Resources in children's literature
 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Last updated on 2 June 2004.  Copyright Terri J. Goldich, 2004.  May be reproduced freely for educational use with appropriate citation.

 

This guide to various resources for the study of children’s literature is presented in two parts.  The first section offers a very small selection of the resources available in print at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, and the second part offers information on selected resources available in electronic formats.  The print resources are arranged in alphabetical order with a brief index following the section.  The electronic resources are arranged by category.  This document is printer-friendly and was created in Microsoft ® Word 2000 (9.0 3821 SR-1). 

 

Part I

 

Since the 1970’s, when pioneers such as Dr. Francelia Butler worked to bring children’s literature into the mainstream of academic study, researchers have been applying the same techniques to this genre as to the more traditional areas of literature.  Therefore, the field is broad, busy, and crowded.  The smattering of sources represented here does not include important topics such as exhibitions, works in series, journals and periodicals, and audiovisual materials.  Multiculturalism is represented by only a couple of works.   However, the works listed here are often used and some are old friends, such as Anita Silvey’s well-known work Children’s books and their creators, which has never even left my desk long enough to be catalogued.  This list is presented in alphabetical order to remove any confusion about whether a work is, for example, a handbook or a directory.

 

100 Best books for children  (Boston : Houghton Mifflin Co., 2004).  By Anita Silvey, one of the best-known scholars in the field of children’s literature.  Ms. Silvey was a reviewer for and editor of the Horn book magazine for many years and also has been a publisher of children’s books for Houghton Mifflin.  This guide to the best for the children in our lives is arranged by the child’s age, with a bibliography, reading journal, and index, and covers a century of the genre.  The reading journal at the back of the book just begs to be annotated with dates, ages, and our children’s thoughts about the books.   

 

A to Zoo: subject access to children’s picture books  (Westport, CT : Bowker-Greenwood, 2001).  Carolyn Lima and John A. Lima, eds., 6th ed.  This is the guide to use to delve into picture books from the subject perspective, but it can be a bit daunting since a search for a particular book can be a three-step process.  The first section provides LC subject headings and cross-references.  Once the appropriate form of the heading is found, use the next section to look up the authors and titles of books with that heading assigned.  Then, with the author or title identified, go into the third section for a full bibliographic description of the work.  Titles and illustrators are indexed in appendices.  One problem is that in some libraries full subject analysis is not done for children’s literature, or fiction in general, so the author/title information becomes noteworthy since that information must then be taken against the local catalogue.  Still, this is an essential source. 

 

American literary scholarship (Durham, NC : Duke University Press, 2000).  This is annual in 1 volume and is also available as an Internet resource.  This handy yearbook describes the work in essay form of the previous year's scholarship on prominent American authors and subjects, with criticism.  Part 1 is arranged by author studied with part 2 by genre and time period.  An important source for the academic looking for recent works on a particular topic or person to supplement citation indices, this publication includes name and subject indexes.

 

Art of children’s picture books: a selective reference guide  (New York : Garland Publications, 1988).  By Sylvia S. Marantz and Kenneth A. Marantz.  In 1 volume, this is also vol. 825 of the Garland reference library of the humanities.  This bibliography of reference works in the genre could use some updating but still remains a standard.

 

Best books for children: preschool through grade 6  (New Providence, NJ : R.R. Bowker LLC, 1998).  John T. Gillespie, ed., 6th ed.  In 1 volume, this work indexes authors, titles, and subjects by grade level, providing a rich resource for teachers, librarians and media specialists. 

 

Biography index  (New York : H.W. Wilson, 2002).  In 24 volumes and kept up to date by supplements, this source provides biographical information provided by other Wilson publications.  Very easy to use and comprehensive, Biography index includes access to autobiographical entries, obituaries, and bibliographies. 

 

Books by African-American authors and illustrators for children and young adults  (Chicago : American Library Association, 1991).  By Helen Williams.  In 1 volume, this extensively indexed work presents information for books produced between 1990 and 1989 by black writers and illustrators.  The chapters are arranged by the child’s age from the very young to young adult readers, with the fourth chapter covering illustration, including persons, styles, and techniques.

 

Children’s books and their creators  (Boston : Houghton Mifflin Co., 1995).  By Anita Silvey.  Updated in 2002 with the title Essential guide to children’s books and their creators, also from Houghton Mifflin.  These two volumes taken together comprise the “Bible” for the scholar and curator of the genre, who need information on persons, trends, timelines, and techniques for just about anything.  Well indexed, illustrated, and annotated, the essays provide insight into the best and brightest lights of the field. 

 

Children’s books in print (New Providence, NJ : R.R. Bowker, LLC, 2002-).  In 2 volumes for 2002 (v.1: Authors/Illustrators, v.2: Titles/Publishers/Wholesalers/Distributors), with volume 3 for 2003 (Subject Guide/Publishers/Distributors).  This is the companion publication to the ever-present and irreplaceable Books in print, and offers the librarian full bibliographic information on thousands of books currently available and indexed in many ways. 

 

Children’s books, their illustrations, and decorative art  (Watkins Glen, NY : Century House, 1967).  Series:  American Life Collector, vol. 7.  While an older work, this publication is comprised of reprints of articles from various sources that remain an expression of the history of illustration in children’s books. 

 

Children’s catalog  (New York : H.W. Wilson, Co., 2001).  Anne Price and Juliette Yaakov, eds.  18th edition.  This edition has expanded on its entries for minorities, ecology, natural sciences and natural history, with new sections on recommended web resources and audiobooks.  The four sections of the 18th edition are comprised of:

 

Children’s literature: a guide to reference sources  (Washington, D.C. : Library of Congress; for sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Govt. Printing Office, 1966, 1977 [second supplement]) .  By Virginia Haviland, with Elizabeth Wenning, Barbara Quinnam, and Margaret Coughlan.  Produced by the Children’s Book Section of LC by some of the best-known names in the genre, these important government documents are due for some updating but represent an “industry standard.” 

 

Continuum encyclopedia of children’s literature  ((New York : Continuum, 2001).  Bernice E. Cullinan, and Diane G. Person, eds.  Containing over 1000 biographical entries and many articles, this alphabetical work includes international authors and illustrators but covers mainly those of North American and European interest.  As with A to Zoo, subject access is given but here to authors, not titles.  This is an essential source by two of the major scholars in the field. 

 

Current biography yearbook  (New York : H. W. Wilson, 2001)  61st. annual.  Clifford Thompson, ed. .  Arranged alphabetically by surname with indexes for profession and cumulative index 1991-2000, this resource contains biographies of prominent living leaders in many areas of achievement including children’s literature.  This is an annual publication kept up to date by supplements and has been in publication since 1940.  The 2001 edition includes 15,000 prominent folks. 

 

Encyclopedia Americana  (Danbury, CT : Grolier, 2001).  In 30 volumes and updated annually, this very approachable work containing comprehensive coverage of all things American gives information not only alphabetically by name, topic, place, organization, or institution, but also by century, with timelines of important events and players in each section.  This work is in a format more accessible to the younger reader. 

 

Encyclopedia Britannica.  (Chicago : Encyclopedia Britannica, 1998).  15th edition in 29 volumes, this is the definitive, internationally recognized encyclopedic resource for any library past elementary school, published in sections called Micropaedia and Macropaedia, with a Guide to the Encyclopedia in 1 v. and a 2-volume index.  The Micropaedia contains thousands of shorter articles on specific persons, places, and topics in all fields of human endeavor.  The Macropaedia explores learning and history in more depth.  Also available free online at www.britannica.com, this work is complete with thousands of illustrations, graphics, charts, tables, and maps.   

 

Encyclopedia of world biography  (Detroit : Gale Research Group, 1998).  2nd edition in 17 volumes and arranged alphabetically by surname, this includes biographies of approximately 7000 persons making contributions of international note in the areas of culture and society.  This work provides important access to those in the field of literature internationally.  

 

Humanities index (New York : H. W. Wilson, 1974/75-)  Quarterly, with annual cumulations, this indispensable resource is also available as an online subscription.  Similar to Reader’s guide to periodical literature, this essential source provides full-text articles from English-language periodicals from 1995 forward, with citation coverage before 1995.  Subjects covered include literature, archaeology, communications, dance, film, history, journalism, literary and social criticism, philosophy, and religion.

 

International companion encyclopedia of children’s literature (London : Routledge, 1996).  Peter Hunt and Sheila G. Bannister Ray, eds.  This large volume (almost 1000 pages) fills a gap between the study of the North American genre and the rest of the world.  Several other publications address the international children’s literature “scene” but the subject requires a look at the International companion for a complete picture.     

 

Literary market place  (New York : Bowker, 2003).  Annual, in 2 volumes and accompanied by International literary market place, this is also available online and in CD-ROM.  This is the “bible” of the publishing trade.  The set includes information on publishers, agents, associations, trade events and activities.  This is very easy to use, with pages in different sections in different colors, but inexpensively produced since it is generally not retained past the current edition.

 

Our friends, our family, our world: an annotated guide to significant multicultural books for children and teenagers   (New Providence, NJ : R.R. Bowker, 1992).  This important resource offers information on over 1000 works published in the last quarter century for Native Americans, African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, and Asian-Americans, with entries for European and African works as well.  Extensively indexed, with well-written essays on each work by well-known specialists, this is an essential tool for the librarian, collection development officer, and curator. 

 

Oxford companion to children’s literature  (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999).  Humphrey Carpenter and Mari Prichard, eds.  2nd ed.  In 1 volume and updating the 1984 edition, this well-known work covers the genre on an international scale with biographies, subject access, and most importantly, summaries for several hundred examples of the world’s best literature for children. 

 

Something about the author  (Detroit : Gale Research, 1971-).  Donna Olendorf and Diane Telgen, eds.  19th ed.  A multi-volume set published according to its preface for the “younger reader,” this mainstay of information about authors and illustrators provides information when other sources may fail, with information on family, education, upbringing, and occasionally, portraits.  Formerly edited by Anne Commire, this resource is useful for the curator in children’s literature in the creation of biographical backgrounds for those represented in a collection.

 

Touch magic: fantasy, faerie and folklore in the literature of childhood  (New York  Philomel Books, 1981).  By Jane Yolen.  This lovely work by one of children’s literature’s best writers explores the presence of the elements of the book’s subtitle (“fantasy, faerie, folklore”) in a 10-chapter publication with an accompanying bibliography. 

 

Webster's biographical dictionary  (Springfield, MA : F. &  C. Merriam Company, 1980).  In 1 volume, this resource provides short biographical information on approximately 40,000 prominent persons.  While international in scope, there is emphasis on American and British persons of note.  A useful addition not available in other biographical dictionaries is the guide to pronunciation of names! 

 

Who's who in America  (New Providence, NJ : Marquis, 2003).  55th edition, in 3 volumes, also alphabetically arranged by surname, this publication includes only American leaders in public life, culture, and the society in general.  A standard source for biographical information but inclusion is voluntary.  Persons may list themselves, as with other "who's who" publications such as Who's who of American women. 

 

 

 

 

100 Best books for children..................................... 2

A to Zoo: subject access to children’s picture books....... 2

African-Americans................................................... 9

American literary scholarship................................ 3

Art of children’s picture books: a selective reference guide            3

Asian-Americans...................................................... 9

audiobooks................................................................. 5

Best books for children: preschool through grade 6        3

bibliography............................................................. 2

biographies................................................................ 9

Biography................................................................. 4

Biography index...................................................... 4

Books by African-American authors and illustrators for children and young adults               4

Books in print........................................................... 5

Butler

Francelia................................................................ 1

Carpenter

Humphrey............................................................. 9

Children’s books and their creators....................... 4

Children’s books in print........................................ 5

Children’s books, their  illustrations, and decorative art               5

Children’s catalog.................................................... 5

Children’s literature: a guide to reference sources 6

Commire

Anne.................................................................... 10

Continuum encyclopedia of children’s literature 6

Coughlan

Margaret............................................................... 6

Cullinan

Bernice................................................................... 6

Current biography yearbook.................................. 6

curriculum development......................................... 1

Distributors............................................................... 5

ecology....................................................................... 5

education................................................................. 10

Encyclopedia............................................................. 7

Encyclopedia Americana......................................... 7

Encyclopedia Britannica......................................... 7

Encyclopedia of world biography.......................... 7

Essential guide to children’s books and their creators    4

faerie........................................................................ 10

fantasy..................................................................... 10

folklore..................................................................... 10

Garland reference library of the humanities......... 3

Gillespie

John T.................................................................... 3

Haviland

Virginia................................................................. 6

Hispanic-Americans................................................ 9

Humanities index..................................................... 8

Hunt

Peter....................................................................... 8

International companion encyclopedia of children’s literature     8

Lima

Carolyn................................................................. 2

John A.................................................................... 2

Literary market place............................................... 8

Marantz

Kenneth A............................................................. 3

Sylvia S................................................................. 3

minorities.................................................................. 5

Multiculturalism...................................................... 1

Native Americans..................................................... 9

natural history.......................................................... 5

natural sciences......................................................... 5

Olendorf

Donna.................................................................. 10

Our friends, our family, our world: an annotated guide to significant multicultural books for children and teenagers     9

Oxford companion to children’s literature........... 9

Person

Diane G................................................................. 6

preschool.................................................................... 3

Price

Anne....................................................................... 5

Prichard

Mari....................................................................... 9

Publishers.................................................................. 5

Quinnam

Barbara.................................................................. 6

Ray

Sheila G. Bannister.............................................. 8

Silvey

Anita...................................................................... 1

Something about the author................................. 10

summaries................................................................. 9

Telgen

Diane................................................................... 10

Thompson

Clifford.................................................................. 6

Touch magic: fantasy, faerie and folklore in the literature of childhood     10

Webster's biographical dictionary...................... 10

Wenning

Elizabeth............................................................... 6

Wholesalers............................................................... 5

Who's who in America.......................................... 11

Williams

Helen...................................................................... 4

Yaakov

Juliette.................................................................... 5

yearbook..................................................................... 3

Yolen

Jane...................................................................... 10

young adult............................................................... 4

 

 

 

 

Part II

 

This section of the guide contains a very, very small percentage of the resources in children’s literature available to anyone with a connection to the World Wide Web and in some cases, a few dollars hanging around their pockets.  Each of the larger web sites given here leads to more resources that are easily searched and mostly free.  For instance, the Children’s Literature Web Guide, hosted by the University of Calgary and maintained by David Brown, is well-known for the ability of its extensive links to “delve deeper” into the materials for children, teachers, librarians, and students of the children’s literature genre.  When available, a short “mission”-type statement has been quoted from the various resources.  Costs are not always available, as in the charges for a subscription to OCLC’s WorldCat, since that cost depends on other services requested by the subscriber, such as cataloguing, outsourcing, and document delivery.  Similarly, the Grove art online database is offered as part of an aggregator collection of databases, as well as separately, so costs will depend upon the choices of the individual institution.  Unless otherwise noted, access to information is free of charge.

 

1.  Associations  9

2.  Authors/Illustrators Web Pages  11

3.  Bibliographic Tools  12

4.  Book Fairs and Festivals  13

5.  Digital and University Collections  14

6.  Online publications  18

 

 

1.  Associations

a.  Association for Library Service to Children

http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/alsc.htm

 

Mission:  “The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) is a network of over 3,700 children's and youth librarians, children's literature experts, and publishers committed to improving and ensuring the future of the nation through exemplary library service to children, their families, and others who work with children.”

As a section of the American Library Association, this web site is easily navigable, clearly laid out, and has good forward and back capabilities.  The sidebars give access to other parts of the parent organization as well as sub-texts with the ALSC.  The ALSC is the organization that grants the major awards in children’s literature, the Caldecott Award (for illustration) and the Newbery Award (for writing) as well as other awards in the field.    

 

b.  Children’s Book Guild

http://www.childrensbookguild.org/

 

Mission:  “On April 27, 1945, the Children's Book Guild became a professional organization with a duly elected slate of officers, a roster, a program, a meeting place, a schedule of monthly meetings and a mission.  Its mission is to establish a permanent association, which includes writers, artists, librarians, teachers, editors, publishers, and distributors dedicated to:

This is a professional web page but has a confusing left side bar giving access to various sub-pages of the main site.  One problem is that the font is extremely small and doesn’t copy well into another document if the user wants to make the text readable. 

 

c.  Children’s Literature Association

http://ebbs.english.vt.edu/chla/

 

Mission:  “To encourage serious scholarship and research in children's literature. 

To enhance the professional stature of the graduate and undergraduate teaching of children's literature.  To encourage high standards of criticism in children's literature through: 

This is a lovely, elegant site, well laid out and easily navigated.  Some of the children’s literature sites can tend toward cutesy illustrations and overly sentimental images, but this organization is, along with the ALSC, an award-granting association and is recognized as the main publisher of scholarly information in the genre. 

 

d.  Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators

http://www.scbwi.org

 

Mission:  “The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, formed in 1971 by a group of Los Angeles based writers for children, is the only international organization to offer a variety of services to people who write, illustrate, or share a vital interest in children’s literature.  The SCBWI acts as a network for the exchange of knowledge between writers, illustrators, editors, publishers, agents, librarians, educators, booksellers and others involved with literature for young people.  There are currently more than 19,000 members worldwide, in over 70 regions, making it the largest children's writing organization in the world.”

This web page, while busy with sub-text and images, reflects the “busy-ness” of the organization as a whole in the genre.  The members of this organization who are themselves published authors, illustrators and marketers, are recognized as the best in the field and travel all over the country for conferences, workshops, and critiques, giving advice to those members who may well be the world’s next J. K. Rowling or Tomie de Paola.  Access to the web page is free but the publications and reduced rates for conferences are available to members only.  The membership rate varies by profession but is approximately $60.00 per year. 

 

2.  Authors/Illustrators Web Pages

(N.B.: Some of the web pages cited in this section are actually those put up by publishers or collections holding materials by the author or illustrator, when the person does not have a web site of their own.) 

 

L. Frank Baum

 http://www.eskimo.com/~tiktok/index2.html

 

Roald Dahl

 http://www.roalddahl.com/index3.htm

 

Tomie de Paola

http://www.tomiedepaola.com/

 

Crockett Johnson

http://www.ksu.edu/english/nelp/purple/

 

James Marshall

http://www.hbook.com/exhibit/marshallbio.html

 

Anita Riggio

http://www.anitariggio.com/

 

J.K. Rowling

http://www.bloomsburymagazine.com/harrypotter/

 

Richard Scarry

http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/rscarry.htm

 

Dr. Seuss

http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/speccoll/collects/seuss.html

 

Tasha Tudor

http://www.tashatudorandfamily.com

 

3.  Bibliographic Tools

 

a.  Children’s Literature Comprehensive Database

(subscription database: $249.95/year)

http://www.childrenslit.com/home.htm

 

Mission:  “Children's Literature reviewers read and critically review more than 3,000 books annually.  Our mission is to help teachers, librarians, childcare providers and parents make appropriate literary choices for children.  Founded in 1993 by Marilyn Courtot, a trained librarian, the review staff has grown to more than 125.  Children's Literature reviewers include book authors, librarians, writers and editors, teachers, children's literature specialists and physicians.  Reviewer biographies are available on our website…We provide more than 1000 links to author illustrator sites, publishers, kids, parent and teacher resources, children's literature collections, upcoming events relating to children's literature and much more.”

The side bar for the database claims to provide thousands of MARC records for materials in the genre, which leads one to wonder what the overlap with OCLC’s products might be and whether the cost is worthwhile.  There is a “trial database” offered for $29.95 for a 30-day trial, which also leads one to wonder why the trial period is not free, which is usual in the library world for a limited time offer. 

 

b.  Grove Art Online

http://www.groveart.com/index.html

 

Mission:  “Grove Art Online provides Web access to the entire text of The Dictionary of Art (1996, 34 vols.)  with annual additions of new material and updates to the text, plus extensive image links and all the sophisticated search advantages possible with an online reference source.  The benefits of Grove Art Online are considerable:

All 45,050 articles can be found in seconds with a sophisticated keyword search.  Libraries can register for a free trial…Over 40,000 links to important art images in galleries and museums around the world.  Updates, new articles and new image links will be added as an on-going feature of this dynamic product.”

For access to information about illustrators in the genre, this database in invaluable.  Searching is easy and the database provides unequalled access to the  most important persons, trends, and images in the world.  This is a must-have for any library wishing to offer access to illustration as well as fine arts, since in other circles the “illustrator” may or may not be considered an “artist.”

 

 c.  WorldCat and First Search

http://www.oclc.org

 

WorldCat is the union catalogue of the OCLC system, a membership organization with access to over 41 million bibliographic records for books, serials, maps, scores, manuscripts, media in all formats; in short, descriptions for just about anything a library, museum, or archives wishes to catalogue.  Even though the database is huge it is easy to search, as is OCLC’s portal to nearly 100 online databases and millions of full-text articles available via FirstSearch.  Membership in OCLC is an indispensable part of a library’s technical services as well as giving reference access to the holdings of member institutions.  DD/ILL and shared outsourced cataloguing are also benefits of membership. 

 

 

4.  Book Fairs and Festivals

a.  Center for the Book, Library of Congress

http://lcweb.loc.gov/loc/cfbook/bookfair.html

 

An alphabetical index of book fairs and other literary events, this page lists fairs for children’s literature as well as rare and antiquarian book collectors, storytelling, and specialized book events. 

 

b.  Children’s Literature Conference, University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg

http://www.pitt.edu/~upglib/webclc.html

 

This web site gives no information about the intent or goals of the Conference.  There is a history page, which gives only past participants, but no mission statement for the Conference as a whole.  Even though this is a well-known conference in the field, their web site doesn’t show it. 

 

c.  Children’s Literature Festival, Keene State College

http://www.keene.edu/clf/festival.cfm

 

The Keene State College Children's Literature Festival began in 1978, Dr. David White, professor of education and Festival Director.  This is one of the oldest and best-known conferences in the genre.

 

d.  Connecticut Children’s Book Fair 

http://bookfair.uconn.edu/

 

Mission:  “The Connecticut Children's Book Fair brings together prominent children's authors and illustrators and the general public in an annual event designed to foster the enjoyment of children's literature.  The Connecticut Book Fair is available to the public without an entrance fee.  Children, parents, grandparents, book collectors, and interested members of the public are welcome.  The Connecticut Children's Book Fair is a project of the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center and the UConn Co-op.”

This is a web site hosted by the University of Connecticut, so any comment will obviously be prejudiced.  This is consistently a wonderful site, beautifully designed and maintained by professional, attentive staff in a well-run organization devoted to the genre. 

 

5.  Digital and University Collections

a.  Canadian Children’s Illustrated Books in English, University of British Columbia

http://www.slais.ubc.ca/saltman/ccib/home.html

 

Mission:  “Our research project is the first comprehensive examination of the historical context and current state of Canadian children’s illustrated books in English from an interdisciplinary perspective.  We explore the historical development of illustrated books for children in Canada, and provide a critical understanding of Canadian identity as presented in picture books.  We assess the literary and visual contributions of Canadian authors and illustrators, and document the current state of children’s illustrated book publishing in Canada.  The three-year project, from 2000 through 2003, is supported by a research grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and is located at the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies at The University of British Columbia.”

The information provided by our neighbors is invaluable in terms of providing access to materials not widely covered in other databases such as OCLC.  A well-designed and pleasant web site, the text supplied uncovers at great length the history of the picture book in Canada and its “Canadian identity.”  It is hoped that the project may find future funding to continue this important work.

 

b.  Children’s Literature Research Collections, University of Minnesota

http://special.lib.umn.edu/clrc/

 

Mission:  “The Kerlan Collection at the University of Minnesota is one of the world's great children's literature research collections.  The Collection includes books, original manuscripts and illustrations, and many related materials.  The materials in the Collection are studied by teachers, librarians, students, authors, illustrators, translators, and critics who come from Minnesota and other states as well as from many foreign countries.

The Kerlan Collection presently contains more than 90,000 children's books, primarily by twentieth-century American writers, as well as manuscript and illustration materials for more than 10,000 titles.  Also included are over 300 periodical titles and more than 1,200 reference titles as well as many other items including letters, posters, toys, photographs, audiovisuals, publishers' catalogs, and even a figurine collection.”

The Kerlan Collection and related materials at the University of Southern Minnesota are the “big Kahuna” in the field of archival collections of children’s literature.  At the top of the heap of the big 3 (Kerlan, de Grummond, and Northeast Children's Literature Collection) this is the oldest, one of the most active, and perhaps the best known.  The wonderful web site reflects its long history, record of activity, and depth of collecting ability. 

 

c.  Children’s Literature Web Guide, University of Calgary

http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/index.html

 

This extensive site has no real mission statement, but the front page is a rather daunting list of links to features, discussion boards, quick reference, and more links.  This page leads to authors and illustrators on the web, reference sources, resources for teachers and librarians, and a plethora of lists of all sorts.  This is one of the best known and most often cited web sites in the genre.

 

d.  de Grummond Collection of Children’s Literature, University of Southern Mississippi

http://avatar.lib.usm.edu/~degrum/

 

Mission:  “The de Grummond Children's Literature Collection is one of North America's leading research centers in the field of children's literature.  Although the Collection has many strengths, the main focus is on American and British children's literature, historical and contemporary.  Founded in 1966 by Dr. Lena Y. de Grummond, the Collection holds the original manuscripts and illustrations of more than 1200 authors and illustrators, as well as 70,000+ published books dating from 1530 to the present.  Part of Special Collections at The University of Southern Mississippi, the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection is housed in the McCain Library and Archives.”

Along with the Kerlan and the Northeast Children's Literature Collection, this is one of the leading collections in the field of children’s literature.  Its strengths are reflected in the excellence of its leadership as well as the beauty of the web access.

 

e.  Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/ebooks/subjects/subjects-young.html

 

Mission:  “Since 1992, the Electronic Text Center at the University of Virginia Library has pursued twin missions with equal seriousness of purpose:

 The Center combines an on-line archive of tens of thousands of SGML and XML-encoded electronic texts and images with a library service that offers hardware and software suitable for the creation and analysis of text.  Through ongoing training sessions and support of teaching and research projects, the Center is building a diverse user community locally, serving thousands of users globally, and providing a model for similar humanities computing enterprises at other institutions.”

Even if it is not in the mainstream to read fiction online for leisure, this organization offers thousands of texts for public consumption, and given their “hits” is very successful at it.  Searching for a known item is easy but subject access is limited, so if a potential consumer wishes to read, for instance, modern poetry published for children, the type of encoding leaves a little bit to be desired. 

 

f.  Fairrosa Cyber Library of Children’s Literature

http://www.fairrosa.info/

 

Mission:  “Fairrosa Cyber Library is Roxanne Hsu Feldman’s personal collection of materials found on the Web related to Children's Literature.  The purpose of these pages is not to entertain children or child readers.  It will delight Fairrosa greatly if any child finds the collection of stories to their liking and if educators use the content in conjunction with their literary curricula.”

 Even though this is personal product not associated with any educational institution, Fairrosa is consistently cited and its curriculum materials used often in other documents in the genre.  

 

g.  International Children’s Digital Library

http://www.icdlbooks.org/

 

Mission:  “The International Children's Digital Library (ICDL) is a five-year project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to create a digital library of international children's books.  This five-year research project, being conducted by the University of Maryland/College Park (UMCP) and the Internet Archive, has five primary goals.

As with the Canadian Children’s Illustrated Books project, it is hoped that IMLS and the NSF will continue to fund this important and leading-edge project.  The ICDL is breaking ground for the rest of the archival collections world in terms of refining copyright issues, defining metadata standards, and involving children in the interactivity offered by  interfaces made possible by the Internet,. 

 

h.  Mazza Museum, University of Findlay

http://www.mazzamuseum.org/homepagetext.htm

 

Mission:  “The mission of the Mazza Museum at The University of Findlay is to promote literacy by providing educational programs for children and adults, both regionally and nationally, utilizing its preeminent collection of original art from children’s books.  The Museum is dedicated to nurturing a lifelong appreciation of literature and the arts and encouraging a greater understanding of our shared humanity.”

The ability of the Mazza to connect with children through constructive uses of their permanent collections is reflected in the creativity of their web access.  One of the most interesting collections in the genre, the Mazza can boast of one of the best collections of illustration in the country.  Collecting examples of some of the best illustrators in the field allows the Mazza to mount interesting exhibits, documented online, and create wonderful hands-on, on-site programs for their clientele. 

 

i.  Northeast Children's Literature Collection, University of Connecticut

http://nclc.uconn.edu

 

Mission:  “The Northeast Children's Literature Collection acquires, preserves, and makes accessible works of historical and artistic significance in the field of children's literature.  The collection includes books, manuscripts, illustrations, correspondence, artifacts, and other related materials.  Currently consisting of over 14,000 catalogued children's books and serials, and the manuscript archives of 40 authors and illustrators, the collection is supported by reference works in Archives & Special Collections and the Homer Babbidge Library.”

This web site is currently under construction but it hoped that the product will be as well designed and professional as the Connecticut Children’s Book Fair web site offered by the same department. 

 

j.  Kay E. Vandergrift’s Special Interest Page, Rutgers University

http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~kvander/ChildrenLit/index.html

 

Mission:  “This website began with my own love of children's literature and my belief in the power of both that literature and the children for whom it is created.  It reflects many of my concerns as a professor of children's literature and grew in response to two divergent but complementary calls heard fairly consistently from colleagues in the field.  The first was for more and better theoretical and critical knowledge of children's literature and the second for practical assistance in the teaching of that literature.”

At first it isn’t clear that the home page for Kay Vandergrift’s interests have anything to do with children’s literature, since her interests are wider in the humanities than that focus.  Nevertheless, click on the link to “children’s literature” on the left side bar and this opens a wider door into the genre.  This is another of the most widely cited web pages in the field, with good reason.  It is well designed, easily navigable, and offers a huge amount of information, all for free. 

 

6.  Online publications

a.  Carol Hurst’s Children’s Literature newsletter

http://www.carolhurst.com/newsletters/newsletters.html

 

Mission:  “A free monthly email newsletter covering Children's Literature: new books, topics in depth, old favorites revisited, the latest on this web site and other resources on the Internet.”

This is the only online publication that the curator for the Northeast Children's Literature Collection receives.  Carol Otis Hurst is a lively speaker, has many years of experience in the field, and is a highly sought-after scholar in the field.  Her newsletter reflects her standing in the field. 

 

b.  Children's Literature: A Guide to the Criticism (Online Book)

http://www.unm.edu/~lhendr/

 

Mission:  “The purpose of this bibliography is to draw together, for scholars and generalists, significant articles, books, and dissertations relating to children's literature criticism that have originated in disparate disciplines and been published in widely scattered popular and scholarly sources.  The emphasis is on twentieth-century children's literature, although classics from earlier centuries have been included.”

While the table of contents looks enticing and the information in some of the chapters is worth the search, unfortunately most of the online links have broken on the page, lowering the overall usefulness of the site. 

 

c.  eMagine (Children’s Literature Network)

http://www.childrensliteraturenetwork.org/0402tc.html

 

A bimonthly magazine, this online publication is available only to CLN members.  Each issue presents articles of topical interest, judging by the table of contents.  Unfortunately there is no sample issue available for viewing on the web site.