The program provides specialized study of children's books to those who are, or who intend to be, involved in teaching, library services, editing, publishing, or affiliated fields. Ranging from folklore and mythology to contemporary realistic fiction and nonfiction, children's literature offers a multiplicity of aesthetic and literary experiences. Demanding quality from the beginning, the picturebook presents an artistic unity in which the verbal and visual are interdependent and complementary. For older readers, the evocative young adult novel, realism or fantasy, challenges one to invest in other lives, other times, other places. What children read today shapes and informs their future attitudes and behaviors.
Fine literature has the unmatched potential to initiate and strengthen essential human connections.
Featured speakers include Christopher Myers, E.L. Konigsburg and Richard Peck.