Children’s literature

On a foundational level, the term children’s literature designates writing for child readers. Yet recent scholarship has questioned this definition: Must a “children’s poem” be written specifically for children, or can it be appreciated by children as well as adults?  How does work by children complicate the category? How do we understand poems published in adult venues but later included in collections of children’s literature? Such queries illustrate the definitional challenges when even the term “children” is nebulous.

Professor Kilcup’s interest in this understudied field emerges from her research on American poetry and her ecocritical work on adult literature. In the nineteenth century many writers for adults also wrote for children, frequently blurring these modes.  Arguing for greater status for children’s literature in the American literary canon, her current work investigates how children’s authors fostered environmental access and agency.

Please click on the image above for examples of Professor Kilcup’s work in children’s literature.