Children’s Literature As Public Humanities CFP for a non-guaranteed session sponsored by the MLA Forum on Children’s and Young Adult Literature. To be held at the 2026 MLA in Toronto, January 8-11, 2026. This roundtable invites consideration of children’s literature as public humanities. In distilling complex ideas into emotionally resonant stories, books for children and young
It’s my annual(ish) post of my choices for best music of the year! Is this actually the best music of 2024? Is that a serious question? ‘Cause, well, no, of course it isn’t. I am not a music critic, haven’t heard all the music released in 2024, and musical taste is highly idiosyncratic. But these
“another world is not only possible, she’s on her way.” — Arundhati Roy I offer this quotation to encourage you to sustain a sense of possibility, however contingent or uncertain. Because another world is possible. I cannot predict whether we will see that world, but it is nonetheless worth fighting for. Activists may not see
Dear students, I wish our class were meeting in person. Because then I would bring you donuts. And because I want to check in with you, see how you’re doing. How are you doing? Courtesy of Christie Launius, Associate Dean for Student Success, Engagement, and Undergraduate Studies, here are a couple of resources
It is Crockett Johnson’s 118th birthday. It is also very nearly Harold’s 70th birthday. 70 years ago next month, Crockett Johnson sent a dummy of Harold and the Purple Crayon to Ursula Nordstrom, his editor at Harper & Brothers. 69 years ago, the book was published. Let’s celebrate! If you’re anywhere near Kansas City on
Supporters of felonious Trump are lying about Tim Walz’s dog, Scout. Which is ridiculous. During the 1944 election, Republicans attacked FDR’s dog, Fala. People thought this ridiculous, too. FDR mocked these attacks in what became known as “the Fala Speech.” To support FDR’s 1944 re-election campaign, the Independent Voters Committee of the Arts and Sciences
In one the courses I’m teaching this term, I’m using some class sessions to address AI. This video is the concluding component. But I don’t want to teach about AI. So, in the other course I’m teaching this term, I’m including this video, but I’m not (or, at least, not currently) building any evaluation of
Chris Ware might be the first person I know to suggest that Harold (of Purple Crayon fame) is Black. In the Foreword to the first volume of Barnaby (Fantagraphics, 2013), Ware recalled his own childhood reading of Crockett Johnson’s book: “Harold was black. At least he looked like it to me. Not that this should
Have you been wondering whether to see the new Harold and the Purple Crayon movie? Or perhaps you have been wondering what Crockett Johnson’s biographer thinks about it? As that very person, I am glad to answer both of your questions. And I do, in “The Purple Crayon on the Big Screen,” published in School
Coming this fall from Oxford University Press, it’s How to Draw the World: Harold and the Purple Crayon, and the Making of a Children’s Classic. That’s right! It’s my small book about Crockett Johnson’s even smaller one. I’ve made a book trailer for it. I’ll share more about the book in the coming months. But
