About Children's Literature Criticism

The documents provided here are chapters from the annotated bibliography
"Children's Literature: A Guide to the Criticism" written by Linnea 
Hendrickson, published by G.K. Hall/Macmillan.  Copyright 1987 by Linnea 
Hendrickson.

If you wish to search for entries containing a key word in either Part A. 
Authors and Their Works or Part B. Subjects, Themes and Genres, 
select the menu item `Search Childrens Literature Guide to Criticism'.
You can also search through individual chapters by viewing the document
and pressing the search key '/' and enter a search pattern. This method
will move you to the first match within the document.

Covering works as diverse as a historical survey of the alphabet book and 
an analysis of the young adult novels of Judy Blume, this annotated 
bibliography draws together significant articles, books, and dissertations 
of children's literature criticism.  Compiled from a wide variety of 
popular and scholarly sources, "Children's Literature: A Guide to the 
Criticism" provides a thorough and easy-to-use resource to this 
burgeoning field of study. "Children's Literature" categorizes and assesses
the critical response to fiction, drama, poetry, and some nonfiction
written for children between the ages of one and sixteen. The children's 
literature covered ranges in format and style from the picture book to the 
young adult novel.  The emphasis is on twentieth-century children's 
literature, although classics from earlier centuries have been included.


Part A lists and annotates writings about the work of a particular author
or illustrator. Part B classifies criticism by themes or subjects.  Topics
covered here include trends in children's literature, the history of fairy
tales and other genres, the role of the critic, the issue of censorship,
and a broad range of themes in literature including ghost stories, sex
roles, school, politics, and fantasy. An extensive index of authors,
titles, subjects, and critics provides easy access to this enormous body
of information.

Since the book was published in 1987, most entries are from 1985 and 
before.  Plans are being made for an update, and a a few corrections have 
been made in the original text.  The book is still in print, and copies
may be ordered from any book store for under $40.

Send any questions, comments and suggestions to Linnea Hendrickson at 
lhendr@unm.edu.