Here are all of the Children’s Literature and Comics/Graphic Novels sessions at the 2022 MLA, held this year in person in Washington, DC! Some of the conference will also be held on-line at [insert your location here]! I plan to be there in person, which will be my very first in-person conference or invited talk…
Head on over to the Washington Post for “Breaking up with your favorite racist childhood classic books,” in which I point out that It is possible to cancel a culture. There were once more than 300 indigenous languages spoken in the United States. Only about 175 of those languages remain today. Colonization, genocide, forced…
If you missed this book launch today, please do check it out! On-hand was MIT Prof. Marah Gubar (children’s literature scholar extraordinaire), Gregory Maguire (author of Wicked), Brian Selznick (author of The Invention of Hugo Cabret), and of course Golan Moskowitz himself. It’s a pretty big deal to gather such a constellation of luminaries for a book…
In the wake of last week’s intense focus on Dr. Seuss and racism, I’m gathering (a) some resources for anti-racist children’s literature, and (b) a sampling of the Seuss-and-racism media. Many people have emailed or messaged me with questions. If I neglected yours, I apologize. I hope these links will give you a place to…
Children’s Literature Pedagogies in an Age of Misinformation. Non-guaranteed session asks how stories cultivate critical thinking. 1-page abstract, 2-page CV by March 15, 2021 to Brie Owen gowen3@unl.edu, Philip Nel philnel@ksu.edu.
Tired of watching the coup attempt on TV? Well, here’s the unboxing video I planned to post today – announcing Keywords for Children’s Literature SECOND EDITION, which is now out from New York University Press. Its editors are me, Lissa Paul, and Nina Christensen. And contributors? Well, take a look! Adult by Victoria Ford Smith…
The 2021 MLA is not in Toronto, as we thought it would be at this time last year – indeed, at this time even six months ago. The 2021 MLA is… wherever you are. Like everything else, it’s on Zoom! But it is happening! Questions about what this will look like? Check out the MLA’s Virtual…
How do you translate children’s colloquial speech – with its flexible syntax, unusual diction – into another language? In celebration of Ruth Krauss’ 119th birthday (or what she would have called her 109th birthday), I’ll sketch two possible answers to that question by looking at A Hole Is to Dig in the language her grandmother spoke: German!…
Last June, on rather short notice, the Artistic Director for the Adventure Theatre Company asked if I would write a program note for their upcoming production of The Cat in the Hat (June 18-August 21, 2019). They had read my work on Seuss and racism, shared these concerns, and asked if I could provide something,…
Comics and Graphic Narratives for Young Audiences Co-sponsored by the MLA Forum on Comics and Graphic Narratives and the MLA Forum on Children’s and Young Adult Literature. This panel for the 2021 MLA Convention in Toronto (Jan 7-10, 2021) explores intersections between children’s literature and comics (including manga and graphic novels). All periods and nations welcome. Children’s…
