Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in
Literature for Children and Young Adults

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For many years, the PhD program in Literature for Children and Young Adults has been acknowledged as one of the strongest in the country. Faculty and Students in LCYA are nationally and internationally recognized scholars in picture book forms, multicultural literature (African American, Latino, Native American), international literature, poetry, literary theories and their uses with young adult literature, and literature for young children, middle-grade children, and for young adults.

Faculty research includes ethnographic studies of children and their interpretations of literature in early and middle grade classrooms, teacher development related to literature discussion, analyses of visual content in picturebooks, social justice perspectives in literature selection, perspectives on international literature published in U.S. and global settings, feminist and gender analyses of contemporary literature for children, the use of drama as a mediator of literary interpretation and comprehension, and theories of engagement in literary reading. Our focus is the analysis of written and visual forms, genres, and content in children's and young adult literature and the meaning of this literature for youth and adults in and out of school settings. We are especially interested in theoretical lenses that inform the relationships between texts and readers. We welcome serious study of literature as an art form that borrows from and refracts historic and contemporary discourses, observations of social life and the natural world, social relationships, and narratives.

The area of study offers doctoral students opportunities to pursue disciplined, rigorous inquiries in the history and evolution of Children's and Young Adult Literature as well as current trends and issues. The program is grounded in coursework in the History of Literature for Children and Young Adults, literary theory and its links with Children's and Young Adult Literature, multicultural and international Children's and Young Adult Literature, and the study of how children and young adults read and respond to this literature. The course of study also provides opportunities for exploring related topics that include (but are not limited to) genres such as picturebooks, fantasy, and poetry for children and young adults, relationships between popular culture and children's and young adult literature, censorship issues, and selection and evaluation of literature for children and young adults, as explore the integration of literature throughout classroom content areas. The area of study is designed to provide pathways to additional areas of study in the School of Teaching and learning such as Reading and Literacy in Early and Middle Childhood, Adolescent and Adult Literacies and others.

Core faculty

Pat Enciso, Barbara Kiefer, Barbara A. Lehman, Linda T. Parsons, Anna Soter, Christine Warner

Affiliated Faculty

Mollie V. Blackburn, Jeanne Copenhaver-Johnson, Brian Edmiston, Mary Jo Fresch, Lea McGee, Patricia L Scharer, Cynthia A. Tyson