Representative Reference Sources for Children's Literature

When doing a search for information regarding Children's literature, start by establishing a basic understanding of the terms and concepts in the field.  Reference works such as dictionaries, handbooks, manuals, and encyclopedias are great sources for this type of information.

 

A to Zoo: Subject Access to Children's Picture Books                                             R 028.5 L732a 2001

This source categorizes over 23000 titles into more than 1200 subjects. Entries provides bibliographic information for the book. Books are also indexed by title or illustrator.

 

Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults                                                      R 028.5 B365

An eight volume set of essays outlining fiction and biographical titles. Provides information on the author, major themes of the title, and suggestions for further research. Titles are indexed by subject theme, author, or title.

 

Childhood in Poetry                                                                                                              R 028.5 S534c 1967

Bibliography of titles in the Shaw Childhood in Poetry Collection in the Library of the Florida State University. Includes collection titles, and titles of individual poems. Can browse title by subject.

 

Children's Book Review Index                                                                                          R 028.5 C536

Collects major reviews for children's books into an annual publication. Each volume has a separate index. Can search by author or title.

 

Children's Literature Review                                                                                             R 028.5 C536

Use the cumulative index in the latest volume to access entries on the major children's literature titles and authors. Each entry provides you biographical information, plot synopsis, and critical evaluations.

 

Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairytales                                            R 398.2 G816 2008

There are over 600 total entries covering folktales and fairytales from a cultural, historical, and topical approach. They touch on specific themes, and motifs, and there past and current manifestations. Also discussed are specific authors, illustrators, filmmakers, etc that are important to the subject area.

 

Masterplots II: Juvenile and Young Adult Fiction Series                                        R 028.5 M4232

Like Beacham's Guide and other resources, this series discusses a titles plot and gives critical evaluations along with other important information for evaluation. Entries can be access by author, title, or subject.

 

Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature                                                            R 028.5 O98 2006

Short entries cover important authors, illustrators, titles, characters, and other topics related to children's literature. The more extensive entries also provide a bibliography.

 

Storytelling: An Encyclopedia of Mythology and Folklore                               R 398.2 S888 2008

Discuss different folklore traditions from throughout the world, and also defines important characters and themes, like giants or dragons. 

 

---

 

Finding Books and Other Items in the Library

To find books and other resources on Children's literature in our general collection, start by going to the ALEX online catalog and searching by subject. Also use the subject search when you are looking for information about a specific author. When you are searching for information by a specific person, use the author search. Remember to invert the name: last name, first name.  If a subject search is not successful, searching by keyword broadens your search and retrieves more information.

 

Browse by call number: 

• 028.5 books about children's literature

*children's books (young adult, picture books, etc) are located in the 2nd floor juvenile section

*criticism about specific authors may be located in the 800s section (813s and 823s for example).

 

---

 

Resources for Finding Articles on English Language and Literature

For the latest information from authoritative sources, use scholarly journals.  Online library databases like Academic Search Complete or JSTOR are general databases that contain information from multiple disciplines. The following databases are other examples, typically more specific in nature, that contain information geared towards this discipline.

 

ERIC

ERIC, the Educational Resource Information Center, provides access to education literature and resources.  ERIC provides full text of more than 2,200 digests along with references for additional information and citations and abstracts from over 1,000 educational and education-related journals.

 

Horn Book Guide Online

Provides a searchable database of reviews for children's books from The Horn Book publications. You can search for books by title, author, or subject.

 

Humanities International Complete

Contains full text from over 890 journals, some of which are unique to this database, along with citations from over 2,100 journals. Covers all of the humanities, including English.

 

Literary Resource Center

In addition to full text articles, LRC offers biographical and critical information about authors and their works. LRC also provides a portal to MLA.

 

MLA International Bibliography

The Modern Language Association’s International Bibliography is the most comprehensive index to scholarly periodicals in the field of Language and Literature.

  

WorldCat

This database available through OCLC allows you to search through the catalogs of over ten thousand libraries worldwide. Advanced search options allow you to narrow your results by age group, subject, or format.

 

 

Journal Finder

If you are having trouble finding the full text of a journal, Journal Finder can help point you towards the right database. 

 

---

 

 

Web Resources for Children's Literature

There is a great variety of web sites that might be useful; the following are a few suggestions. For additional web resources you can check out the library's delicious page.

 

Bridgewater College English Department

The site is the home page of the English Department at Bridgewater College. Also contains a link to the BC Writing Center.

 

Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature- University of Florida Smathers Libraries

This is the collection indexed in the Childhood in Poetry resources mentioned in the Reference section of this guide. This special collection is geared specifically towards children's literature. It also contains links to full text of children's literature from the 19th and early 20th century.

 

Children's Library- Internet Archive

This collaborative site provides a collection of full text titles that can be digitally accessed. You can browse by author, title or view a user created tag cloud for subjects.

 

Poetry Archive

Provides streaming audio recordings of over 140 English-language poets. It also includes a children's section with recordings geared specifically for children.

 

Project Gutenberg

This is a searchable library of over 18,000 free, full text, public-domain ebooks.