Children’s and Young Adult Literature

Abstract

The field of children’s and young adult literature bridges education, the humanities, and library and information sciences, and is diverse, multidisciplinary, and sometimes contradictory in focus and scope. This article is designed for pre-service and in-service teachers, as well as teacher educators and graduate students who are interested in developing a strong foundation of knowledge about children’s and young adult literature as a discipline. Scholars and researchers of children’s and young adult literature typically explore the connections between youth literature, cultural studies, and literary theory. Such work is grounded in the perspective that the books written for and shared with children and young adults are more than ideologically neutral texts that entertain and educate. Youth literature is informed by cultural attitudes and beliefs about what young people should (and should not) know and about the types of people they should (and should not) be and become. Youth literature, then, does not provide readers with an impartial representation of how the world looks and operates. Instead, children’s and young adult books function as cultural artifacts, as objects that have the potential to shape and influence the ways in which readers view and understand themselves, the people they love, and the world in which they live. Children’s and young adult literature also provides a foundation for literary appreciation, as it sets expectations for story forms and literary language. The materials included in this article are sometimes international in scope, but the focus is on children’s and young adult literature research and scholarship in English. As opposed to centering on the pedagogical uses of youth literature, this article focuses on understanding and analyzing children’s and young adult literature and the ways literature may influence its readers. Those interested in the curricular uses and classroom implementation of children’s and young adult literature will find extensive information available in other Oxford Bibliographies in Education (specific articles related to children’s and young adult literature are described under Teaching Literary Appreciation). This bibliography is not exhaustive, but instead aims to introduce readers to the leading organizations and special interest groups, journals, and texts about children’s and young adult literature. Special attention is also given to topics related to professional issues especially relevant to teachers, researchers, and scholars in education, such as picture books, nonfiction, censorship and prizing, the development of classroom libraries, and literary understanding.