PUBLICATIONS: Books | Books Edited | Articles in Books | Articles in Refereed Journals | Articles (non-refereed) | Multimedia | Reprints | Varia | Refereed Reviews | Reviews (non-refereed) | Reference

• Books
  • Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss: How an Unlikely Couple Found Love, Dodged the FBI, and Transformed Children’s Literature. Jackson and London: University Press of Mississippi, 2012. 368 pp. Nominated for an Eisner Award. More information.
  • The Annotated Cat: Under the Hats of Seuss and His Cats. New York: Random House, 2007. More information.
  • Dr. Seuss: American Icon. New York and London: Continuum Publishing, 2004. 320 pp. A Choice Magazine "Outstanding Academic Book of 2004." More information.
  • The Avant-Garde and American Postmodernity: Small Incisive Shocks. Jackson and London: University Press of Mississippi, 2002. 249 pp. More information.
  • J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter Novels: A Reader's Guide. New York and London: Continuum Publishing, 2001. 96 pp. More information.
• Books Edited
  • Barnaby, Vols. 2-5. Co-edited with Eric Reynolds. Seattle, WA: Fantagraphics Books, 2014-2017. In progress.
  • Barnaby, Volume One: 1942-1943. Co-edited with Eric Reynolds. Introduction by Chris Ware. Essays by Jeet Heer and Dorothy Parker. Biographical Essay and Notes by Philip Nel. Seattle, WA: Fantagraphics Books, 2013.  Forthcoming. More information.
  • Keywords for Children’s Literature.  Co-edited with Lissa Paul.  New York: NYU Press, 2011. 282 pp. More information.
  • Tales for Little Rebels: A Collection of Radical Children's Literature. Co-edited with Julia Mickenberg. Foreword by Jack Zipes. NYU Press, 2008. 295 pp. More information.
• Book in translation
  • J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter Novels: A Reader's Guide. Japanese translation by Ihei Taniguchi. Tokyo: Jiritsu-shobo Inc., 2002. 166 pp.
• Afterword to Book
  • Crockett Johnson, Magic Beach. Appreciation by Maurice Sendak. Afterword by Philip Nel. Ashville, NC: Front Street, 2005. Also available in French translation by Quentin Le Goff: La Plage Magique. Tourbillon, 2006. More information.
• Journal, Edited with Introduction
  • Children's Literature and the Left.  Co-edited with Julia Mickenberg.  Special issue.  Children's Literature Association Quarterly 30.4 (Winter 2005). <muse.jhu.edu/journals/childrens_literature_association_quarterly/toc/chq30.4.html>. (Available to subscribers of ProjectMuse.)
• Articles in Books
  • "Postmodernism."  Keywords for Children’s Literature, ed. Philip Nel and Lissa Paul.  NYU Press, 2011. 181-185.
  • "1957: Dr. Seuss." A New Literary History of America, ed. Greil Marcus and Werner Sollors.  Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009.  876-880.
  • "Lost in Translation?: Harry Potter, from Page to Screen." Harry Potter's World: Multidisciplinary Perspectives, revised edition, ed. Elizabeth Heilman. Routledge, 2009. 275-290.
  • "DeLillo and Modernism."  The Cambridge Companion to Don DeLillo, ed. John N. Duvall.  New York and Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2008. 13-26.
  • "Homicidal Men and Full-Figured Women: Gender in White Noise." Approaches to Teaching DeLillo's White Noise, eds. Tim Engles and John N. Duvall. New York: Modern Language Association, 2006. 180-191.
  • "You Say 'Jelly,' I Say 'Jell-O'?: Harry Potter and the Transfiguration of Language." The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter: Perspectives on a Literary Phenomenon, ed. Lana Whited. Columbia and London: University of Missouri Press, 2002. 261-84.
• Articles in Refereed Journals
  • "Was the Cat in the Hat Black?: Seuss and Race in the 1950s." Under consideration at Children’s Literature. 29 pp. in ms.
  • "Keywords for Children’s Literature: Mapping the Critical Moment." Co-written with Lissa Paul. Barnelitterært forskningstidsskrift/Nordic Journal of ChildLit Aesthetics. 19 pp. in manuscript. Forthcoming.
  • "Re-Imagining America: Jeff Smith, Herman Melville, and National Dreamscapes." Co-written with Jennifer A. Hughes. The Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics 4 (2013). 23 pp. in manuscript. Forthcoming.
  • "Same Genus, Different Species?: Comics and Picture Books."  Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 37.4 (Winter 2012): 445-453. <muse.jhu.edu/journals/childrens_literature_association_quarterly/v037/37.4.nel.html>. (Available to subscribers of Project Muse.)
  • "Radical Children’s Literature Now!" Co-written with Julia Mickenberg. Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 36.4 (Winter 2011): 445-473. <muse.jhu.edu/journals/childrens_literature_association_quarterly/v036/36.4.mickenberg01.html>. (Available to subscribers of Project Muse.)
  • "Obamafiction for Children: Imagining the Forty-Fourth U.S. President."  Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 35.4 (Winter 2010): 334-356. <muse.jhu.edu/journals/childrens_literature_association_quarterly/v035/35.4.nel.html>. (Available to subscribers of Project Muse.)
  • "Children's Literature Goes to War: Dr. Seuss, P.D. Eastman, Munro Leaf, and the Private SNAFU Films (1943-46)." The Journal of Popular Culture 40.3 (June 2007): 468-87. <www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1540-5931.2007.00404.x> (Available to subscribers.)
  • "Is There a Text in This Advertising Campaign?: Literature, Marketing, and Harry Potter." The Lion and the Unicorn 29.2 (Apr. 2005): 236-267. <muse.jhu.edu/journals/lion_and_the_unicorn/v029/29.2nel.html>. (Available to subscribers of Project Muse.)
  • "The Disneyfication of Dr. Seuss: Faithful to Profit, One Hundred Percent?" Cultural Studies 17.5 (Sept. 2003): 579-614. Read abstract of article (full text available to subscribers of Ingenta Select).
  • "Don DeLillo's Return to Form: The Modernist Poetics of The Body Artist." Contemporary Literature 43.4 (Winter 2002): 736-59. <links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0010-7484%28200224%2943%3A4%3C736%3ADDRTFT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-E> (Available to subscribers of JSTOR).
  • "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bored: Harry Potter, the Movie." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 46.2 (Oct. 2002): 172-75. Repr. Reading Online Nov. 2002 <www.readingonline.org/newliteracies/lit_index.asp?HREF=/newliteracies/jaal/10-02_column>.
  • "'Never overlook the art of the seemingly simple': Crockett Johnson and the Politics of the Purple Crayon." Children's Literature 29 (2001): 142-74.
  • "Amazons in the Underworld: Gender, the Body, and Power in the Novels of Don DeLillo." Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction 42.4 (Summer 2001): 416-36.
  • "'Said a Bird in the Midst of a Blitz...': How World War II Created Dr. Seuss." Mosaic: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature 34.2 (June 2001): 65-85.
  • "'A small incisive shock': Modern Forms, Postmodern Politics, and the Role of the Avant-Garde in Don DeLillo's Underworld." Modern Fiction Studies 45.3 (Fall 1999): 724-52. <muse.jhu.edu/journals/modern_fiction_studies/v045/45.3nel.html> (Available to subscribers of Project Muse).
  • "Dada Knows Best: Growing Up 'Surreal' with Dr. Seuss." Children's Literature 27 (1999): 150-84. Winner of the Children's Literature Association Article Award.
• Articles
  • "Crockett Johnson and the Invention of Barnaby."  The Comics Journal 22 Apr. 2013: <http://www.tcj.com/crockett-johnson-and-the-invention-of-barnaby/>.
  • "Wild Things, Children, and Art: The Life and Work of Maurice Sendak." The Comics Journal 302 (2013): 12-29.
  • "Adjunct to the Tenure Track -- Part II."  Inside Higher Education 3 Oct. 2012. <http://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2012/10/03/essay-how-adjunct-got-job-tenure-track>.
  • "From Adjunct to the Tenure Track."  Inside Higher Education 1 Oct. 2012. <http://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2012/10/01/essay-moving-adjunct-tenure-track-professor>.
  • "Before Barnaby: Crockett Johnson Grows Up and Turns Left."  The Comics Journal 26 Sept. 2012. <http://www.tcj.com/before-barnaby-crockett-johnson-grows-up-and-turns-left/>.
  • "Artists Are to Watch: Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss in the 1950s." Horn Book Sept.-Oct. 2012: 10-18.
  • "The Fall and Rise of Children’s Literature." American Art 22.1 (Spring 2008): 23-27.
  • "Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!: Dr. Seuss's Political Education," Child Parenting Journal [Australia], Spring 2008: 18-20.
  • "Crockett Johnson and the Purple Crayon: A Life in Art." Comic Art 5 (Winter 2004): 2-18. <www.ksu.edu/english/nelp/purple/nel_CJ_ComicArt_2004.pdf>
• Multimedia
  • "Metafiction for Children: A User’s Guide."  4-minute film.  In Media Res 3 Sept. 2010. <mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/imr/2010/09/03/metafiction-children-users-guide>.
  • Nine Kinds of Pie: Philip Nel’s Blog. July 2010-present. <www.philnel.com>.
  • “Dr. Seuss’s Biography” and “Timeline.”  Seussville.com  Aug. 2010.  <www.seussville.com/#/author>.
  • "Brave Potatoes." Curious Pages: Recommended Inappropriate Books for Kids, ed. Lane Smith and Bob Shea. Mar. 2010. <curiouspages.blogspot.com/2010/03/brave-potatoes.html>.
  • The Don DeLillo Society. June 1999-present. <www.ksu.edu/english/nelp/delillo>.
  • The Crockett Johnson Homepage. July 1998-present. <www.ksu.edu/english/nelp/purple>. Named a "Cool Site" by Yahoo! in November 1998, and deemed "Noteworthy" by Britannica.com in December 2000.
• Reprints
  • "Seussism."  Wildlife Art Journal  18 Aug. 2009 <wildlifeartjournal.com/articles/wildlife-art-journal-premium-content/fall-2009/76/seussism.html>.  [adapted from Dr. Seuss: American Icon]
  • "Is There a Text in This Advertising Campaign?: Literature, Marketing, and Harry Potter." Key readings in media today: Mass communication in contexts. Eds. Brooke Erin Duffy, Joseph Turow. New York: Routledge, 2008. [from The Lion and the Unicorn 29.2 (Apr. 2005)]
  • "Fantasy, Mystery, and Ambiguity." The Norton Guide to Field Writing with Readings and Handbook. Eds. Richard Bullock, Maureen Daly Goggin, Francine Weinberg. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2008. 663-669. [from J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter Novels: A Reader's Guide (2001), 36-41.]
  • "Amazons in the Underworld: Gender, the Body, and Power in the Novels of Don DeLillo." Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol. 213, ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Detroit: Gale, 2006. [from Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction 42.4 (Summer 2001), 416-36]
  • "'Said a Bird in the Midst of a Blitz...': How World War II Created Dr. Seuss." Children's Literature Review, Vol. 100, ed. Tom Burns.  Detroit: Gale, 2005.  [from Mosaic 34.2 (June 2001)]
  • "Dada Knows Best: Growing Up 'Surreal' with Dr. Seuss." Children's Literature Review, Vol. 103, ed. Tom Burns.  Detroit: Gale, 2005. [from Children’s Literature 27 (1999)]
• Varia
  • "Flat Stanley."  Everything I Needed to Know I Learned from a Children's Book: Life Lessons from Notable People from All Walks of Life, ed. Anita Silvey.  Roaring Brook Press, 2009.  66-67.
  • "A Is for Art." An Abstract Alphabet: New Works by Stephen Johnson (exhibition catalogue). Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 19 May - 5 Aug. 2007. Revised version printed in Alphabet Soup: Work by Stephen Johnson, Jim Munce, Tony Fitzpatrick, Beach Museum, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, 4 April – 3 Aug. 2008. Repr. <www.philnel.com/2010/08/31/stephen-johnson-abstract/>.
  • Letter to the Editor.  The Horn Book Nov.-Dec. 2006: <www.hbook.com/magazine/letters/nov06.asp>.
  • "Research Notes: 'A Left Turn.'" The Courant 1 (Fall 2004): 4-5. <library.syr.edu/information/spcollections/courant/no1-2004.pdf>. [Published by Syracuse University Libraries' Special Collections.]
  • "A Pro-Feminist Man." SKIRT! Magazine Nov. 1999: 39. Longer version printed as "A Pro-Feminist Man Is Not an Oxymoron: A Conversation with Michael Kimmel." The Forum: Women's Studies at the College of Charleston 3.1 (Fall 1999): 4-5.
• Refereed Reviews
  • Review of Eric L. Tribunella's Melancholia and Maturation: The Use of Trauma in American Children’s Literature.  South Atlantic Review 76.3 (2013).  Forthcoming, 3 pp. in ms.
  • "Animated. Scripted. Not Innocent." Review of Nathalie op de Beeck’s Suspended Animation: Children’s Picture Books and the Fairy Tale of Modernity and Robin Bernstein’s Racial Innocence: Performing American Childhood from Slavery to Civil Rights.  Children’s Literature 40 (2012): 305-310. <http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/childrens_literature/v040/40.nel.html>. (Available to subscribers of Project Muse.)
  • Review of Donald E. Pease’s Theodor SEUSS Geisel.  Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 36.1 (Spring 2011): 111-114 <muse.jhu.edu/journals/childrens_literature_association_quarterly/v036/36.1.nel.html>. (Available to subscribers of Project Muse.)
  • Review of Sabrina Jones’s Isadora Duncan: A Graphic Biography.  ImageText 5.3 (2010): <www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v5_3/>.
  • "Home Away from Home: One U.S. Reader’s Response to Home Words." Review of Home Words: Discourses of Children’s Literature in Canada, edited by Mavis Reimer. Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures 1.1 (Summer 2009): 105-111.
  • "Final Word: Gaiman and Grimly’s Dangerous Alphabet — Diverting, Deranged, De-Lovely." First Opinions — Second Reactions 2.1 (May 2009): 48-52. <docs.lib.purdue.edu/fosr/vol2/iss1/22/>.
  • Review of Leonard S. Marcus’s Minders of Make-Believe: Idealists, Entrepreneurs, and the Shaping of American Children’s Literature.  Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 34.2 (Summer 2009): 193-196. <muse.jhu.edu/journals/childrens_literature_association_quarterly/v034/34.2.nel.html>. (Available to subscribers of Project Muse.)
  • Review of Tove Jansson's Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip, Vol. 1.  ImageText 3.3 (Summer 2007).  <www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v3_3/nel/>.
  • Review of Julia L. Mickenberg's Learning from the Left: Children's Literature, the Cold War, and Radical Politics in the United States.  Children's Literature Association Quarterly 32.1 (2007): 80-82. <muse.jhu.edu/journals/childrens_literature_association_quarterly/v032/32.1nel.html>. (Available to subscribers of Project Muse.)
  • Review of Kenneth B. Kidd's Making American Boys: Boyology and the Feral Tale.  Men and Masculinities 8.3 (2006): 369-371.
  • Review of UnderWords: Perspectives on Don DeLillo’s Underworld, edited by Joseph Dewey, Steven G. Kellman, and Irving Malin.  symplokê 13.1-2 (2005): 370-371. <muse.jhu.edu/journals/symploke/v013/13.1nel.html>. (Available to subscribers of Project Muse.)
  • "A Tale of Two Canons." Review of Michelle H. Martin's Brown Gold: Milestones of African-American Children's Picture Books, 1845-2002 and Anita Silvey's 100 Best Books for Children. Children's Literature 33 (2005): 242-51. <muse.jhu.edu/journals/childrens_literature/v033/33.1nel.html>. (Available to subscribers of Project Muse.)
  • Review of The American Child: A Cultural Studies Reader, edited by Caroline F. Levander and Carol J. Singley. American Historical Review 109.5 (Dec. 2004): 1587-88. <www.historycooperative.org/journals/ahr/109.5/br_65.html>.
  • "O Puppet, Where Art Thou?: The Transformations of Pinocchio." Review of Richard Wunderlich and Thomas J. Morrissey's Pinocchio Goes Postmodern: Perils of a Puppet in the United States. Children's Literature 32 (2004): 226-230. <muse.jhu.edu/journals/childrens_literature/v032/32.1nel.html>. (Available to subscribers of Project Muse.)
  • Review of Mark Osteen's American Magic and Dread: Don DeLillo's Dialogue with Culture. Studies in the Novel 35.1 (Spring 2003): 128-31.
  • Review of Productive Postmodernism: Consuming Histories and Cultural Studies, edited by John N. Duvall. South Atlantic Review 67.4 (Fall 2002): 174-77.
  • "Metaphors and Paranoia: Two Approaches to Contemporary American Fiction." Review of Timothy Melley's Empire of Conspiracy: The Culture of Paranoia in Postwar America and Arthur Saltzman's This Mad "Instead": Governing Metaphors in Contemporary Fiction. Modern Fiction Studies 48.2 (Summer 2002): 480-85. <muse.jhu.edu/journals/modern_fiction_studies/v048/48.2nel.html>. (Available to subscribers of Project Muse.)
  • Review of David Lewis's Reading Contemporary Picturebooks: Picturing Text. Children's Literature Association Quarterly 27.1 (Spring 2002): 57-58.
  • "Inside Picture Books, Outside of History." Review of Ellen Handler Spitz's Inside Picture Books. Children's Literature 29 (2001): 275-80.
  • Review of James Carter's Talking Books. The Lion and the Unicorn 25.2 (April 2001): 328-30. <muse.jhu.edu/journals/lion_and_the_unicorn/v025/25.2nel.html> (Available to subscribers of Project Muse).
  • Review of Amy Hempel's Tumble Home. Studies in Short Fiction 35.2 (Summer 1998): 199-200.
  • Review of Micro Fiction, edited by Jerome Stern. Studies in Short Fiction 34.4 (Fall 1997): 532-33.
• Reviews
  • Twenty-three book reviews for The Post and Courier, the daily paper of Charleston, SC. August 1998-May 2000. <www.ksu.edu/english/nelp/reviews>.
  • Review of Mary Gabriel's Notorious Victoria: The Life of Victoria Woodhull, Uncensored. The Forum: Women's Studies at the College of Charleston 2.2 (Spring 1999): 6-7.
• Reference
  • Entries on Ruth Krauss, Molly Leach, Winsor McCay, and Lucy Sprague Mitchell. Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature. Ed. Jack Zipes. Oxford UP, 2006. Vol. 2: 383, 412. Vol. 3: 50-51, 81.
  • "Seuss, Dr. (Theodor Seuss Geisel)." The Encyclopedia of New England Culture. Eds. Burt Feintuch and David Watters. New Haven and London: Yale UP, 2005. 1026-1027.
  • "Dr. Seuss." Encyclopedia on Men and Masculinities, Vol. II: K-Z. Eds. Michael Kimmel and Amy Aaronson. Santa Barbara, Denver, and Oxford: ABC-Clio Press, 2003. 710-713.
  • "Underworld by Don DeLillo." Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction. Vol. 12. Ed. Mark W. Scott. Farmington Hills, MI: The Gale Group, 2000. 445-61.
  • "The Harry Potter Phenomenon." Dictionary of Literary Biography Yearbook: 1999. Ed. Matthew J. Bruccoli. Detroit: The Gale Group, 2000. 173-79.
  • "Don DeLillo: An Annotated Bibliography." Co-written with Curt Gardner. Don DeLillo's America. Website. Ed. Curt Gardner. 1997. 10 pp. in manuscript. <perival.com/delillo/ddbiblio.html>.

INVITED LECTURES (Selected):

• on Radical Children's Literature:
  • "Surrealism for Children: Paradoxes and Possibilities."  Children’s Literature and the European Avant-Garde. Scandic Linköping Väst, Norrköping, Sweden. 29 Sept. 2012.
  • "Radical Children's Literature Now!"Co-presented with Julia Mickenberg. Children's Literature Association Conference. Hollins University, Roanoke, VA. 25 Jun. 2011.
  • "Tales for Little Rebels: A Collection of Radical Children's Literature."  Co-presented with Julia Mickenberg.  Bluestockings Bookstore, New York, NY. 20 Dec. 2008.  Broadcast on C-SPAN2's Book TV, 31 Jan and 1 Feb 2009. To watch the program, click on this sentence.
  • "Radical Children’s Literature."  Co-presented with Julia Mickenberg.  E.S. Bird Library, Syracuse University. Syracuse, NY.  7 Feb. 2008. To see the lecture, click on this sentence (scroll down to bottom of page for link): Julia talks from 8:00 to 21:45, Phil from 21:45 to 32:24, and both from then on.
  • "Children's Literature and the Left." Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities, Case Western Reserve University. Cleveland, OH. 3 April 2006.
• on Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss:
  • "Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss: How an Unlikely Couple Found Love, Dodged the FBI, and Transformed Children’s Literature."
    • Children’s Literary Salon.  New York Public Library.  New York, NY. 27 Oct. 2012.
    • Lois Lenski Lecture.  Illinois State University.  Normal, IL.  26 Mar. 2012.
  • "Artists Are to Watch: Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss in the 1950s." "Second to the Right and Straight on ‘Til Morning": Navigating the Narrative Realm(s) of Children’s Texts.  University of British Columbia. Vancouver, BC.  1 May 2010.
  • "Behind the Purple Crayon: The Life and Work of Crockett Johnson." Plum Creek Literacy Festival. Concordia University, Seward, NE. 11 Oct. 2008.
  • "Behind the Purple Crayon: Crockett Johnson at 100." A Crockett Johnson Centenary. Bender Room, Green Library, Stanford University Libraries. Stanford, CA. 20 Oct. 2006.
  • "Writing from the Left: Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss." Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities, Case Western Reserve University. Cleveland, OH. 5 April 2006.
  • "Two Lives, One Story: Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss." National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.  Washington, DC.  7 June 2005.
  • "Writing Lives: The Stories of Ruth Krauss and Crockett Johnson."  Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, 22 July 2004.
• on Dr. Seuss:
  • "'A Person's a Person': The Politics of Dr. Seuss."  National Museum of Wildlife Art.  Jackson, WY.  9 July 2009.
  • "Was the Cat in the Hat Black?: Seuss and Race in the 1950s."
    • Washington University.  St. Louis, MO.  22 Mar. 2013.
    • College of Charleston.  Charleston, SC.  18 Mar. 2013.
    • Dartmouth College.  Hanover, NH.  18 May 2010.
    • Francelia Butler Children’s Literature Conference, Hollins University, Roanoke, VA. 19 July 2008.
  • "Under the Hats of Seuss and His Cats: The Annotated Cat in the Hat."
    • Hollins University, Roanoke, VA. 17 Apr. 2008.
    • Dutchess Community College, Poughkeepsie, NY. 18 Oct. 2007.
    • International Reading Association Annual Convention. Toronto, Ontario. 16 May 2007.
    • Seuss Room, Geisel Library, University of California at San Diego.  25 Apr. 2007.
    • The University of Westminster, London, England. 24 Nov. 2006.
    • Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities, Case Western Reserve University. Cleveland, OH. 7 April 2006.
  • "Annotated Anarchy: Under the Hats of Seuss and His Cats." Comics and Childhood: The 4th Annual University of Florida Comics Conference.  University of Florida. Gainesville, FL. 24 Feb. 2006
  • "Dr. Seuss, American Icon: The Legacy of Theodor Seuss Geisel."
    • Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI.  11 Oct. 2010.
    • Plum Creek Literacy Festival. Concordia University, Seward, NE. 11 Oct. 2008.
    • University of Mary Washington. Fredericksburg, VA. 15 Apr. 2008. To see the lecture, click on this sentence.
    • Austin Museum of Art, Austin, TX.  19 Nov. 2005.
    • Virginia Beach Reading Council.  Virginia Beach, VA. 23 May 2005.
    • Archives of American Art, Victor Building, Smithsonian Institution. Washington, DC. 27 Jan. 2005.
  • "UNLESS: The Legacy of Dr. Seuss's The Lorax." Kansas Association for Conservation and Environmental Education. Dodge City, KS. 5 Nov. 2004.
  • "Dr. Seuss Between the Covers." Seuss Room, Mandeville Special Collections Library. University of California at San Diego. 24 May 2004.
  • "Dr. Seuss at 100: The Legacy of Theodor Seuss Geisel."
    • Kansas Association of Teachers of English, Wichita, KS. 22 Oct. 2004.
    • Confratute, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT. 12 July 2004.
    • New England Carousel Museum, Bristol Center for Arts and Culture, Bristol, CT. 10 July 2004.
    • Rotary Club, Manhattan, KS. 15 April 2004.
    • Rotary Club, Kansas City, MO. 25 Mar. 2004.
    • the Oak Park Library, Kansas City . KS, 22 Mar. 2004.
    • Brooklyn Public Library, NY. 2 Mar. 2004.
    • Barnes & Noble, 675 6th Ave., New York, NY. 1 Mar. 2004.
• on J. K. Rowling:
  • "Harry Potter: A Cultural Biography."
    • University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.  23 Mar. 2012.
    • Young Harris College, Young Harris, GA.  19 Oct. 2010.
    • University of Mary Washington. Fredericksburg, VA. 14 Apr. 2009. To see the lecture, click on this sentence.
  • "Lost in Translation?: Harry Potter, from Page to Screen."
    • Dutchess Community College, Poughkeepsie, NY. 18 Oct. 2007.
    • Prophecy 2007: From Hero to Legend. Toronto, Ontario. 4 Aug. 2007.
  • "The Most Dangerous Book in America?: Harry Potter vs. the Book Banners."  Kansas Association of Teachers of English, Wichita, KS. 21 Oct. 2004.
  • "What Makes a Professor Behave Like Snape?: Literature, Marketing, and the Critical Backlash Against Harry Potter." Nimbus 2003: The Harry Potter Symposium. Orlando, FL. 18 July 2003. Same talk given at the Oak Park Library, Kansas City, KS. 25 July 2003.
  • "'When in Doubt, Go to the Library': Learning from Harry Potter." Clark County School Librarian's Association Annual Awards Banquet. Las Vegas, NV. 14 May 2003.
• on other subjects:
  • "Accidental Experts: Strategy, Serendipity, and the Places You’ll Go." Co-presented with Karin Westman. Vanderbilt University. Nashville, TN. 11 Nov. 2011.
  • "Keywords for Children’s Literature: Mapping the Critical Moment." Co-presented with Lissa Paul. Nordic Children’s Literature – A New Research Question?  Oslo, Norway.  24 Aug. 2012.
  • "Keywords for Children’s Literature." Co-presented with Lissa Paul. Cambridge Festival of Ideas.  Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK. 26 Oct. 2011.  [Via Skype.]

CONFERENCE PAPERS:

• "Laughing from the Left: Crockett Johnson’s Barnaby, and the Limits of Satire as a Means of Dissent." American Studies Association Annual Meeting. Washington, DC. 21-24 Nov. 2013.
• "Whiteness, Nostalgia, and Fantastic Flying Books: The Disappearance of Race in William Joyce." 21st Biennial Conference of the International Research Society for Children’s Literature.  Maastricht, Netherlands.  10-14 Aug. 2013.
• "Manifesto for a Comics-Children’s Literature Alliance." 40th Annual Children’s Literature Association Conference.  Biloxi, MS.  13-15 Jun. 2013.
• "Getting a Race-Lift: Whitewashing, Marketing, and Resistance in Children’s Literature."  American Studies Association Annual Meeting.  San Juan, Puerto Rico. 16 Nov. 2012
• "Don’t Judge a Book by Its Color: Whitewashing, Race, and Resistance."  39th Annual Children’s Literature Association Conference. Simmons College. Boston, MA. 14 June 2012.
• "Not Genres, but Modes of Graphic Narrative: Comics and Picture Books."  Modern Language Association.  Seattle, WA.  7 Jan. 2012
• "Re-Imagining America: Jeff Smith, Herman Melville, and American Dreamscapes." Co-presented with Jennifer A. Hughes.  American Studies Association Annual Meeting.  Baltimore, MD.  23 Oct. 2011.
• "Erasing Race to Keep Kids Safe?: The Ideological Effects of Bowdlerizing Children’s Literature."  20th Biennial Conference of the International Research Society for Children’s Literature.  Brisbane, Australia.  5 July 2011.
• "The Hope in the Joke: The Politics of Laughter in Dr. Seuss."  American Studies Association Annual Conference. San Antonio, TX. 20 Nov. 2010.
• "Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss."  Panel on "Writing a Biography of a Children’s Author."  Children’s Literature Association Conference.  Ypsilanti/Ann Arbor, MI.  11 June 2010.
• "Obamafiction for Children: Imagining the Fourty-Fourth President." American Studies Association Annual Meeting: Practices of Citizenship, Sustainability and Belonging. 6 Nov. 2009. Washington, DC.
• "The Obamafication of Children’s Literature: Representing the 44th U.S. President." 19th Biennial Conference of the International Research Society for Children’s Literature.  Frankfurt, Germany.  12 Aug. 2009.
• "From the Bank Street School to the New York School: The Poetry of Ruth Krauss."  Annual Conference of the Children’s Literature Association.  Charlotte, NC.  11 June 2009.
• "Writing the Lives of Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss." Modernist Studies Association. Nashville, TN. 14 Nov. 2008.
• "The Black Cat in the Hat: Seuss and Race in the 1950s." American Studies Association Annual Meeting. Back Down to the Crossroads: Integrative American Studies in Theory and Practice. Albuquerque, NM. 18 Oct. 2008.
• "How to Publish Your Book; or, The Little Manuscript That Could." Annual Conference of the Children’s Literature Association: Reimagining Normal.  Normal, IL.  12 June 2008.
• "Postmodernism." Annual Conference of the Children’s Literature Association: Reimagining Normal.  Normal, IL.  12 June 2008.
• "The Power of the Director: Harry Potter, from Page to Screen." 18th Biennial Conference of the International Research Society for Children’s Literature.  Kyoto, Japan. 27 Aug. 2007.
• "A Hole to Dig, a Purple Crayon, and the FBI: Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss in the 1950s." The Futures of American Studies Institute 2007: Reconfigurations of American Studies.  Dartmouth College. Hanover, NH. 19 June 2007.
• "Inventing a Radical Tradition in Children's Literature." Co-presented with Julia Mickenberg.  Annual Conference of the Children’s Literature Association.  Christopher Newport University, Newport News, VA. 15 June 2007.
• "Punching the Clock and Turning Left: Crockett Johnson's Missing Years, 1925-1934." American Literature Association: 18th Annual Conference. Boston, MA. 24 May 2007.
• "Dave and the Purple Crayon: Crockett Johnson Grows Up, 1906-1924."  Annual Conference of the Children’s Literature Association: Transformations.  Manhattan Beach, CA.  9 June 2006.
• "The Purple Crayon and the Red Scare: Harold, Crockett Johnson, and the FBI." Privacy: 15th Annual Cultural Studies Conference. Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS. 11 Mar. 2006.
• "A Book Is to Write: Ruth Krauss and the Bank Street School, 1945-1953."  American Literature Association: 2005 Conference.  Boston, MA. 26 May 2005.
• "License to Imagine: The Charmed Childhood of Ruth Krauss." Sixth Biennial Conference on Modern Critical Approaches to Children's Literature. Nashville, TN. 1 Apr. 2005.
• "Harold and the Red Crayon: The Radical Art of Crockett Johnson, 1934-1944" Children's Literature Association Annual Conference: Dreams and Visions. Fresno, CA. 11 June 2004.
• "Children's Literature Goes to War: Dr. Seuss, P.D. Eastman, Munro Leaf, and the Private SNAFU Films (1943-46)." Annual Meeting of the American Studies Association: "Violence and Belonging." Hartford, CT. 18 Oct. 2003.
• "Sex, Alcohol, and Con-Men: The Other Side of Dr. Seuss." American Literature Association: 2003 Conference. Cambridge, MA. 22 May 2003.
• "A Very Special House: Maurice Sendak, Ruth Krauss, and Crockett Johnson, 1950-1960." Fifth Biennial Conference on Modern Critical Approaches to Children's Literature. Nashville, TN. 11 April 2003.
• "The Cat in the Hat for President: Dr. Seuss and the Public Imagination." 2002 SAMLA Convention. Baltimore, MD. 16 Nov. 2002.
• "U.S. Laureate of Nonsense: A Seussian Poetics." Children's Literature Association Annual Conference: Education in Children's Literature. Wilkes-Barre, PA. 15 June 2002.
• "You say 'jelly,' I say 'Jell-O'?: Harry Potter and the Transfiguration of Language." Children's Literature Association Annual Conference: Education in Children's Literature. Wilkes-Barre, PA. 14 June 2002.
• "Faithful to Profit, One Hundred Percent?: The Disneyfication of Dr. Seuss." Late Modern Planet: 11th Annual Cultural Studies Symposium. Manhattan, KS. 7 March 2002.
• "Being 'alert to the clarity of the moment': Language and Experience in DeLillo's The Body Artist." American Literature Association: 2001 Conference. Cambridge, MA. 27 May 2001.
• "The Life and Work of Crockett Johnson: Scenes from a Biography in Progress." Fourth Biennial Conference on Modern Critical Approaches to Children's Literature. Nashville, TN. 7 April 2001.
• "'Said a Bird in the Midst of a Blitz...': The World War II Cartoons of Dr. Seuss." Children's Literature Association Annual Conference: Landmarks, Boundaries, and Watersheds. Roanoke, VA. 22 June 2000. 
• "Some of Us Had Been Threatening Our Friend Postmodernism: Donald Barthelme and the Historical Avant-Garde." Twentieth-Century Literature Conference. Louisville, KY. 26 February 2000.
• "Just a Dream?: Chris Van Allsburg and Surrealism at the End of the Twentieth Century." Border Subjects IV: Growing Up (Post)Modern. Normal, IL. 8 October 1999.
• "Amazons in the Underworld: Gender, the Body, and Power in the Novels of Don DeLillo." The American Literature Association: Tenth Annual Conference. Baltimore, MD. 30 May 1999.
• "'Never overlook the art of the seemingly simple': Crockett Johnson and the Politics of the Purple Crayon." Third Biennial Conference on Modern Critical Approaches to Children's Literature. Nashville, TN. 26 March 1999.
• "'A small incisive shock': Modern Forms, Postmodern Politics, and the Role of the Avant-Garde in Underworld." Don DeLillo: "At the Edges of Perception." Rutgers, NJ. 25 March 1998.
• "Dada Knows Best: Growing Up 'Surreal' with Dr. Seuss." Second Biennial Conference on Modern Critical Approaches to Children's Literature. Nashville, TN. 11 April 1997.

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY:

• Co-chair and co-organizer (with Lissa Paul), "Keywords for Children's Literature: A Roundtable Discussion." Biennial Conference of the International Research Society for Children’s Literature. Maastricht, Netherlands. 10-14 Aug. 2013.
• Panelist (with Daniel Clowes, Mark Newgarden, Chris Ware, Eric Reynolds), “Crockett Johnson’s Barnaby and the American Clear Line School.”  Small Press Expo. Bethesda, MD. 15 Sept 2012.
• Co-chair and co-organizer (with Lissa Paul), “Filling the Gaps: The Future of Keywords for Children’s Literature.”  Modern Language Association.  Seattle, WA.  5 Jan. 2012
• Co-chair and co-organizer (with Lissa Paul), "Keywords for Children’s Literature." Annual Conference of the Children’s Literature Association: Reimagining Normal.  Normal, IL.  12 June 2008.
• Chair and Organizer, "The Cat in the Hat at Fifty." 2007 MLA Convention. Chicago, IL. 28 Dec. 2007.
• Panelist, "Canon: Its Context and Completion," Prophecy 2007: From Hero to Legend, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 3 Aug. 2007.
• Chair and Organizer, “Recovering a Radical Tradition of Children’s Literature.” Annual Conference of the Children’s Literature Association.  Christopher Newport University, Newport News, VA. 15 June 2007.
• Chair and Organizer, "Children's Literature Discussion Circle: Life and Work."  2005 SAMLA Convention.  Atlanta, GA. 5 Nov. 2005.
• Chair and Organizer, "Green Eggs and Aesthetics: The 1960s and American Nonsense Literature." American Literature Association: 2005 Conference.  Boston, MA. 26 May 2005.
• Chair and Organizer, "Children's Literature and the Left." 2004 MLA Convention. Philadelphia, PA. 28 Dec. 2004.
• Participant, "Syllabus Exchange: Approaches to Teaching Children's Literature Using Technology." Children's Literature Association Annual Conference: Dreams and Visions. Fresno, CA. 12 June 2004.
• Panelist, “Publishing on Potter: Dodging the Bludgers.”  Nimbus 2003: The Harry Potter Symposium.  Orlando, FL. 19 July 2003.
• Panelist, "Plenary Session: Picturebooks." Fifth Biennial Conference on Modern Critical Approaches to Children's Literature. Nashville, TN. 11 April 2003.
• Chair and Organizer, "The Politics of Popular American Children's Books." 2002 SAMLA Convention. Baltimore, MD. 16 Nov. 2002.
• Chair and Organizer, "The P2K Problem: Excavating the Future of Postmodernism." Twentieth-Century Literature Conference. Louisville, KY. 26 February 2000.

ACADEMIC HONORS AND GRANTS:

• Nominated for an Eisner Award for Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss: How an Unlikely Couple Found Love, Dodged the FBI, and Transformed Children’s Literature, 2013.
• Distinguished Graduate Faculty Award, Kansas State University, 2011.
• Big 12 Faculty Fellowship, 2005-2006.
• Smithsonian Postdoctoral Fellowship, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC, 2005.
• Choice Magazine's "Outstanding Academic Books of 2004" for Dr. Seuss: American Icon.
• William L. Stamey Teaching Award, Kansas State University, 2004.
• Sigmund Strochlitz Travel Grant, Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut, 2004.
• NEH Summer Stipend, 2003.
• Children's Literature Association Article Award for "Dada Knows Best: Growing Up 'Surreal' with Dr. Seuss," Children's Literature 27 (1999): 150-84. Award presented in 2001.
• University Small Research Grant, Kansas State University, Fall 2000, Spring 2001, Fall 2001, Spring 2002, Spring 2004, Spring 2006.
• College Research & Development Grant, College of Charleston, 2000.
• University Teaching Fellowship, Vanderbilt University, 1993-1997.
• University Fellowship, Vanderbilt University, 1992-1993.
• Phi Beta Kappa, 1992.

QUOTED IN MEDIA (Partial List): USA Today, Washington Post, CBS Sunday Morning, Talk of the Nation (NPR), Morning Edition (NPR), Weekend Edition Saturday (NPR), New York Times, Newsweek, US News & World Report, Book TV (C-SPAN2), San Francisco Chronicle, The World (BBC/PRI), The Voice of America, Book Talk (Radio National, Australia), Life Matters (Radio National, Australia), Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Hartford Courant, Daily Telegraph (UK), Globe and Mail (Toronto), National Post (Toronto), CNN.com, Publishers Weekly, Investor’s Business Daily, MacLean’s, Semana (Columbia), Arena (RTE Radio 1, Ireland). For a more complete list, please click on this sentence.

LISTINGS: Contemporary Authors, Who’s Who in America.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE:

• Kansas State University
  • ENGL 355. Literature for Children. Fall 2000, Spring 2001, Fall 2001, Spring 2002, Spring 2003, Spring 2004, Fall 2004, Spring 2005, Spring 2006, Spring 2007, Spring 2008, Fall 2008, Spring 2010, Spring 2011, Spring 2012, Spring 2013.
  • ENGL 440. Harry Potter's Library: J.K. Rowling, Texts and Contexts. Spring 2002, Spring 2003, Spring 2005, Spring 2006, Fall 2006, Fall 2009.
  • ENGL 440. The Graphic Novel. Spring 2008, Spring 2010, Fall 2012, Fall 2013.
  • ENGL 525. Women in Literature. Fall 2004.
  • ENGL 545. Literature for Adolescents. Fall 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2010. Spring 2009, Fall 2011, Fall 2012.
  • ENGL 650. Readings in Contemporary American Novels. Fall 2000.
  • ENGL 660. Don DeLillo. Fall 2001.
  • ENGL 680. Censoring Children's Literature. Fall 2010.
  • ENGL 680/710. Dr. Seuss.  Spring 2007, Spring 2012.
  • ENGL 680. 20th Century American Children's Picturebooks. Fall 2005.
  • ENGL 680. Radical Children's Literature. Fall 2008.
  • ENGL 690. Children's Literature and the Left. Spring 2004.
  • ENGL 703. Critical Approaches to Children's Literature. Spring 2009, Spring 2011, Spring 2013.
  • ENGL 830. Comics and Graphic Novels. Fall 2009.
  • ENGL 830. Image, Text, Ideology: Picturebooks and Illustrated Works. Fall 2003.
• College of Charleston
  • COMM 230. Writing for the Mass Media. Spring 1999.
  • ENGL 101. Composition and Literature (Fiction and Non-Fiction). Fall 1998, Fall 1999, Spring 2000.
  • ENGL 102. Composition and Literature (Drama and Poetry). Fall 1998 - Spring 2000.
  • WMST 200. Introduction to Women's Studies. Spring 1999.
• Vanderbilt University
  • AMST 201. Introduction to American Studies. Spring 1998.
  • ENGL 100W. Basic Composition. Fall 1995.
  • ENGL 104W. Introduction to Fiction. Fall 1993, Spring 1994, Spring 1996.
  • ENGL 105W. Introduction to Drama. Fall 1994, Spring 1995, Fall 1997.
  • ENGL 112W. Introduction to Poetry. Fall 1997, Spring 1998.
  • ENGL 120W. Intermediate Composition. Spring 1997.

DEPARTMENTAL SERVICE:

• Director, Program in Children's Literature, 2006-.
• M.A. Theses Directed: Courtney Strimel, "The Politics of Terror: Re-reading Harry Potter" (2002); Jill Clingan, "Connecting Gendered Identities and Eating-Disordered Behavior in Don DeLillo's End Zone" (2003); Matt Webber, "'N Sync, the Branded Pop Stars" (2004); Michelle Newman, "Politics, Gender, Narrative, and Power: A Study of Incest and Madness in Nabokov's Ada or Ardor" (2005); Patrick Dixon, "Mouse Tales: The Ownership and Inheritance of Memory in Art Spiegelman's Maus" (2005); Paul Brown, "Harry Potter and the Eternal Character of a Scar: The Influence of the Runes, Germanic Mythology and Hero Epic in J. K. Rowling's Series" (2005); Zachary Welhouse, “Adventures Ahoy: Postmodern Society and Heroism in Grant Morrison’s Seaguy and Alan Moore’s Watchmen” (2010); Christina Gaines, “In Defense of the Cross-Conversing Bridge: Tackling (Yet Again) the Pairing of Canonical and Young Adult Literature with Huxley’s Brave New World and Farmer’s House of the Scorpion” (2010); Elizabeth Williams, “Speaking from the Gutter: Space, Silence and Sexuality in Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic” (2010); Shaun Baker, “Scott Pilgrim’s Progress: Readers’ Codes and The New Literacy in Scott Pilgrim” (2012).
• M.A. Committees: Harvey Partica, Carrie Sanford, Steve Sink, Hugh O'Connell, Erin Fritch, Matthew Raese, Jay Stringfield, Mickayla Fink, Eric Ramsier, Kristen Barnes, Brandy Isaacs, Emily Vieyra, Melissa Glaser, Trevor Alexander, Priscilla Mizell, Rachel Parkin, Amy Harris-Aber, Lindsey Givens, Crystal Bandel, Charlene Edwards.
• Undergraduate Advisor, Kansas State University, 2002-2009.
• Webmaster (with Naomi Wood), Kansas State University's Department of English <www.ksu.edu/english/>, 2000-.
• Editor, Reading Matters (monthly newsletter), English Dept., Kansas State University, <www.ksu.edu/english/reading/>, 2003-.
• Member, Annual Newsletter Committee, English Dept., Kansas State University, 2002-06.
• Member, GAC (Graduate Advisory Committee), English Dept., 2009-.
• Member, Speakers' Commitee, English Dept., Kansas State University, 2003-05.
• Member, PAC (Personnel Advisory Committee), English Dept., Kansas State University, 2002-03, 2004-05.
• Member, Technology Committee, English Dept., Kansas State University, 2000-.
• Member, Cultural Studies Committee, English Dept., Kansas State University, 2000-2008.
• Member, Steering Committee, Women's Studies Program, Kansas State University, 2005-.
• Member, Steering Committee, Women's Studies Program, College of Charleston, 1999-2000.

UNIVERSITY SERVICE:

• Big 12 Faculty Fellowship Committee, Kansas State University, 2012-.
• USRG/FDA Committee, Kansas State University, 2011-.
• NEH Library Committee, Kansas State University, 2006-.
• Exhibitions Committee, Beach Museum of Art, 2008-2011.
• Organizer, Scott McCloud’s visit and lecture on “Comics: A Medium in Transition,” Kansas State University, 16 July 2007.
• Organizer, Michael Patrick Hearn's visit and lecture "On the Road to Oz: The Making of an American Classic," Kansas State University, 26 Feb. 2004.
• Phi Beta Kappa (KSU Chapter), Steering Committee, 2002-2006; Committee on Honorary/Alumni Members: member, 2003-06, chair, 2004-05.
• Pop Culture Historian, "What's Going On?: An Incomplete List of Songs About Vietnam," contribution to the Vietnam War: 25 Years After website, College of Charleston, 1999-2000.
• Co-organizer, James Loewen's visit to and lecture in Charleston, the College of Charleston, 28 and 29 Oct. 1999.

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE:

• General Editor, Routledge's Children's Literature and Culture series, 2011-.
• Editorial Board, Book 2.0, 2011-.
• Reviewer/Panelist, NEH Summer Stipends Program, 2005, 2007, & 2009.
• Consultant, A&E Biography: Dr. Seuss. Produced by Brian Tessier. Written by Peter Jones & Brian Tessier (Peter Jones Productions, 2003).
• Reader of manuscripts for Addison Wesley Longman, Broadview Press, Ohio State University Press, Oxford University Press, Prentice-Hall, Rutgers University Press, Syracuse University Press, Teachers College Press, University Press of Mississippi, Wayne State University Press, Children's Literature Association Quarterly, Children's Literature, Contemporary Literature, International Research in Children’s Literature, Jeunesse, Journal of the M/MLA, Journal of Modern Language Studies, Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, The Lion and the Unicorn, Lit: Literature Interpretation Theory, The Looking Glass: An Online Children's Literature Journal, Modern Fiction Studies, Modern Language Studies, PMLA, Studies in the Novel, Visual Resources.
• Co-organizer, "Don DeLillo: 'At the Edges of Perception,'" an international conference on DeLillo held at Rutgers University, March 25 and 26, 1998.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS:

• Don DeLillo Society: Secretary, 1999-2003; Bibliographer, 1999-2011; Webmaster, 1999-.
• American Studies Association: Member, 2001-; Humor Studies Caucus, 2009-; Visual Culture Caucus, 2009-.
• Children's Literature Association: Member, 1997-; Article Award Committee, 2003-2006; Book Award Committee, 2010-2012.
• International Research Society for Children's Literature: Member, 2008-.
• Modern Language Association: Member, 1993-; executive committee, Division on Children's Literature, 2004-2008; Children's Literature Association MLA liaison, 2007-2013.
• Phi Beta Kappa: Member, 1992-. 

REFERENCES:

• Jay Clayton, Kenan Professor of English, Vanderbilt University.
• Gregory Eiselein, Professor of English and Director of Graduate Studies, Kansas State University.
• Michael Kreyling, Professor of English, Vanderbilt University.
• Mark Osteen, Professor of English, Loyola College of Maryland.
• Anne Phillips, Associate Professor of English and Associate Head, Kansas State University.
• Jan Susina, Professor of English, Illinois State University at Normal.
• Cecelia Tichi, Kenan Professor of English, Vanderbilt University.
• Mark Wollaeger, Professor of English, Vanderbilt University.
• Naomi Wood, Associate Professor of English, Kansas State University.