Here are some resources for supporting public libraries and defending everyone’s right to read freely. I assembled them for the “Censoring Children’s Literature” class I taught last semester, and am sharing them now in connection with the Modern Language Association panel “Drag Queens, Stories about Black People, and Other Dangers,” held in the Liberty Room
Here are all of the 2024 MLA sessions devoted to Children’s Literature, Comics/Graphic Novels, or Childhood Studies. The conference will be held this year in person in Philadelphia — and on-line, as noted below. I’ll be there! I’m chairing one on-line session and one in-person session. If you’ll be there, too, stop by and say
Yes, it’s the post you have all been waiting for! Or possibly not. I mean, hey, I’m not a professional music critic. But I do listen to a lot of new music. Since our musical landscape feels both more happily eclectic and more fragmented (where do you find new music?), I thought you might enjoy
Happy Crockett Johnson’s Birthday! Were he among the living, he would turn 117 today. (Spoiler alert: he died 48 years ago.) I had hoped to be able to offer an Official Announcement of some forthcoming Crockett Johnson projects. Instead, I can offer one unofficial announcement, one teaser, and one expectation. Unofficial, but hopeful: Barnaby Vol.
Yesterday, select members of the Gloria Hardman Fan Club gathered in Concord Massachusetts to pay tribute to the object (subject?) of our fandom. In the interests of sharing lessons from a life well-lived, we are pleased to present the proceedings, in full, via this video, expertly livestreamed by Mr. Dan Seminatore. The event begins at
Gloria Hardman died on August 25th from complications of Posterior Cortical Atrophy (Alzheimer’s) at the age of 81. She was an educator whose sharp mind was tempered by kindness and a gently irreverent sense of humor. Born November 16, 1941, in Pretoria, South Africa, Gloria Dawn Webb was the third child of Leslie Ralph
Why are people afraid of multicultural children’s books? To answer that question, I look back to the roots of American censorship — which, as you doubtless know, has been enjoying a renaissance lately. My piece makes its debut today in Geschichte der Gegenwart, a Swiss publication the title of which means History of the Present. That’s
Look what just arrived in the mail! This is Syd Hoff’s first book. But you probably don’t know it. It was published under a pseudonym in 1935. And it’s never been republished — until now. Also, Syd Hoff didn’t want you to know about it. I tell that story and others in my introduction to the
Since the pandemic is now over-ish, I’m posting what I had intended to post as my final “Plague Song,” last March: Carsie Blanton’s “Buck Up”! I never quite got around to it last year. Several reasons. The pandemic doesn’t have a definitive end point because, well, we will still need vaccinations, which are unequally distributed,
Call for Papers: Nostalgia in and for Children’s Literature CFP for a guaranteed session sponsored by the MLA Forum on Children’s and Young Adult Literature. To be held at the 2024 MLA in Philadelphia, January 4-7, 2024 Nostalgia is a transideological phenomenon. Its politics depend upon the direction of its longing. There’s the restorative variety that
