Children's and Young Adult Literature Commons^™

Laila: A Doll Memoir Of 1947 Partition Of India And Pakistan, Maleeha Malik, Maleeha Fatima Malik

Children's Literature (MFA) Theses

This abstract examines a creative and critical work centered on the 1947 Partition of India, which displaced approximately fourteen million people and caused one million deaths. The narrative introduces Laila, an anthropomorphized doll who functions as both witness and archive, embodying the memories and traumas of multiple child survivors. Through Laila’s journey across India, Pakistan, and the diaspora, the text explores themes of identity, belonging, loss, and intergenerational memory.

Blending personal family history with historical analysis, the author situates Laila within lived experiences of migration, silence, and religious marginalization, particularly as part of the Ahmadi Muslim community. The narrative foregrounds …

Children Past Curfew: Surveillance, Resistance, And Childhood In Philippine Martial Law Children's Literature, Krisna Marie T. Balolong

Children's Literature (MA) Theses

This paper examines how two Philippine children's books depict state surveillance and its effects on a child's perspective of family, authority figures, and childhood. Through analysis of Augie Rivera's Isang Harding Papel and Sandra Nicole Roldan's At the School Gate, this project makes a connection between children's literature and surveillance studies, offering new framework to engage with children’s literature depicting authoritarian regimes and state violence, especially in cases where children were targets of their governments. Each book is examined by their representations of state surveillance during the Martial Law era of the Philippines, as well as each characters’ individual …

Look, Make, Play: The Natural Order In Children’S Books, Claire M. Lloyd

Children's Book Writing and Illustrating (MFA) Theses

This paper will examine conceptualizations of nature through environmentally themed picture books. While environmentalism is not a new topic for children’s book, recent works reveal changing attitudes toward the impact of human agency on the natural world. These texts provide a microcosmic view of the shift toward “green” kidlit and shows literary depictions of human interactions with nonhuman nature through an ecocritical lens. Specifically, I will look at three approaches to how humans conceive of, impact, and interact with the natural world depicted in children’s literature: observation (as the observable “other”), creation (as a communal resource), and recreation (as urban …

The Power Of Pets: Navigating Infancy, Early Development, And Eventual Loss/ Exploring The Mutual Human-Animal Bond Through Children’S Board And Picture Books With Critical Anthropomorphism, Mary Teresa Woodcock

Children's Book Writing and Illustrating (MFA) Theses

Pets are powerful elements of picture books. Alongside our animal companions, we navigate infancy, early childhood and adulthood, and better understand our relationships and life itself. Critical anthropomorphism allows us to represent our relationship to our animal companions ethically in the written and illustrated text. This paper acknowledges an array of primary and scholarly texts about animals and their roles in human experience as a foundation for my three book projects “A Colorful Night for Cat,” “Grandma, Sam, and Me,” and “Tired Old Socks.” I work to portray animal companions authentically, showing how both humans and animal companions benefit from …

A Stout Heart And A Good Blade: An Examination And Reconsideration Of Éowyn In J.R.R. Tolkien’S The Lord Of The Rings, Angela L. Loving

Children's Literature (MA) Theses

Using dramatic elements and patterns from the traditional literatures of his Northern European culture, including the Old English poem Beowulf and Shakespeare’s Macbeth, J.R.R. Tolkien tells an ancient tale anew in The Lord of the Rings, the tale of a dragon slain by an unlikely hero, in this case the Shield Maiden, Éowyn, and an even more unlikely assistant, a Hobbit named Merry.

Éowyn enters Tolkien’s complex narrative in the middle, where she is caught politically between the bright deeds of her ancestors and the darkness and doubt that surround her king and kin, caught geographically between the …

The Sword And The Serpent, Gina Dittmeier

Children's Book Writing and Illustrating (MFA) Theses

This project provides insight into the monstrous bridegroom trope in fairytale and its influence in modern fantasy literature. The monstrous bridegroom trope has several different variations, but all of these variations result in a young and innocent woman marrying a monster. Through my critical essay, I look at this trope through a modern feminist lens, exploring the different variations of the trope in fairy tales, modern fairy tale adaptations, and fantasy literature. The essay brings in modern ideas of toxic masculinity and toxic femininity and applies them to the fairy tale inspiration of fantasy literature. The monstrous bridegroom trope and …

Road To Regionals: A S.T.E.A.M. Team Novel, Erin Distefano

Children's Book Writing and Illustrating (MFA) Theses

This thesis is composed of two parts. First a full-length realistic fiction Middle Grade novel about a group of five girls who form a S.T.E.A.M. (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) team at their school and compete in multiple tournaments. Through the story they learn not only about themselves, but about each other and help each other to succeed. The second part is a critical paper on how girls are treated in the S.T.E.A.M. world and how more S.T.E.A.M. literature (along with other things) can help to guide girls to more S.T.E.A.M. related fields later in life. It also discusses …

Margaret Wise Brown Papers, 1938-1960., Beth S. Harris

Finding Aids: Guides to the Collections

Materials related to the career of children's author Margaret Wise Brown. The collection includes literary manuscripts, correspondence, legal papers, biographical information, periodical publications, sound recordings, ephemera, and clippings