Children's and Young Adult Literature Commons^™

Greeting Death “Sitting Up:” How Children’S Literature Provides Modern Death Education, Reilly Kendrick

Honors Theses

Western culture places a lot of importance on legacy and friendship as important lessons to learn from death. However, children do not have as much experience with death due to changing cultural customs, and our society lacks a formal death education system that can promote these values and teach children how to respond to death in their lives. Literature, though, can fill this gap in children’s knowledge by teaching the basic physical components of death and philosophical understandings of death. These ideas are learned through vicarious reading, in which children experience the character’s emotions and reactions as they read. The …

Tiny But Moral: How "The Adventures Of Little Tiny And The White Mouse" Portrays Children’S Moral And Social Responsibilities In The Civil War Era, Abigail Hagopian

CAFE Symposium 2026

Estimated to have been published between 1860 and 1866, The Adventures of Little Tiny and the White Mouse was one of many works for children published by Thomas W. Strong in New York during the American Civil War. The eight-page picture book examines morality and consequences through the misfortunate adventures of a young, yet moral, abnormally small boy named Little Tiny. The youngest of a Broom Maker’s three sons, Tiny’s jealous older brothers sell him to a circus, where he performs alongside a myriad of animals. Missing his father, the animals jump through a series of hoops to help Tiny …

Learning For “Serious Employment”: Reinforcing The Social Hierarchy Through Anna Barbauld And John Aikin’S “Things To Be Learned”, Grace Sewell

CAFE Symposium 2026

This poster will explore the role of class in Anna Barbauld and John Aikin’s short story “Things To Be Learned.” “Things To Be Learned” was published in the early 19th century and follows a dialogue between mother and daughter as the two discuss the importance of education. It will be argued that through their use of practical diction, lack of interesting visual components, and rigid didactic structure, Barbauld and Aikin aim to promote the maintenance of a social hierarchy based on class. Additionally, an exploration of Anna Barbauld's own thoughts on female education will be included to develop this analysis.

A Godless Greek Mythology: The Desecration Of Greek Mythology For Children, Vanessa Russo

CAFE Symposium 2026

This project analyzes how Nathaniel Hawthorne’s A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys (1851) socialized young American readers by immersing them in a fictitious New England Utopia. While some scholars assert that Wonder Book represents a shift from the didactic nature of nineteenth century children's literature to a style that prioritized entertainment and fostered imaginative play, Hawthorne’s rewriting, or rather his desecration, of six classic Greek Myths certainly had moral undertones that reaffirmed a simplistic Puritan ideal: a pure relationship with the Christian God, women embracing the ideology of the cult of domesticity and staying out of the political sphere, …

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 …

Literary Tributaries: Classical And Romantic Influences In The Wind In The Willows, Landon Burgess Loftin

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

Some interpreters of The Wind in the Willows have suggested that Ratty’s beloved river should be understood as a symbol of the imagination. Whether this is true or not, we may benefit from thinking of Grahame’s own imagination as a river that derives much of its force from both Classical and Romantic tributaries. In what follows, I will explore the lower reaches of these tributaries, not only to contextualize and illuminate The Wind in the Willows, but also to address several persistent questions about its composition and reception. I turn first to the Classical tributary, which flows with the imaginings …

Potterversity: Essays Exploring The World Of Harry Potter Edited By Kathryn Mcdaniel And Emily Strand, And The Ivory Tower, Harry Potter, And Beyond: More Essays On The Works Of J.K. Rowling Edited By Lana Whited, Liam Butchart

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

No abstract provided.

Caedmon Records & The Power Of Youth: How Audiobooks Revolutionized Children’S Literature, Faihaa Khan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The first known spoken-word recording was introduced to the world by Thomas Edison through the invention of the phonograph. Originally intended for a visually impaired audience to read without exertion, the first known recording was a recitation of the English nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb" by Edison himself. The inclusion of a children’s nursery rhyme since the genesis of such an invention has become significant in observing the rise and success of the audiobook industry and its direct impact in increasing literacy proficiency in children.

Interactions between children’s literature and the history of the audiobook have been many …

Maurice Sendak’S Trio, And What Good Picture Books Have To Say, Eli F. Protas

Pomona Senior Theses

When we teach children how to read, we start with picture books. We do this despite the fact that picture books blend visual and verbal storytelling in ways that require nuanced understandings of both elements. Rather than studying these aspects individually, a complete picture book analysis relies on examining the intersection of words and images, how they interact structurally and how each lends meaning to the other. To understand how to better close read picture books, this thesis turns to the stories of Maurice Sendak, a picture book writer and illustrator whose work redefined the relationship between words and images …

Watch Me, Grandma! Watch Me!, Roberta Harman Ford

Old Elbows

Embark on a heartwarming adventure with Dakota and her loving Grandma in Watch Me, Grandma! Watch Me! As Dakota navigates the playground, she calls to her Grandma to share the joy of exploration and discovery, and hears Grandma’s reply of comforting and steady encouragement. Perfect for early childhood and young readers, this charming tale celebrates the magic of childhood and the love that spans a lifetime.

Unruly Play In Picture Books, Danielle Groak

MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture

This essay defines unruly and imaginative play based on a variety of interdisciplinary sources. The study examines a selection of children’s picture books that showcase a kind of play that defies normative narrative pacing, power dynamics, and narrative sequence. Future research is recommended to further interdisciplinary discourse on the complexity of imaginative play in children’s literature in a way that honors children’s agency as storytellers.

Communication Of Mental Health Diversity To The Early Childhood Age Group: “The Adventures Of Anxious Anderson, Distracted Daniel, And Organized Olive”, Jessica Gower

Honors Projects

In this project, I aim to explore various aspects of communication, cognitive ability, and mental health diversity in early child development. The three research questions guiding this project are: What cognitive and language abilities do children in the early childhood stage of development have? What are the most effective strategies for communicating information about mental health disorders to children ages 4 to 7 through storytelling? And lastly, how do anxiety, attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) manifest, particularly in children? The storybook's purpose is to create a sense of empathy and understanding of mental health diversity in children …

Psychological Criticism And Shakespearean Allusions In J.M. Barrie’S Dear Brutus: A Neverland For Adults, Kathryn Alley

Senior Honors Theses

In Peter Pan, Sir James Barrie welcomes readers into Neverland, the realm of eternal youth. Barrie’s lesser-known play, Dear Brutus, ushers audiences into a supernatural garden free of responsibility, reality, and permanence. Referring to Cassius’ words in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, the 1917 tragedy explores the consequences of romantic escapism and the seductive power of second chances. Through the lens of Freud’s and Lacan’s psychological criticism, and Barrie’s connection to his might-have-been daughter, Margaret, Dear Brutus unveils the plight of eight mysterious strangers by illustrating that all adults are lost children. Dear Brutus feels in many ways like …

Finding Their Chrysanthemum: Linguistic Representation In Children's Literature, Marielena Zajac

Master of Arts in Professional Writing Capstones

Children in America today struggle with finding themselves in the books they read due to societal expectations. From an early age, children are dictated on the correct way to speak and write in “American,” which can leave children and their home languages feeling unseen and dismissed. To help further the conversation and promotion of linguistic diversity in American society, this capstone analyzes dialectal representation in children’s books, with a heavy focus on attitudinal linguistic principles rather than prescriptive mechanics. The secondary research explores current literature and resources that discuss literacy acquisition in adolescents, trends in dialects in America, and childhood …

Little Women, Little Houses: Authorship And Authority In Louisa May Alcott And Laura Ingalls Wilder, Katia Savelyeva

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women and Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House novels, share a place in the canon of American children’s literature as novels centered on female protagonists coming of age within an emblematic period in American history, respectively the duration and aftermath of the Civil War and the post-Homestead Act settlement of the Western frontier. Each text portrays the intertwined processes of girlhood and nationhood through the eyes of rebellious, gender-nonconforming protagonists, Jo and Laura, who each undergo an arc towards starting a traditional family and immersing themselves in normative national projects (respectively a philanthropic school for the poor, …

My Brother: A Picturebook About My Brother's Story Living With Type 1 Diabetes., Lydia Manes

Honors Projects

My Brother is a picturebook about my brother's story living with type 1 diabetes. This story includes real life events, medical terminology, and emotionally connecting text to engage potential readers. The purpose of this picturebook is to serve as an educational tool and to help other children cope with their diagnosis of type 1 diabetes.

Disablist Propaganda: Evil On One Hand, And A Hook For The Other, Lauren Reitz, Richard Murphy

University of South Carolina Upstate Student Research Journal

Despite its publication by J.M. Barrie in 1904, Peter and Wendy has attracted very little critical attention. Perhaps the story is so beloved for its adventure-packed plot, and sweet message about a boy who never grows old, that even scholars have trouble criticizing it—despite its obvious calls for analysis as film and literary adaptations continue to appear.

However, most concerning is an apparent gap in the analysis of the story’s disabled villain, Captain Hook, through a modern Disability Studies lens. The following textual analysis of Captain Hook will serve to call attention to the way his disability plays into his …

The Tragedy Of Caspian: C. S. Lewis And His Trauma, Chandler Hanton

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This thesis reconsiders C.S.Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia as a type of scriptotherapy that enabled Lewis to process and come to terms with a life full of serious and significant traumatic events. Trauma theory offers a vehicle for us to consider the alignments and connections between Lewis himself and his fictional creation, Caspian. In the specifics of both characterization and incident, Lewis mirrors the events and relationships that instilled and healed the trauma in his own life. In situating Caspian as his alter-ego, Lewis allowed his writing to function as a gender-specific therapeutic process for addressing the effects of his …

On The Theory And Praxis Of Nonsense Poetry As Dialogic Scrum; Or, The Poetical Hermeneutics Of A Retro-Teleological, Post-Diegetic Transom (Notes Towards An Investigation), Michael Heyman, Joseph Thomas

Faculty Works

This essay explores the nonsensical elements of the composition and staging of “A Short Program of Poems for Young People, in Four Chapters,” a fifty-minute poetry reading by Michael Heyman and Joseph T. Thomas, Jr. prepared for the Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association’s 2019 annual conference, “Send in the Clowns,” focusing primarily on the theory and practice of nonsense in relation to the writing and staging of “A Short Program of Poems for Young People, in Four Chapters,” which was performed in San Diego by Joseph T. Thomas, Jr. and Michael Heyman at the 2019 Pacific Ancient and Modern …

Feminist Theology And The Fantastic In Jewish Poetics And Children's Literature (1960s–Present), Meira S. Levinson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation traces the development of Jewish fantasy rhetoric in post-WWII British and American literature, focusing on three genres: kabbalistic Beat poetry, children’s fantasy, and graphic novels/comics. Despite increasing scholarly attention to all these areas, little work has focused on fantasy rhetoric or issues of gender and sexuality within non-canonical Jewish literature, or on interplays of religion and fantasy in children’s literature. Jewish kabbalistic poetry and children’s fantasy speak to each other in their mutual engagements with the otherworldly, mystical and monstrous, interrogations of gender, and complex portrayals of feminist theological potentialities. I identify and analyze Jewish-hermeneutic themes and methodologies …

Pyramids In America: Rewriting The “Egypt Of The West” In Rick Riordan’S The Kane Chronicles Series, Heather K. Cyr

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

In this paper, I examine the use of well-known American landmarks in Rick Riordan’s The Kane Chronicles (2010-2012), a set of Children’s Fantasy novels that place Ancient Egyptian mythology in the modern world. With reference to the author’s more famous Percy Jackson and the Olympians series (2005-2009), this essay focuses on specific American landscapes in the first novel of the Egyptian mythology-inspired series, The Red Pyramid, arguing that Riordan’s use of Ancient Egyptian-inspired structures reflects the overall ethos of the text. On one level, Riordan’s use of modern American landmarks signals that new stories using old myths have just …

From Nursery Rhymes To Childlore: Orality And Ideology, Catalina Millán Scheiding

Faculty Works

When approaching nursery rhymes, they appear as a concrete, limited and cohesive collection shared by all English-speaking countries packaged in colorful books or fun, animated Youtube channels. Yet they have truly been something that was alive: a group of productions that changed and increased throughout time, drawn from and shared with different languages and cultures, accommodated or purged, considered to hide secret meanings and, subsequently, fossilized in print. They pre-date literary culture although, since society has become literary, nursery rhymes have been generally approached either from the folkloric ethnography field through a collection and analysis of rhymes, their variations and …

Epic Adolescence: Contemporary Adolescence In Philip Pullman’S His Dark Materials, Chloe Felterman

Master's Theses

To find the truth of a societal construct or phenomena, it can help to look at the world of fiction and fantasy. Though this idea may seem ironic or counter-intuitive, one will find that fictional literature can reveal the working order of its respective society. Philip Pullman’s epic fantasy trilogy, His Dark Materials, uses and manipulates the traditional constructs of the genre to reflect and re-imagine the concepts of adolescence of the late-20^th and early-21^st centuries. Eleven-year-old protagonist Lyra Belacqua and subsequently her cohort, Will Perry, reveal the complications and difficulties modern American and British adolescents experience as …

Representation Of The Titanic In Children’S Literature, Charity Huwe

2018 Awards for Excellence in Student Research and Creative Activity – Documents

Abstract

The sailing of the Titanic and its shocking demise intrigue readers to research more information. Written in young adult literature through various viewpoints, the Titanic’s story has a natural inquiry base due to its uncertainty. Trade books in the elementary classroom are increasing in use due to the state and national initiatives encouragement in using diverse texts. By using these texts, teachers allow students to analyze the various representations given to the Titanic’s history. In the subsequent sections, I review history-based curricula and historical significance of the Titanic. The methods of implementation are projected to inform teachers about the …

Teach Your Children White?, Katelyn Johnson

Senior Theses

Through exploration of early childhood literature - focused on those intended as read aloud and including illustrations – this thesis will investigate the impact and influence of cultural and racial diversity and representation in books on the development of a child’s identity as well as broader world view. The thesis will also research the histories of cultural diversity and representation in children’s literature. The research parameters for this project are focused on Marin County and will include: access to culturally diverse literature in public libraries throughout the county; library procurement policies and the impact on cultural diversity within the collection; …

An Examination Of Relational Bullying In Award Winning Newbery Books, 1996-2016, Kaysey N. Wann

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Relational bullying, although covert in nature and difficult for adults to notice and identify, is becoming increasingly prevalent among young children and teens. The success of bibliotherapy as preventative and intervention practices for bullying shows that portrayals of relational bullying in quality children’s literature would be effective in reducing and preventing it. However, relational bullying is rarely portrayed in children’s literature. My goal was to find quality children’s realistic fiction literature that portrays relational bullying in Newbery award-winning books, and to bring them to the attention of teachers.

After creating a table to determine what types of bullying, if any, …

A Merrier World:' Small Renaissances Engendered In J. R. R. Tolkien's Legendarium, Dominic Dicarlo Meo

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

After surviving the trenches of World War I when many of his friends did not, Tolkien continued as the rest of the world did: moving, growing, and developing, putting the darkness of war behind. He had children, taught at the collegiate level, wrote, researched. Then another Great War knocked on the global door. His sons marched off, and Britain was again consumed. The "War to End All Wars" was repeating itself and nothing was for certain. In such extended dark times, J. R. R. Tolkien drew on what he knew-language, philology, myth, and human rights-peering back in history to the …

Signs Of Friendship, Kaylee J. Kapalko, Ashley N. Brickner

Honors Projects

This children's book is about mainstreaming a deaf student into a public school composed of predominantly hearing children, and the eventual friendship between that student and a hearing student. The majority of deaf students are educated in hearing schools and experience high rates of social isolation as a result of the inability to communicate with their peers. In order to create this book, there was collaboration between a communication disorders major and a creative writing major in order to create a realistic portrayal yet creative learning tool for children at a young age. We chose to aim our book at …

Signs Of Friendship, Ashley N. Brickner, Kaylee J. Kapalko

Honors Projects

This children's book is about mainstreaming a deaf student into a public school composed of predominantly hearing children, and the eventual friendship between that student and a hearing student. The majority of deaf students are educated in hearing schools and experience high rates of social isolation as a result of the inability to communicate with their peers. In order to create this book, there was collaboration between a communication disorders major and a creative writing major in order to create a realistic portrayal yet creative learning tool for children at a young age. We chose to aim our book at …

Subteen, Preteen, Tween: Preadolescent Literature Inside And Out, Bethany Fort

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This thesis focuses on the inside and outside of preadolescent literature, a subgenre that has been widely neglected by literary scholars, educators, and book publishers. In Chapter 2, I analyze the themes within The Giver by Lois Lowry and use the developmental stage of preadolescence to define a subgenre of preadolescence, which has distinct characteristics that separate it from the other subgenres of children’s literature. In Chapter 3, I focus on the outside of preadolescent literature, using the results of bookseller and author surveys and research on the history of the tween retail market to uncover the subtle messages being …