On these shelves, you will find some of the books I teach in my courses on children’s and adolescent literature, including Brian Selznick’s The Invention of Hugo Cabret (which I am teaching in ENGL 698 “Film Adaptations of Children’s Classics” this semester). You will also find recently published books for children and young adults that I have encountered through service to organizations such as the William Allen White Program, which hosts Kansas’ state readers’ choice program. In this program, children can read from a short list of the best books published in a given year for young audiences, vote for their favorite, and perhaps meet the author at a big annual celebration hosted by Emporia State University. You will also see some bedraggled and much-loved books from my childhood, including a book-club paperback edition of The One Hundred and One Dalmatians. My very favorite thing about this book is its illustrations, by Janet and Anne Grahme-Johnstone, including the end papers that show the network of the Twilight Barking. Additionally, you will see the children’s literature-related toys that have found their way to my shelves, including the Wizard of Oz nesting dolls, the Winnie-the-Pooh garden statues, and the soft Frog and Toad figures that students’ children have relocated from the shelves to their new position riding Tigger. (There is clearly never a dull moment in and around my bookshelves!)

– Anne Phillips, Professor, 5 October 2017