American Literature Association Call For Papers

Children’s Literature Society and the

African American Literature and Culture Society

American Literature Association

24th Annual Conference

May 23-26, 2013

Westin Copley Place

Boston, MA

Panel #1: African American Children’s Literature

The Children’s Literature Society and the African American Literature and Culture Society invite abstracts (of about 250 words) for a panel on African American children's literature. We welcome critical analysis and surveys about historical fiction, cultural stories of family, school stories, religious and spiritual stories, stories of fine arts and artists and performers, and stories of important political figures, and transcriptions of oral histories. This panel will contribute to the critical review and analysis of works of African American children's literature and will be an excellent and important contribution to the study of American children's literature.

Please include academic rank and affiliation and AV requests

Please send abstracts or proposals by Saturday, December 30, 2012 to Dorothy Clark (Dorothy.g.clark@csun.edu), Linda Salem (salem.sdsu@gmail.com), and Shirley Moody-Turner (scm18@psu.edu).


Panel #2: Monsters, Inc.
The Children’s Literature Society invites abstracts (of about 250 words) for a panel on Monsters, Inc.

The books Where the Wild Things Are (1963) by Maurice Sendak and The Wuggly Ump (1970) by Edward Gorey presented surreal monsters in stories with child characters. There’s a Nightmare in My Closet by Mercer Mayer in 1968 brought empathy to the monster book that worked on the side of the child reader to help them face fears that might not be as bad as they thought. This tone is alive today in films like Monsters, Inc in which the wild thing that shows up is a lovable monster called Sulley and the child in the room is the unafraid, sweet little girl named Boo who calls him “Kitty.” While Grimm’s fairy tales include protagonists who strive to outwit monsters and sometimes fail, in contemporary stories characters are more likely to solve problems or to grow up alongside their monstrous friends. And the genre of monster stories for children has expanded to include comic relief from fear for kids in books like James Howe’s books, Bunnicula (1979) and The Celery Stalks at Midnight (1984). R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps(1992- ) series are both humorous and horrific and in some cases the author offers readers a selection of endings for a story from which to choose. Today, films like Hotel Transylvania, Paranorman, and Frankenweenie combine traditional horror themes with humor and capitalize on the youth media entertainment market. Unsettling scary stories continue to be published by authors like Neil Gaiman, whose poetry, prose, and illustration are found in works like Coraline (2002), The Wolves in the Walls (2005), and The Graveyard Book (2008). Young adult fiction continues to trend to vampire, zombie, and witch tween and teen fiction.

What do these diverse instances of monstrosity and treatment of horror in youth media reveal to us about children’s and YA narratives as well as youth culture? The Children's Literature Society welcomes proposals of papers of literary research and analysis on the topic of monsters and horror in children's and young adult literature, youth media (film, TV, cartoons, video games), and youth culture.

Please include academic rank and affiliation and AV requests

Please send abstracts or proposals by Saturday, December 30, 2012 to Dorothy Clark
(Dorothy.g.clark@csun.edu ), Linda Salem (salem.sdsu@gmail.com)