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

• Books in Progress
  • Keywords for Children’s Literature.  Co-edited with Lissa Paul.  Projected date of completion: 2009.
  • Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss: A Biography. Under contract with University Press of Mississippi. Projected date of completion: Dec. 2008.
• Books
  • Tales for Little Rebels: A Collection of Radical Children's Literature. Co-edited with Julia Mickenberg. Foreword by Jack Zipes. NYU Press, expected Nov. 2008.
  • The Annotated Cat: Under the Hats of Seuss and His Cats. New York: Random House, 2007. Click here for more information.
  • Dr. Seuss: American Icon. New York and London: Continuum Publishing, 2004. 320 pp. A Choice Magazine "Outstanding Academic Book of 2004." Click here for more information.
  • The Avant-Garde and American Postmodernity: Small Incisive Shocks. Jackson and London: University Press of Mississippi, 2002. 249 pp. Click here for more information.
  • J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter Novels: A Reader's Guide. New York and London: Continuum Publishing, 2001. 96 pp. Click here for 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. Click here for 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). <http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/childrens_literature_association_quarterly/toc/chq30.4.html>. (Available to subscribers of ProjectMuse.)
• Articles in Books
  • "The Cat in the Hat." A New Literary History of America, ed. Werner Sollors, Greil Marcus, and Lindsay Waters.  Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009.  Forthcoming, 7 pp. in manuscript.
  • "Lost in Translation?: Harry Potter, from Page to Screen." Harry Potter's World: Multidisciplinary Perspectives, revised edition, ed. Elizabeth Heilman. Routledge, 2008.  Forthcoming, 24 pp. in manuscript.
  • "DeLillo and Modernism."  The Cambridge Companion to Don DeLillo, ed. John N. Duvall.  New York and Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2008.  Forthcoming, 20 pp. in manuscript.
  • "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
  • "The Fall and Rise of Children’s Literature." American Art 22.1 (Spring 2008): 23-27. 
  • "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. <http://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. <http://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. <http://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 <http://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. <http://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.
• Article
  • "Crockett Johnson and the Purple Crayon: A Life in Art." Comic Art 5 (Winter 2004): 2-18.
• Reprints
  • "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.]
• Varia
  • "Flat Stanley."  Everything I Needed to Know I Learned from a Children's Book: A Guide for Parents About Books That Convey Important Life Lessons, ed. Anita Silvey.  Roaring Brook Press, 2009.  Forthcoming, 1 p. in ms.
  • "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.
  • Letter to the Editor.  The Horn Book Nov.-Dec. 2006: <http://www.hbook.com/magazine/letters/nov06.asp>.
  • "Research Notes: 'A Left Turn.'" The Courant 1 (Fall 2004): 4-5. <http://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 Tove Jansson's Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip, Vol. 1.  ImageText 3.3 (Summer 2007).  <http://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. <http://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. <http://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. <http://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. <http://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. <http://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>.

WEBSITES:

• Kansas State University's Department of English. Co-webmaster with Naomi Wood. July 2000-present. <www.ksu.edu/english/>.
• 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.

INVITED LECTURES (Selected):

• on Children's Literature and the Left:
  • "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:
  • "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:
  • "Was the Cat in the Hat Black?: Seuss and Race in the 1950s." 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."
    • University of Mary Washington. Fredericksburg, VA. 15 Apr. 2008.
    • 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:
  • "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.

CONFERENCE PAPERS:

• "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." The 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, "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.
• Chair, "Don DeLillo and His Contemporaries." American Literature Association: 18th Annual Conference.  Boston, MA.  25 May 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.
• Participant, "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, "Connections Between Life and Art." Fourth Biennial Conference on Modern Critical Approaches to Children's Literature. Nashville, TN. 7 April 2001.
• Chair, "Tune in to TV Families." Family, Kinship & Cultural Studies: 10th Annual Cultural Studies Symposium. Manhattan, KS. 8 March 2001.
• Chair and Organizer, "The P2K Problem: Excavating the Future of Postmodernism." Twentieth-Century Literature Conference. Louisville, KY. 26 February 2000.
• Chair, "Illustrations and How They Work." Third Biennial Conference on Modern Critical Approaches to Children's Literature. Nashville, TN. 26 March 1999.

ACADEMIC HONORS AND GRANTS:

• 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), US News & World Report, San Francisco Chronicle, The World (BBC/PRI), The Voice of America, Book Talk (Radio National, Australia), Baltimore Sun, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Hartford Courant, Kansas City Star, Globe and Mail (Toronto), National Post (Toronto), Daily Telegraph (UK), CNN.com, New York Daily News, Publishers Weekly, Investor’s Business Daily, MacLean’s. 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.
  • ENGL 440. Harry Potter's Library: J.K. Rowling, Texts and Contexts. Spring 2002, Spring 2003, Spring 2005, Spring 2006, Fall 2006.
  • ENGL 440. The Graphic Novel. Spring 2008.
  • ENGL 525. Women in Literature. Fall 2004.
  • ENGL 545. Literature for Adolescents. Fall 2002, Fall 2003, Fall 2005, Fall 2006.
  • ENGL 650. Readings in Contemporary American Novels. Fall 2000.
  • ENGL 660. Don DeLillo. Fall 2001.
  • ENGL 680. Dr. Seuss.  Spring 2007.
  • 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 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).
• M.A. Committees: Harvey Partica, Carrie Sanford, Steve Sink, Hugh O'Connell, Erin Fritch, Matthew Raese, Jay Stringfield, Mickayla Fink, Eric Ramsier.
• Undergraduate Advisor, Kansas State University, 2002-.
• 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, 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-.
• 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:

• NEH Library Committee, Kansas State University, 2006-.
• 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), 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:

• 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 Syracuse University Press, Addison Wesley Longman, Prentice-Hall, Teachers College Press, Broadview Press, University Press of Mississippi, Oxford University Press, Ohio University Press, Wayne State University Press, Studies in the Novel, Children's Literature Association Quarterly, Lit: Literature Interpretation Theory, Children's Literature, The Lion and the Unicorn, Contemporary Literature, Modern Fiction Studies, Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, Journal of the M/MLA, The Looking Glass: An Online Children’s Literature Journal, Modern Language Studies, PMLA.
• 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; Webmaster, 1999-.
• American Studies Association: Member, 2001-.
• Children's Literature Association: Member, 1997-; Article Award Committee, 2003-2006.
• 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, 2007-2011.
• Phi Beta Kappa: Member, 1992-. 

REFERENCES:

• Jay Clayton, Kenan Professor of English and Department Chair, 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, Associate Professor of English, Illinois State University at Normal.
• Cecelia Tichi, Kenan Professor of English, Vanderbilt University.
• Mark Wollaeger, Associate Professor of English, Vanderbilt University.
• Naomi Wood, Associate Professor of English, Kansas State University.