Category: Endowment

Countdown to the Inaugural CLA Online Research Conference

2/11/2025

By Xenia Hadjioannou on behalf of the CLA Online Research Conference Organizing Committee

Register for the CLA Online Research Conference

The organizing committee for the inaugural offering of the CLA Online Research Conference is busily putting the final touches on our plans for a day full of vibrant research presentations on children's literature research and opportunities for invigorating professional conversations.

Have you Registered Yet?

The conference features presentations from researchers across the United States and the world, a session with journal editors who publish children's literature research, and a keynote talk from Kathy Short.

Join our social time zoom rooms at the beginning and the end of the conference day to network with colleagues, contribute to conversations, and hear announcements.
During each of our presentation-focused Concurrent Session program slots, you will have a choice among 4 sessions. Go to the zoom room that best fits your interests and enjoy learning about the work of researchers exploring topics ranging from Pedagogical Wobbles to Historical Fiction Representing Chinese History, to Intersectionalities.
Editors from 10 different journals that publish children's literature research will participate in our Journal Editor Session. Join a different zoom room for each of the two rotations to learn about the featured journals and to ask questions about publishing your work there.
During the keynote presentation for the conference, Kathy Short will trace the shifting landscape of research in children's literature.

*Times listed are in Eastern Standard Time

Below you will find a sampler of the sessions included in the conference. For details and schedule information, visit the Conference Program.

The conference is co-sponsored by the Children's Literature Assembly and the Mary Frances Early College of Education at the University of Georgia. It is supported by the CLA Endowment Fund, which was established:

to support original research contributing to the field of children's literature, and
to support the dissemination of CLA's yearly selections of Notable Books for the Language Arts.

CLA Online Research Conference Organizing Committee

Jennifer Graff, University of Georgia
Xenia Hadjioannou, Penn State University, Berks
Lauren Aimonette Liang, University of Utah
Miriam Martinez, University of Texas San Antonio
Liz Thackeray Nelson, Utah Valley University
Mary-Kate Sableski, University of Dayton
Jennifer Slagus, University of South Florida and Brock University

The CLA Endowment: Enriching Research in Children's Literature

9/7/2021

By Miriam Martinez, on behalf of the CLA Endowment Committee

As members of the Children’s Literature Association (or as visitors to this website), we all value children’s literature. Books have the power to enrich lives, foster empathy, open doors, and promote learning. As educators, we also recognize the importance of learning more about children’s literature and ways of connecting readers to books for a range of purposes. This means there is a need for research related to children’s literature.

Because the Children’s Literature Assembly is committed to supporting research, in 2004 the leaders of CLA began making plans to establish an endowment for two purposes:

To support original research contributing to the field of children’s literature, and
To support the dissemination of CLA’s yearly selections of Notable Children’s Book in the Language Arts.

Members of the CLA Endowment Committee:

Miriam Martinez
Ruth Lowery
Lauren Liang
Trish Bandre
Xenia Hadjioannou
Ally Hauptman

Then, in 2005 the Endowment was officially launched! The next several years were devoted to the hard work of building Endowment funds to a point that sufficient money existed to sustain this critical work. This hard work came to fruition in 2011 when the first research grant was awarded to Lori Ann Laster for her research on text selection for refugee youth. Since that beginning, the fund has helped to support the research of 12 scholars of children’s literature. Here is just a sampling of some of the exciting work the Endowment has supported:

Dr. Grace Enriquez’s longitudinal case study focused on how teachers’ understandings of children’s literature for social justice education develop over time and space.
Dr. Evelyn Arizpe investigated changes in reading practices and reading responses among adolescents in Mexico over a 25-year period.
Dr. Adam Crawley explored elementary parents' perspectives on various gay and lesbian-inclusive picturebooks.

You can learn more about the work of these and other research award recipients on the CLA website.

The Endowment Committee would like to invite you to participate in this important initiative either by helping us continue to grow the Endowment or by applying for the CLA Research Award. (And some of you may want to do both.)

Donations can be made to commemorate a special event, to honor a children's literature enthusiast, or just as an expression of commitment to the work of the endowment. There are two easy ways to donate to the Endowment:

Donate Directly on the CLA Website

Donate to support the mission of the CLA Endowment Fund.

The CLA Endowment Fund was established to support:

original research contributing to the field of children’s literature, and
dissemination of CLA’s yearly selections of Notable Children’s Book in the Language Arts.

Your contribution will provide invaluable support for these efforts.

You can dedicate your donation in honor of another person.

Donate

Your donations support The Vivian Yenika-Agbaw Student Conference Grant, which helps defray registration costs for the NCTE conference for undergraduate and graduate students with interest in children's literature.

The grant is named after the late Vivian Yenika-Agbaw, co-editor of the Journal of Children's Literature. Vivian was devoted to students and contributed greatly to the field of children's literature.

You can dedicate your donation in honor of another person.

Donate

Send a Check with your Donation

Send a check made out to Children’s Literature Assembly (with a note that the donation is for Endowment Fund) to the following address:

Children’s Literature Assembly
Trish Bandre
95 Wildcat Circle
Salina, KS 67401

If you are a member of CLA, consider applying for the CLA Research Award. You can find more information about the application process at this link.

Picturebooks Exploring Issues of Poverty

Finally, as a committee focused on providing financial support, and one comprised of children’s literature scholars and educators, we want to offer you a special thank you for your work in promoting children’s literature. Please find below a beginning list of picturebooks focused on poverty and financial issues, an important topic but one that is not often explored in books for children.

A Bike Like Sergio’s (2018) by Maribeth Boelts, illustrated by Noah Z. Jones
A Chair for My Mother (1982) written and illustrated by Vera B. Williams
A Different Pond (2017) by Bao Phi, illustrated by Thi Bui
Ada’s Violin: The Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay (2016) by Susan Hood, illustrated by Sally Wren Comport
Adrian Simcox Does NOT Have a Horse (2018) by Marcy Campbell, illustrated by Corinna Luyken
The Field (2018) by Baptiste Paul, illustrated by Jacqueline Alcantara
The Floating Field: How A Group of Thai Boys Built Their Own Soccer Field (2021) by Scott Riley, illustrated by Nguyen Quang and Kim Lien
Last Stop on Market Street (2015) by Matt de la Pena, illustrated by Christian Robinson
Maddi’s Fridge (2014) by Lois Brandt, illustrated by Vin Vogel
The Most Beautiful Thing (2020) by Kao Kalia Yang, illustrated by Khoa Le
The Patchwork Bike (2016) by Macine Beneba Clarke, illustrated by Van Thanh Rudd
Sunday Shopping (2015) by Sally Derby, illustrated by Shadra Strickland
Thank You Omu! (2018) written and illustrated by Oge More
Tia Isa Wants a Car (2016) by Meg Medina, illustrated by Claudio Munoz
Tricycle (2007) by Elisa Amado, illustrated by Alfonso Ruano
Walk with Me (2017) by Jairo Buitrago, illustrated by Rafael Yockteng (and translated by Elisa Amado)
Watercress (2021) by Andrea Wang, illustrated by Jason Chin
Yard Sale (2017) by Eve Bunting, illustrated by Lauren Castillo