Children's and Young Adult Literature Commons^™

Our Heritage Vol Ii 2026, Ana Iraheta, Jake R. Turcotte, Siobhan Lahiff

Our Heritage: Short Stories of Bilingual Youth in the Northeastern United States

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Ana C. Iraheta and Jake R. Turcotte (Editors)

Siobhan Lahiff (Illustrator) "

Más Que Saltos: Patinar Me Hace Feliz/More Than Jumps: Skating Makes Me Happy, Amelia Costa

Our Heritage: Short Stories of Bilingual Youth in the Northeastern United States

Skater changes her goals, works hard, and finds new joy.

Por Siempre En Mi Corazón/Forever In My Heart, Valeria Barrón

Our Heritage: Short Stories of Bilingual Youth in the Northeastern United States

A young woman honors her late friend with love and tradition.

Los Abuelos Viven Para Siempre/Grandparents Live Forever, Mariana Padilla

Our Heritage: Short Stories of Bilingual Youth in the Northeastern United States

A young woman misses her grandpa, remembers his love, and applies his lessons every single day.

Una Historia Sobre Cultura, Familia Y Sueños/A Story About Culture, Family, And Dreams, Roseline Tavarez Cepeda

Our Heritage: Short Stories of Bilingual Youth in the Northeastern United States

Young immigrant celebrates culture, overcomes fear, and shares her story.

La Pequeña Defensora/The Little Advocate, Krystal Cuello Samper

Our Heritage: Short Stories of Bilingual Youth in the Northeastern United States

Krystal faces challenges, uses bilingualism to help others and grow.

Mi Loca Mundaza A Connecticut/My Crazy Move To Connecticut, Luciana Ybarra

Our Heritage: Short Stories of Bilingual Youth in the Northeastern United States

Moving from Hawaii to Connecticut taught values, adaptation, and cultural respect.

Cuando No Entendía El Por Qué/When I Didn't Understand Why, Nancy Nuñez

Our Heritage: Short Stories of Bilingual Youth in the Northeastern United States

Nancy moved to a new country, learned English with effort, and discovered how valuable education is.

Camino Al Corazón/A Choice From The Heart, Daniela Montoya

Our Heritage: Short Stories of Bilingual Youth in the Northeastern United States

Daniela felt unsure about her future, but chose to care for others and found her calling.

Carta Para Mi Tierra/Letter To My Country, Britnnie Minaya

Our Heritage: Short Stories of Bilingual Youth in the Northeastern United States

Britnnie misses her country, values her culture and her memories.

Barreras Rotas/Broken Barriers, Rachel Barrón

Our Heritage: Short Stories of Bilingual Youth in the Northeastern United States

María faces change, grows through challenges, and honors her parents’ sacrifices.

Aprendí A Querer Mi Nombre/I Learned To Love My Name, Cici Martinez Osorio

Our Heritage: Short Stories of Bilingual Youth in the Northeastern United States

Citlally learns to love her name and value her culture.

Eschatological Echoes: Reading The Bible And The Harry Potter Series, Athira Mohan Dr

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

Death has been a major topic in children’s and adolescent literature , which has invited scholarly discourse over different ages. While death was very commonly featured in the puritanical texts of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it was also deemed to be a subject too sensitive for the genre of children’s literature in the early twentieth century(Aries 1975), due to a combination of factors such as lowered child mortality rate and heightened concern for childhood as a special social category. However, contemporary children’s and adolescent literature focuses on death as an important part of human life, and invites discussions on …

"Then Daddy Began A Story": Storytelling In Tolkien’S Home And Our Own, Josh Renaud

Journal of Tolkien Research

"Then Daddy began a story, and this is what he said." That's how J.R.R. Tolkien began the first manuscript version of "Farmer Giles of Ham," one of a few moments of fatherly storytelling to be found in his fiction. Tolkien is remembered today as a great author and artist, but in his home he was a loving parent who regaled his children with tales — a "story-telling presence," as his daughter Priscilla Tolkien put. In this presentation, I reflect on Tolkien as a "daddy" and oral storyteller, drawing on examples from Tolkien's life and writing. I also consider what storytelling …

Tolkien, Modernism, And Mass Art, Matthew Thompson-Handell

Journal of Tolkien Research

A good deal has been written in the last 30 years on the extent to which Tolkien's work can be aligned or associated with literary modernism. Arguments have been made both for and against, though in spite of the range of perspectives that have been considered, what has been missed is the question of difficulty. A central characteristic of modernism is its difficulty, its inaccessibility to a non-specialized reader. The Lord of the Rings is not difficult, nor inaccessible - indeed it can readily be characterised as mass art by virtue of its accessibility.

Explorations Of Border-Crossing Identity Through Dreamscape In Frontera, Mariela Speltz

Steeplechase: An ORCA Student Journal

This analysis examines how Frontera, a graphic novel that follows a young man as he attempts to cross the Sonoran Desert to return to Arizona after being deported, draws upon the mythologically-rich space of the desert to create a dreamscape that explores Mexican-American identity. Featuring visual differentiation, cultural icons, and spiritual figures that interact with the main character, Mateo, the text’s dreamscape serves as a narrative bridge for characters to transcend their individual identity and connect with a communal identity. Specifically, a spiritual jaguar from Aztec mythology, and the ghost of an immigrant who died crossing the desert help Mateo …

Briefly Noted: Raven And Crow: The Mythology, Art And Science Of Our Favorite Black Birds By Ellen W. Williams By Ellen W. Williams, Janet Croft

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Review of Raven and Crow: The Mythology, Art and Science of Our Favorite Black Birds by Ellen W. Williams, McFarland, 2025.

J.R.R. Tolkien's Women Of Middle-Earth: Including Sir Peter Jackson's Women Of Middle-Earth By Chris Barclay, Diane Riggins

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

No abstract provided.

Mythopoeic Narrative In The Legend Of Zelda, Edited By Anthony G. Cirilla And Vincent E. Rone, Bianca L. Beronio

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

This review assesses Mythopoeic Narrative in The Legend of Zelda, edited by Anthony G. Cirilla and Vincent E. Rone, as a compelling contribution to fantasy studies, mythopoeia, and game studies that argues for the academic centrality of interactive narrative media. The volume positions The Legend of Zelda not merely as popular entertainment, but as a sophisticated mythic tradition; part of an evolving legendarium shaped through iterative storytelling, symbolic worldbuilding, and ethically structured heroic narrative. Emphasizing the interpretive significance of player engagement, the collection demonstrates how games uniquely merge narrative meaning with embodied action, transforming mythic structure into lived experience. …

The Fantasy Of J.R.R. Tolkien: Mythopoeia And The Recovery Of Creation By Robert J. Dobie, Hayden Bilbrey

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

A chapter by chapter review of Robert J. Dobie's 2024 book The Fantasy of J.R.R. Tolkien: Mythopoeia and the Recovery of Creation. The review gives a chapter by chapter breakdown and asserts that though the book is more likely for academics, its approachable coverage of Tolkien's work and philosophical ideas also makes it a great read for anyone who is a fan of Middle-earth.

The Mirror Of Desire Unbidden: Retrieving The Imago Dei In Tolkien And Late Medieval English Literature By Giovanni Carmine Costabile, Katherine Cooper Wyma

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

No abstract provided.

Russell Hoban: Faithful To The Strange By Graeme Wend-Walker, Nicholas Birns

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

This is a review of David Wend-Walker's critical book on the fiction of Russell Hoban.

Schools Of Magic: Learning In Children’S And Young Adult Fantasy Fiction By Megan H. Suttie, Sara Landaverde

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

This review examines Schools of Magic: Learning in Children’s and Young Adult Fantasy Fiction, in which Megan H. Suttie argues that fantastic school narrative exists as a distinct subgenre requiring a holistic critical framework. Reading magical school texts simultaneously as school stories, fantasy narratives, and representations of educational institutions, Suttie demonstrates how such works present processes of ideological formation, social reproduction, and readerly critique. Through chapters focusing on J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, Patrick Rothfuss's Kingkiller Chronicle, Lev Grossman's Magicians trilogy, and Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching novels, Suttie illustrates the flexibility of her model across various fantasy texts. This …

Urban Fantasy: Exploring Modernity Through Magic, By Stefan Ekman, Phillip Fitzsimmons

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

No abstract provided.

Alice In Wonderland: Norton Critical Edition, Edited By Donald J. Gray, James Hamby

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

No abstract provided.

Imagining The Celtic Past In Modern Fantasy, Edited By Dimitra Fimi And Alistair J.P. Sims, Giovanni Carmine Costabile

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

No abstract provided.

A Real Taste For Fairy-Stories By Verlyn Flieger, Douglas C. Kane

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

No abstract provided.

In Memoriam: Colin Duriez, Justin W. Wiggins

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Noted fantasy scholar Colin Duriez passed away in November 2025. He wrote on Lewis, Tolkien, the Inklings as a group, Dorothy L. Sayers, and other topics, and worked as a publisher and editor with Intervarsity Press, as well as teaching and lecturing.

In Memoriam: James Como, Anne-Frédérique Mochel-Caballero

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Noted Lewis scholar James Como passed away in November 2025; this essay reviews his career and his warm personal interactions with the author.

Recollections And Reflections On The Book That Created Itself, Verlyn Flieger

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Too long for a fairy tale, too fanciful for a novel, too adult for children, too juvenile for adults. Dearth of sex bars it as romance and its cast of Elves and Dwarves—oh, and Hobbits—bans it as realism. For lack of a better word we call it fantasy, but the fact is that until The Lord of the Rings’ incursion onto the scene in 1954 there existed no such formal category or critical term by which to classify this ground-breaking work. How did The Lord of the Rings create the modern category of fantasy?