues in the field.”
Children’s Literature Association Quarterly: “With a new look and a new editorial staff, the Children’s Literature Association Quarterly continues its tradition of publishing first-rate scholarship in Children’s Literature Studies.”
Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures: “Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures is an interdisciplinary, refereed academic journal whose mandate is to publish research on, and to provide a forum for discussion about, cultural productions for, by, and about young people.”
Books Published in the Last Two Years
Hintz, Carrie, Balaka Basu, and Katherine R. Broad, eds. Contemporary Dystopian Fiction for Young Adults: Brave New Teenagers. Routledge, 2013.
McGillis, Roderick. Voices of the Other: Children’s Literature and the Postcolonial Context. Routledge, 2013.
Zipes, Jack. Sticks and Stones: The Troublesome Success of Children’s Literature from Slovenly Peter to Harry Potter. Routledge, 2013.
Annual Conferences (Recent/Upcoming)
National Latino Children’s Literature Conference:
“Connecting Cultures and Celebrating Cuentos”
March 13-14, 2014
The University of Alabama
Children’s Literature Association Conference:
“Give me liberty, or give me death!”:
The High Stakes and Dark Sides of Children’s Literature
Hosted by Longwood University
June 18-20, 2015
Richmond, Virginia
Omni Richmond Hotel
Western Washington University Children’s Literature Conference:
2015 WWU Children’s Literature Conference
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Performing Arts Center ~ Concert Hall
Stony Brook Southampton Children’s Literature Conference:
Workshops in Writing Picture Books, Middle Grade Fiction and Young Adult Novels
July 16-20, 2014
University Press Series
Oxford University Press School and Young Adult Books: (Not an academic series per se, but if not more important) “Oxford University Press is the only university press that publishes books for children and young adults, an effort that is a direct extension of the Press’s mission to disseminate knowledge to a broad public.”
University Press of Mississippi Children’s Literature Association Series: “Books in this series include critical assessments of books, authors, illustrators, presses, and other entities involved in children’s and young-adult literature.”
Edinburgh Critical Guides to Literature Series: Includes two editions on children’s literature, the latest issued in 2014.
Speaker Series
MacLeod Children’s Literature Lecture Series: “The MacLeod Children’s Literature Lecture Series is a bi-annual program launched by the College in 1999 devoted to exposing scholarly issues associated with children’s literature to a broad audience.”
Lois Lenski Children’s Literature Lecture Series: “The Lois Lenski Children’s Literature Lecture Series was instituted in 1994 to honor children’s author Lois Lenski, who gave so generously of her time and her papers to the students of Illinois State University.”
The 2014 Lowell Lecture Series: Gateway to Reading: “The 2014 Lowell Lecture Series Gateway to Reading explores the fundamental importance of childhood literacy and addresses the joys, discoveries, questions, and challenges facing today’s generation of young readers.”
Scholarly Blogs
The Brown Bookshelf: “The Brown Bookshelf is designed to push awareness of the myriad of African American voices writing for young readers.”
Disability in KidLit: “Disability in Kidlit began as a month-long event in July 2013, featuring daily posts by readers, writers, bloggers, and other people from the YA and MG communities discussing disability and kidlit.”
SDSU Children’s Literature: San Diego State University’s English and Comparative Literature program blog.
Twitter Accounts Maintained by Scholars in the Field
Latin@s in KidLit: “Exploring the world of Latino/a YA, MG, and children’s literature.”
Disability in KidLit: “We review & discuss the portrayal of disabled characters in MG/YA novels.”
Mitali Perkins: Maintains a list of “[t]weets about racial and cultural diversity in the children’s book world.”
Philip Nel: “Professor. One of @TheNiblings4. Two-time Eisner loser. Crockett Johnson & Ruth Krauss, Tales for Little Rebels, Dr. Seuss: American Icon. All views are my own.”
Twitter Accounts Maintained by Institutions Related to the Field
Just Us Books: “Premier Publisher of Black-Interest Books for Children”
Children’s Literature Association: “The Children’s Literature Association (ChLA) is a non-profit association dedicated to the academic study of literature for children.”
Children’s Literature Reviews: “We are an independent review source of Children & YA books & media. CL also assists schools/conferences in hosting author & illustrator events & book sales.”
