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Children's Literature

Books - to find broad information on a topic, or the history of a given topic, try the book collection. This information may not the most up to date, but should give you a good sense of the "big picture." To look up books on a given topic, go to the library catalog:

http://cmars.cwmars.org/search~S38/

Once you're in the library catalog depending on your topic, try keyword searches like:

  • maurice sendak
  • fairy tales
  • children's and illustrators
  • bibliotherapy

Remember, if you do locate a book which contains good information on your topic, see if there are bibliographies in the book, which list other sources like journal articles. There are many useful reference books which you should use in your work:

  • A to zoo, by Carolyn Lima - Ref PN1009.A1L715 1998
  • Characters in Children's literature, by Raymon E. Jones - Ref PN1009.A1J78 1997
  • Children's literature, by Peter Hunt - Ref PN1009.A1H85 2001
  • Children's books and their creators, by Anita Silvey - Ref PN1009.A1C5424 1995
  • The Newbery & Caldecott medal books - Ref PN1009.A1N492 2001
  • The Oxford companion to children's literature, by Humphrey Carpenter - Ref PN1008.5.C37 1984
  • St. James guide to children's writers - Ref PN1009.A1T9 1999

Periodical Indexes/Databases - use to find the most current information on a topic, try journal or newspaper articles. In order to locate them, you must use an index. Just like in the back of a book there is an index which tells you what page to look at in the book, there are indexes to journals and newspapers which tell you which issue and page to look at in the journal. These indexes used to be just available in print but are now available online as well. Some online indexes which you should use in your work would be:

  • Expanded Academic ASAP (a general periodical index)
  • Academic Search Premier (again, a general periodical index)
  • Biography Resource Center (a specialized online reference tool)

These are all available through the library's databases page:

http://www.mwcc.mass.edu/library/login

Just select the appropriate access - either on-campus (from anywhere at MWCC) or off-campus (if you're working from home), then find these online indexes in the alphabetical database listing.

Once in these databases, try keyword searches such as:

  • eric carle and art*
  • bibliotherapy and children
  • children's magazines

To look for book reviews, try using the limit feature in the Academic Search Premier or tacking on the words "and book review" to your search in Expanded Academic ASAP.

For example: snowflake bentley and book review

Article: What in the World Do Second Graders Know about Geography? (cover
story) by Macken, Carol T. from Social Studies; Mar/Apr2003, Vol. 94 Issue 2, p63, 6p,
1bw


Note also that the library subscribes in to a number of children's literature journals in print:

  • Children's Literature
  • Children's Literature Association Quarterly
  • Horn Book

Hint: If you haven't decided on a topic yet, browsing through a subject specialized journal can give you ideas for your paper.

Websites - To supplement your investigation, but not to substitute for information you find in journals and books.

This page is maintained by the MWCC Library.
This page last updated 2/11/04 .