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Scholar to lecture on African-American children's literature
Andrea Lynn, Humanities Editor
217-333-2177; andreal@uiuc.edu
2/14/2006
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. —--
The second annual Gryphon Lecture will be given by a pioneer in children's
literature, Rudine Sims Bishop.
Bishop's talk, which is free and open to the public, begins at 6:30
p.m. Feb. 23 (Thursday) in Room 126 of the Library and Information Science
Building, 501 E. Daniel St., Champaign.
Her topic is "Stony the Road We Trod: African American Children's
Literature, Stories of a People's Journey.”
Bishop, professor emeritus in the School of Teaching and Learning at
Ohio State University, was one of the first researchers to produce scholarly
criticism about the way African-American lives are represented in children's
books and the impact that representation has on children's lives.
Her book "Shadow and Substance: Afro-American Experience
in Contemporary Children's Literature” was "a touchstone
study that is still used today," said Betsy Hearne, the
director of Illinois' Center for
Children's Books, one of the event sponsors.
"The fact that Dr. Bishop has been respected across disciplines,
is sought out as a speaker by educators and library organizations,
and continues to shape new research on multicultural literature establishes
her singular leadership," Hearne said.
Continuing Professional Development Unit credits will be available to
teachers and school librarians who attend the talk, which also is sponsored
by the Youth Literature Interest Group.
The group consists of faculty and graduate students from Eastern Illinois
University, Illinois State University and the U. of I. Four disciplines
at Illinois –– American Indian studies, Education, English
and Library and Information Science –– are represented.
The Youth Literature Interest Group meets monthly to discuss texts and
issues relevant to literature for children and young adults. It also
hosts a research showcase every fall led by rotating members of the
group, and the annual lecture by a leading scholar in the field.
Among the issues that the group studies are the impact of children’s
literature on literacy, the epistemology of children’s literature,
the role of children's books for librarians, teachers and academics,
and the necessity of considering multicultural issues and the impact
of literature on children's lives.
The Youth Literature Interest Group is an outgrowth of the Graduate
School of Library and Information Science at Illinois. The Center
for Children’s Books is a unit of the library graduate school.
Other U. of I. sponsors of the event are the Center
for Advanced Study, the College
of Education, the Graduate School of Library and Information Science,
the Illinois Program for Research
in the Humanities and the Trowbridge Office for American Literature,
Culture and Society.
