Children's Literature Interdisciplinary Collection - CLIC: Research Support

Resources that support the teaching, learning and scholarship of children's and young adult literature.

Recommended Databases

ERIC
ERIC is the largest education database in the world providing indexing and abstracts of all types of materials including journal articles, government documents, books, dissertations, and unpublished materials such as curriculum guides, research reports and conference papers in education and related topics in the social sciences.
Children's Literature Comprehensive Database
Children's Literature Comprehensive Database contains full-text reviews to thousands of children's books with many links to web pages featuring individual authors or illustrators.
ICDL - International Children's Digital Library
The mission of the International Children's Digital Library Foundation (ICDL Foundation) is to support the world's children in becoming effective members of the global community - who exhibit tolerance and respect for diverse cultures, languages and ideas -- by making the best in children's literature available online free of charge.

EBSCO Multi-Database Search
Search all EBSCO databases at once, or click "choose databases" to customize the databases included in your search.

Scholarly Organizations

Children's Literature Association
http://www.childlitassn.org/
The International Research Society for Children's Literature
http://www.irscl.ac.uk/news.htm
Overview article on the scholarship of children's literature in Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children's_literature
Association for Library Service to Children: ALSC
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/index.cfm

Web Sites

Locating Particular Articles and Reviews

To locate a review on a particular title in a particular journal, use the Ebsco or ERIC Database. Select Journal Name, from the drop-down menu, and type in the journal title. Then, in a separate search box, type in the title of the book or the author's name.

Links to these databases appear on the upper-left of this guide. If you would like assistance, visit the reference desk (in-person or online) or, contact the CLIC librarian, Sylvia Tag.

Publications that Review Children's and Young Adult Literature

Journals that review children's literature: The Horn Book, Book Links, Reading Teacher, Multicultural Review, Kirkus Reviews and School Library Journal are all available in print or full-text online via the Western Libraries Home Page: library.wwu.edu

Published online, The Voice of Youth Advocates, VOYA and The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books are excellent resources.

Children's Literature Review, is a multi-volume series (over 150!) that contains history and criticism of authors and illustrators. Cumulative indexes, for finding entries, are located within the series.

More about these important publications

Horn Book Published since 1924, The Horn Book offers interviews, articles, reviews and editorials. Go to the Web site for inks to the newsletter, blog and awards: www.hbook.com

Book Links is for teachers, youth librarians, school library media specialists, reading specialists, and curriculum coordinators. Articles provide comprehensive information on using books in the classroom, including thematic bibliographies with related discussion questions and activities, author and illustrator interviews and essays, and articles by educators.

Reading Teacher includes:

Articles written by reading professionals, for reading professionals
Practical, evidence-based teaching ideas
Information on the latest developments in research
Columns on critical issues in the field
Reviews and information about great children's books for classroom use

MultiCultural Review: Dedicated to a Better Understanding of Ethnic, Racial, and Religious Diversity, includes discussions, bibliographic essays, ethnographic articles, and reviews of non-print resources.

Kirkus Reviews, founded in 1933, is published twice monthly and reviews, one to three months before the publication date, 4,000-5,000 titles per year: fiction, mysteries, science fiction and fantasy, translations, nonfiction and children's and young adult books. The reviews are reliable and authoritative, written by specialists selected for their knowledge and expertise in a particular field.

School Library Journal was first published in 1954. It is a monthly publication with articles and reviews for school and public librarians who work with young people. Lots of material is available on the Web site: www.schoollibraryjournal.com