The Oxford Handbook of Children's Literature

The Oxford Handbook of Children's Literature is an ambitious new resource that provides a thorough grounding in the field through a selection of original interdisciplinary essays on canonical and popular works in the Anglo American tradition. Twenty-six essays by top scholars from varied disciplines address theoretical, historical, sociological, and critical issues through analyses of classic novels such as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Anne of Green Gables, and The Swiss Family Robinson; early educational and religious works such as The New England Primer and Froggy's Little Brother; picture books, comics and graphic novels such as Millions of Cats, Peanuts and American Born Chinese; early readers, including The Cat in the Hat and the Frog and Toad books; newer children's classics such as Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry and Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret, the Harry Potter series and His Dark Materials trilogy; and works of poetry and drama, including The Dream Keeper and Peter Pan. Other media such as the classic album Free to Be .. You and Me and the generation-defining cartoon film Dumbo are also addressed. An editors' introduction sets the stage by reviewing the field's history, foundational scholarship, and current critical trends. The handbook is geared toward graduate students, advanced undergraduates, and scholars new to the study of children's literature, as well as teachers, librarians and others wishing to immerse themselves in the most vital new research in this vibrant and growing field.

Julia Mickenberg is Associate Professor of American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. She is the author of the award-winning Learning from the Left: Children's Literature, the Cold War, and Radical Politics in the United States and coeditor of Tales for Little Rebels: A Collection of Radical Children's Literature.

Lynne Vallone is Professor and Chair of Childhood Studies at Rutgers University, the first Ph.D.-granting department of Childhood Studies in the United States. She is the author of Becoming Victoria and Disciplines of Virtue: Girls' Culture in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries as well as co-associate general editor of the Norton Anthology of Children's Literature.