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Children's Literature

This guide has been developed to lead those interested in Children's literature to the most useful sources available in our Library from various collections: Reference, Specific Journals, Databases, Web sites, etc.

Reference Books

Note: All of our listed Reference works related to Children's lit are in the call number range of 028.5. If you want to browse that section for more relevant materials, or if you want to head upstairs to the Stacks to find other books on the topic that can be checked out, look in that call number area.

  • Children's catalog. 19th ed. 2006, plus 2008 supplement. Reference 028.5 W69
    "Children's catalog is a comprehensive list of fiction and nonfiction books, periodicals, and electronic resources for children from preschool through grade six, together with review sources..."
  • Best books for middle school and junior high readers: Grades 6-9. 2004. Reference 028.5 G41b MID
  • Best books for children: Preschool through grade 6. 2002. Reference 028.5 G41b PRE
  • The Essential guide to children's books and their creators. 2002. Reference 028.5 Es74s (and eBook)
  • A to Zoo: Subject access to children's picture books. 2001. Reference 028.5 L62a
  • The Oxford companion to children's literature. 1999. Reference 028.5 C22o
  • Children's book awards international: A Directory of awards and winners from inception through 1991. 1992. Reference 028.162 Sm61c
  • Dictionary of American children's fiction, 1985-1989: books for recognized merit. 1993. Reference 028.5 H36d
  • Dictionary of American children's fiction, 1960-1984: recent books of recognized merit. 1986. Reference 028.5 H36d
  • Dictionary of American children's fiction, 1859-1959: book of recognized merit. 1985. Reference 028.5 H36d

 

Find Books

You can find more books either in our Library or to order through Interlibrary Loan in these sources:

  • Online Catalog  
    Search for materials available in the Zondervan Library. Books that are identified as in the "Main Collection" can be checked out to you.
  • WorldCat
    This catalog focuses on published literature around the globe. Use the limits available for language and date, as well as search only the title or subject fields for better results. Once you identify an item, you can order it through Interlibrary Loan.
    If you are off campus, you can also use the free version of WorldCat at WorldCat.org. See the library closest to you that owns the book you want by entering your zip code.

 

Find Articles

You can find articles in a couple of different ways. Find a subject-specific journal, like Children's Literature, and browse for an article. Or, you can use one of our many databases to search for an article related to the topic from any journal.

Search by Journal

 

Search by Database

 

Web Resources

Never in short supply, there are some excellent web resources for discovering all sorts of things about Children's literature, from award winners, to current publications, to historical children's literature. Here are a few that appear to be extremely helpful.

  • Children's Book & Media Awards (from ALA)
    This one covers Newberry, Caldecott, Arbuthnot Honor Lecture, Batchelder, Belpré, Carengie, Geisel, Sibert Informational Book, and Wilder Medal books.
  • Coretta Scott King Book awards
    Provides a list of all winners from 1971 to present. Most recent year winners have book cover images and blurbs as well.
  • Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site  
    Has a variety of book reviews and a newsletter that comes out periodically listing books on a theme. She also has derived some lesson-plan type multi-subject activities to work with children's literature, as well as a Professional Resources section.
  • Database of Award Winning Children's Literature 
    While the site might not lookappealing upon an initial visit, do not let that turn you away. This is a gem of a site that allows you to create your own criteria for developing a list of award-winning books on a topic, setting, historical period, genre, ethnicity, etc. Once at the main page, click the Search DAWCL to find the form that allows you to create the criteria and search the collection of materials. The author even gives you the correct way to cite the page if you use any of her work for a project.
  • Children's Literature - Digitized Print Materials from the Library of Congress' Rare Book and Special Collections Reading Room
    Though old, the books in these images have been digitized to preserve their history. There are a few dozen books here that you can view in PDF or through a program called "Page Turner" so that you can read the stories and see the exquisite digitized images from the books. 
  • Children's Literature Network (CLN)
    Without joining this community of writers, educators, and publishers, you can still benefit from this wonderful site that pulls together many resources useful for undergraduate study in Children's literature. Here you can find lists of forthcoming children's books, reading lists based on subjects, book reviews, titles of children's literature magazines, etc. 
  • Children's Literature from the Digital Librarian
    This collection of web resources for children's literature far outweighs anything we could do here. The sources are varied (which is good) and seemingly endless. Listed alphabetically, use your browser's search function (often it is Ctrl + F) to search for keywords, like an author or subject.

 

Other Research Tools

  • Credo Reference
    A conglomeration of specialized dictionaries and encyclopedias that allows you to search for definitions and encyclopedia articles, as well as develop ideas for expanding or refining a research strategy.
  • Oxford Reference Premium Online  
    Oxford University Press produces a number of extremely useful reference materials, many of which they have made available here. You can search by keyword, but you can also choose particular subjects and from there, particular books within which to search. This willl provide you with all sorts of background and broad spectrum information on a particular topic.
  • Biography Resource Center  
    Find background information about people, authors, famous personalities, and others. Search by first or last name. 


Citation Help

One of the least favorite aspects of research papers are the citations, documenting the sources where you gleaned your information. To make that a little easier, the Library offers a few resources.

  • Concise rules of APA style. 2005.
    Ref 808.06615 C748 (also in Main collection, same call number)
  • Publication manual of the American Psychological Association. 2009.
    Ref 808.06615 Am35P (also in Main Collection)
  • The Citation Style Guide is a place where you can find call numbers for print Style Manuals and Handbooks, as well as online help from several different universities around the States. Check it out and see if it helps!
  • RefWorks
    is a Citation Management program. Fully available online, and linked from the Library's home page, it allows you to keep it all ELECTRONIC. Download your citations from the various databases you're using into RefWorks. This program will create the Works Cited page for you with little effort. In a database, look for the option to EXPORT - that is where you'll find this gem of a program.
  • Automatically Generated Citations can be found in our Library Catalog (to the right of the item on the Results page), as well as in most EBSCO databases (like Academic Search Premier, PsycINFO, Communications and Mass Media Complete, etc.). Most databases either provide an instant citation in a couple of different styles, or they allow Exporting to RefWorks (see above). Ask a Librarian for more help in managing your citations and creating your bibliographies and works cited pages faster.
  • WorldCat.org
    "Cite this item" within individual item record lists the citation in APA, MLA, Chicago and more.
  • The Writing Center is also a solid resource. Available in the Library, this is run by the English department. If you'd like face-to-face help individually with citing or any aspect of writing and editing your paper, the Writing Center is the place to go. For more information, see their page on the Portal, or you can contact them at writingctr@taylor.edu.

 

Product descriptions on this page are incorporated from book reviews and product descriptions from various sources.

Ask-A-Librarian for more information.

 

Created by Lana Wilson, Reference Librarian

Last revised October 30, 2009 - 10:04 AM