Judged the Youth Literature division of the NC Book Awards
I served as one of three judges in the Young People's Literature category of the North Carolina Book Awards, whose entries consisted of 13 novels, seven fictional picture books, and two nonfiction picture books. I provided justifications for my first, second, and third choices, and participated in the second round of voting to get a clear winner.My top choice,Mid-Airby Alicia Williams, won the contest.The contest was sponsored by the American Association of University Women of North Carolina. 2023 - 2024
Reviewed a book review for Dziecistwo. Literatura i Kultura (Childhood Literature and Culture)
I was invited to review "About a Girl: Louisa May Alcott's Little Women at 150th Anniversary - Analyzing Its Cultural and Literary Impact" for the Polish journalDziecistwo. Literatura i Kultura" (Childhood: Literature andCulture), published by Polish Studies faculty at the Universityof Warsaw.The 2065-word article reviewed a book I reviewed last year,Little Women at 150, edited by Daniel Shealy.I participated in double-blind review 2023
Chair, Astrid Lindgren Award Committee, Children's Literature Association
As chair of the Children's Literature Association's Astrid Lindgren Award Committtee, I continue (through June 2021) to oversee our four-member committee's preparation of two researched nominations each Spring for submission to the Swedish Arts Council, to enter our organization's choices of a U.S. and an international author/illustrator or literacy organization in the competition for the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. Our carefully constructed nominations, drawing from primary and secondary sources and accompanying a representative selection of literary works or literacy materials, give ChLA an opportunity to showcase writers, illustrators, and educational organizations that impress us. Our nominees then come to the attention of the Swedish Arts Council (the jury for the award), and their names are published on the award website. You've already given me Spring 2020 credit forwriting ChLA's nomination of Luis Soriano, a Columbian man who delivers books to remote villages by donkey, and my teammate will edit and extend my draft. The May 15, 2020 deadline was extended because of COVID to August 2020, so the work was prepared for that extended deadline (I've included that researched nomination package in my service documents). I checked the more than 350 bibliography listings for the other team's nomination of extraordinarily prolific American children's author and fantasist Jane Yolen. This spring, for a May 15, 2020 deadline, my teammate will write the nomination of African-American poet Nikki Grimes and I will edit her nomination and cross-edit the other team's nomination of British author-illustrator David Macaulay. In addition to applying our expertise in children's literature research to these nominations, the committee prepares a ballot each year of authors, illustrators, and literacy organizations whom the Children's Literature Association might nominate for the follow year's award cycle (We submit nominations a year before a decision is made). Under my leadership, we were able to diversify our ballot through member recommendations and committee contributions, so that our Fall 2020 ballot featured three African-American and two Latino authors among our seven U.S. choices and candidates from the Philippines, Iran, and India among our four international choices. 2019 - 2020
Chair of Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award Committee, International Children's Literature Association
As chair of the International Children's Literature Assocation's Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award Committee, I coordinate the efforts of four children's literature scholars (including me) in writing researched nominations of two authors, illustrators, and/or literacy organizations whom ChLA's membership have selected as our nominees for a Swedish prize, worth about $500,000, for humanitarian service through children's literature. We develop persuasive essays, bibliography, and biographical information for each nominee and select representative books to send to the Swedish Arts Council, which serves as the jury for the award. Because ChLA's nominee won in 2018, we have an enhanced sense of our committee's value (I was urged by the incoming ChLA president to return as committee chair three years after my previous term as committe member and chair had expired). 2017 - 2020
Peer Review of a Journal Article
In May 2020 I revieweda revision of an article, "A New Species of Girls: The Female bildungsroman in Jacqueline Kelly's The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate (2009)" for The Children's Literature Association Quarterlythat I had first reviewed in October 2019. In my 2020 annual report I listed the March 2020 invitation to review the article again, and mentioned my plan towrite my review the first weekend in March. Though you've already given me credit for this activity, I've included my reader's report--submitting in May 2020--in my supporting documents for service, as it represents significant critical work and my observations supported the editors' feelings about the piece, giving them wording they could include in a letter. 2019
Children's Literature Association Quarterly
I reviewed an essay, "A New Species of Girls: The Female bildungsroman in Jacqueline Kelly's The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate (2009)" for The Children's Literature Association Quarterly in October 2019, and in early March 2020, I've been asked to review the resubmission to see whether it satisfactorily addressed my criticisms. I will review the essay the weekend of March 7. 2019
Children's Literature Association conference, June 2019
I hosted the "Mid-Career" lunch sponsored by the Membership Committee of the International Children's Literature Association. I was thus the facilitator and contact person who led a group of five faculty to a restaurant in Indianapolis where we talked about our current career aspirations and challenges. The purpose of the various "themed lunches" was to foster greater collegiality and meet the needs of members at a range of career stages. 2018
Associate Chair of University Teaching Grants Committee
As associate chair of the Faculty Senate's Teaching Grants committee, I helped to determine which committee members would review particular proposals (Each of us was assigned 11 proposals to review), and I will write the commitee report for the Faculty Senate during Spring Break week. ; While health reasons caused me to miss the long proposal-ranking meeting at the end of final exams in Fall 2018, I have submitted edits and suggestions for our update of the award application and contributed to proposed changes in our committee charge in February 2019 (I proposed annually evaluating grant recipients' summative reports, in response to a committee member's concern that no one ever reads those reports). Pending Faculty Senate approval, we have adopted that change. 2018
Reviewer of Article Submission
I reviewed an essay on L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables for the journal Children's Literature, recommending that the piece be rejected. 2017
Co-author Network
Map of Science
Co-investigator Network
