Children’s Literature in Academia

Just took a look at the program for the upcoming Children’s Literature Association’s 2010 conference and sure wish I could go.  Yes, it is very scholarly and some of the papers are bound to raise the eyebrows of those of us outside the ivory tower, but I still think they all look fascinating. (If this field had existed when I was in college and I’d had some sympathetic mentors maybe I’d be somewhere else today.)  Here are some in particular that intrigue me:

• Katharine Slater, University of California, San Diego
  “Daisy Goes to the BBC: ‘Reviseting’ The Young Visiters”
• Lara Saguisag, Rutgers University – Camden
  “Strangely Familiar: Shaun Tan’s The Arrival and the Universalization of the Immigrant Experience”
• Helen Bittel, Marywood University
  “When Sophie Gets Really, Really . . . Abducted by an Axe‐Murderer: Reading Children’s Literature through the Culture of Fear”
• Ivy Linton Stabell, University of Connecticut“Rewriting History in Children’s Picture Book Biographies of Barack Obama”
• Danielle Bienvenue Bray, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
  “Gypsy Baseball Curse: Buffy, Bella, and the Romanticizing of Domestic Violence”
• J.D. Stahl, Virginia Tech
  “Adaptation of Children’s Novels to Film: Popular but Misguided”
• Lisa Fraustino, Eastern Connecticut State University
  “Disney’s Maternal Melodramas”
• Camille Parker, Independent Scholar
  “Author Accessibility, Blogs and the Literary Process: Forging a New Connection Between Writer and Reader”
• Denise Davila, Ohio State University
  “‘I’d Buy the Book if it was Like the Trailer’: The influence of promotional trailers on
  prospective readers”
• Karla M. Schmit, The Pennsylvania State University
  “America’s Game: When Media Representations Influence Children’s Responses to Literature”
• Iris Shepard, University of Arkansas
  “Where are the Children in Animated Children’s Films?”
• Roberta Trites, Illinois State University
  “Enough with the Sexism: Up! Yours
• Marie Robinson, Morgan State University
  “Playing It Safe: A Critical Comparison of the Film and Book Versions of Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass”
• Marah Gubar, University of Pittsburgh
  “On Not Defining Children’s Literature: The Case of Children’s Theater”
• Jean M. Stevenson, University of Minnesota‐Duluth
  “Portfolios on the Web: One Archive’s Effort to Engage Classroom Teachers”
• Elizabeth Pearce, Illinois State University
  “‘This Story is Getting Out of Hand’: Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart Trilogy and Metafiction”
• Susan Stewart, Texas A&M University – Commerce                                      “Steampunk Pedagogy: Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age, or A Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer”
• Jackie C. Horne, Independent Scholar
  “Critiquing Colonialism from Within: British Postcolonial Fantasy for Young Readers”
• Angie Laginess, Eastern Michigan University
  “Fairytale Fallout: Or, Why Women are More than Happy to Oppress Themselves to Become the Next Cinderella”
• Meghann Frances Meeusen, Western Michigan University
  “’Maybe She’d Just Love Something to Eat’: Coraline’s Other Mother and the Evolving Female Villain”