Preface In recent years, children's literature has become an increasingly important area of literary scholarship. In 1973 the Children's Literature Association was founded and began publishing Children's Literature, a scho larly annual review now published by Yale University Press. In 1978 Roger Sale's Fairy Tales and After was published by Harvard University Press. In 1980 children's literature was raised to Division status by the Modern Lan guage Association. The number and quality of journals devoted to children's literature have also increased dramatically. Joining older journals such as Horn Book (1924) and Junior Bookshelf (1936), were Bookbird and Interracial Books for Children Bulletin in the 1960s, Signal and Children's Literature in Educa tion in 1969 and 1970, followed by Phaedrus (1973), Canadian Children's Literature (1975), Children's Literature Association Quarterly (1976), The Lion and the Unicorn (1977), and Advocate (1981). In addition, increasing numbers of journals devoted to literary criticism have been accepting articles on children's literature, and entries under that subject heading in the MLA Bibliography have been increasing ever since the first appear ance in 1976. The traditional academic home of children's literature has been in departments of education and library science, but there has been a large increase in interest in English departments, and social scientists, psy chologists, sociologists, historians, folklorists, and students of popular culture have all published articles relating the the field. Purpose of this bibliography 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 disci plines 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. Definition of children's literature For the purposes of this bibliography, literature is considered to be imaginative works such as fiction, drama, poetry, nonfiction of exceptional quality, and, in some cases, works of historical significance such as the Stratemeyer (Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, et al.) series. Children's literature is defined as literature written for, or largely read by, children between the ages of one and sixteen, in format and style ranging from the picture book to the young adult novel. Definition of criticism Criticism involves defining, classifying, analyzing, and evaluating works of literature. It may be distinguished from "book reviewing" by its greater depth and scope. To quote Helen Haines, "A reviewer should tell what the author set out to do, what he did and how he did it," whereas "the critic interprets in terms of intellectual or emotional analysis" (quoted by Elizabeth Nesbitt in "The Critic and Children's Literature," in A Criti cal Approach to Children's Literature, edited by Sara I. Fenwick [Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1967], p. 121). A book review may, but does not necessarily, contain literary criticism. The type of criticism emphasized in this bibliography is "explication," that is, it is concerned with interpreting the meaning or enhancing the understanding of a particular work. Although the usual method of explica tion is through close analysis of the text itself, criticism that places the work in a biographical, historical, or cultural context is also included. Articles interpreting the treatment of specific subjects or themes in children's literature, those examining the characteristics of particular genres, those surveying the status of the children's literature of a particular geographic area or of a particular time, and those on the nature, theory, and status of criticism of children's literature have been included. Scope of the children's literature included The critical works covered in this bibliography discuss children's lit erature originating in any language or time period, although the emphasis is on children's literature of the twentieth century. Since the criticism is limited to that written in English, however, the bulk of the literature covered has been written in or translated into English. Genres of children's literature considered include picture books, word less books, comics, periodicals, fairy tales, folklore and other tradi tional literature, series books and popular fiction, young adult fiction, drama, poetry, and nonfiction. Criticism of film, television, and textbooks has not been included. Author-illustrators and illustrators whose work is an integral part of a work have been included. Coverage of criticism of such classic authors as Lewis Carroll, Mark Twain, Robert Louis Stevenson, J.R.R. Tolkien, Rudyard Kipling, and C.S. Lewis has been selective, concentrated on studies of their writings for children, and recent bibliographies and review articles. An effort has been made to ensure coverage of authors of prize-winning books and authors featured in standard biographical and critical sources. Scope of the criticism indexed (1) Criticism of individual authors of and illustrators of children's books. (2) Criticism centering on a particular subject or theme, for example, death, sex roles, war. (3) Criticism centering on a particular genre, for example, poetry, historical fiction, fairy tales. (4) Surveys of the literature or criticism originating in a particular country or geographic area, for example, studies of current scholarship or research in children's literature in the Soviet Union. (5) Articles on the nature of the scholarship of children's literature, definitions of children's literature, discussions of trends, critical theory, and the status of children's literature. (6) Books, including collections of essays. Individual chapters and segments are indexed separately as appropriate. (7) Reviews of children's books are covered selectively. Winnowing sub stantial reviews from the vast number of primarily descriptive annotations was difficult, and numerous useful comments undoubtedly have been over looked. Early reviews of important books are sometimes included for their historical perspective. Lengthy and perceptive analyses in scholarly jour nals are included. (8) Doctoral dissertations are included based on their abstracts in Dissertation Abstracts International. Unpublished masters theses and papers are not included. (9) Biographical sketches of authors and published personal interviews and speeches are included only if they contain literary analysis or shed significant light on the background or creation of a work of literature. (10) Criticism concerned with the censorship of specific titles and censorship of children's literature in general is included. Criteria for Selecting Criticism The chief criterion for each book or article selected for inclusion in this bibliography is: does it provide insight into the work or topic dis cussed? Does it say somthing significant or enlightening? Will it be helpful and worth the while of a person seeking fuller understanding of a particular work or topic? Some articles stand out immediately as first- rate criticism; others are borderline. The selector's biases, and even the circumstances under which the articles were indexed, have inevitably been reflected in the choices. In many cases articles have been included not for their critical excellence but because (1) they were the only ones about an important or controversial work, (2) they have generated many responses or much controversy, or (3) they offer a distinct or representative point of view. Method of compiling the bibliography The starting point for this bibliography was the critical sources, not a list of recommended works of children's literature. Periodicals central to the field of children's literature were examined issue by issue and cov er-to-cover for appropriate articles. Other journals were accessed through periodical indexes and bibliographies. Books were accessed through bibli ographies and indexes and through library catalogs. Numerous references came from reference notes in articles indexed. Lists of reference works consulted and periodicals central to the field are contained in the Appen dix. Subject headings Subject terms were selected from terms used by the Library of Congress, Sears List of Subject Headings, the Wilson indexes, the ERIC system, and, in some cases, from terms recommended by the Council on Interracial Books for Children, which concerns itself with the treatment of the aged, the handicapped, and various minorities in children's books. Cross-references are provided in the Index of Authors, Titles and Subjects. Annotations The annotations are intended to be descriptive rather than evaluative, and to convey some of the flavor of the selections. A very few articles from the early issues of Signal and Orana were indexed on the basis of an examination of contents pages and the first pages of the articles, and are therefore not annotated. Comparison with similar works Children's Literature Review, published by Gale Research since 1976, is a serial publication that provides references to reviews and in-depth cri ticism, and also includes lengthy excerpts from them. It includes fewer authors than this bibliography and has no coverage of subjects, themes, or critical theory. Children's Literature Abstracts and Phaedrus are highly selective serial bibliographies that cover current criticism only. Elva Smith's History of Children's Literature (Chicago: American Library Association, 1980) covers criticism of only those authors who wrote before the end of the nineteenth century. A 1977 bibliography by Irving P. Leif, Children's Literature: A Historical and Contemporary Bibliography (Troy, N.Y.: Whitson) is a somewhat limited and haphazard selection. Suzanne Rahn's Children's Literature: An Annotated Bibliography of the History and Criticism (New York: Garland, 1981) has been of great help in compiling the present bibliography, but differs in several significant respects: (1) greater emphasis on older works of historical interest, (2) absence of a title index, (3) limited subject access, and (4) little or no coverage of many significant contemporary writers. Organization of the text and suggestions for use The bibliography consists of two main parts: part A, "Authors and Their Works," and part B, "Subjects, Themes, and Genres." These two main parts are supplemented by two indexes, one for the names of critics, and one for everything else, for example, the names of all authors of chil dren's books, titles of children's books, and themes, genres, and topics discussed by the critics. A list of periodical title abbreviations used in the text will be found at the front of the volume, and a full listing of books of criticism referred to in short form in the text will be found in the section entitled "Books Indexed." The appendix contains (1) a list of reference works in children's literature that were used in compiling the bibliography and (2) a list of important journals related to children's literature. In part A, "Authors and Their Works," entries whose main focus is the work of a particular author or illustrator are listed alphabetically under the name of the author or illustrator. Authors are listed under the names by which they are best known, whether these are pseudonyms or real names, and are cross-refere nced in the Index of Authors, Titles and Subjects. Works listed under their titles rather than under an author's name will also be found interfiled in this section, for example, St. Nicholas Maga zine, and fairy tales such as "Snow White" and "Cinderella." When two or more authors are discussed in one article, the listing has usually been included under only one, with additional references confined to the index. It is therefore imperative that the index be consulted for complete cover age of any author, illustrator or subject. Part B, "Subjects, Themes, and Genres," contains discussions of the handling of certain themes or genres by more than one author. It also includes surveys of the literature of particular geographic areas, and dis cussions of such topics as the definition of children's literature, the nature of the criticism of children's literature, the role of the critic, censorship and issues approaches, and trends in children's literature and its criticism. Discussions of the nature and history of fairy tales, debates concerning their suitability for children, and discussions of par ticular themes or types of tales will be found, for example, under the heading "fairy tales" in part B, whereas discussions centering on the ana lysis of one particular tale will be found under the name of the tale or its author in part A. In any case, for all relevant discussions of any particular work, author, or topic, the author, title, and subject Index must be consulted. Availability of materials indexed Some of the journals indexed are scarce, especially in their early issues. However, photocopies of single articles should be available through interlibrary loan. The volume and abstract numbers of doctoral dissertations located through Dissertations Abstracts International have been included in the citations to facilitate access to the more detailed abstracts and ordering information available there.