Paula Connolly

Education

• Ph.D., University of Massachusetts at Amherst
• M.A., B.A., Boston College

Research and Writing Interests

• Images of Slavery in American Literature
• Multiculturalism in Children’s Literature
• Film, Visual Semiotics, and Popular Culture
• Suspense and Genre Fiction

Publications (selected)

    Books

Slavery in American Children’s Literature, 1790-2010. (University of Iowa Press, 2013).

Winnie-the-Pooh and the House at Pooh Corner: Recovering Arcadia. (Twayne—Macmillan, 1995).

    Articles 

“The Metafictive Playgrounds of Disney’s Winnie the Pooh: the movie is a book.” Walt Disney, From Reader to Storyteller: Essays on the Literary Inspirations.  Eds. Kathy Merlock Jackson and Mark I. West. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2015. 179-194.

“Reframing History: Insider/Outsider Paradigms in Ten Books about Slavery.” Jeunesse: young people, texts, cultures  6.2 (Winter 2014): 134-147.

 “‘Texts like a patchwork quilt’: Reading Picturebooks about Slavery.” Children’s Literature in Education  44.1 (March 2013): 29-43.

“Surviving the Storm: Trauma and Recovery in Children’s Books about Natural Disasters.” Bookbird: A Journal of International Children’s Literature. 50.1 (January 2012): 1-9.

“Retelling 9/11: How Picture Books Re-Envision National Crises.” Lion and the Unicorn: A Critical Journal of Children’s Literature (Johns Hopkins UP) 32.3 (Sept 2008): 288-303.

Current Projects

I’m working on a mystery set in academia. I’m also continuing to work on Stories of Slavery for Children, 1790-1865, a critical anthology of stories culled from rare book collections (a companion text to Slavery in American Children’s Literature).

Recent Courses Taught 

    Undergraduate:

• Disney and Children’s Literature (ENGL 2109)
• Literature for Young Children (ENGL 3102)
• Building Suspense in Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Mystery (ENGL 4074)
• Classics in British Children’s Literature (ENGL 4102)
• Classics in American Children’s Literature (ENGL 4103)
• Multiculturalism in Children’s Literature (ENGL 4104)

    Graduate:

• Building Suspense in Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Mystery (ENGL 5074)
• Classics in British Children’s Literature (ENGL 5102)
• Classics in American Children’s Literature (ENGL 5103)
• Multiculturalism in Children’s Literature (ENGL 5104)
• Introduction to Children’s Literature and Culture (ENGL 6103)
• Visual Semiotics in Children’s Literature (ENGL 6014)

Editorial Boards

Children’s Literature in Education: An International Quarterly

R.I.S.E. (Reading Inspires Success in Education): A Children’s Literacy Journal

External Funding

Boston Athenӕum. Caleb Loring, Jr. Fellow, 2014-2015

American Antiquarian Society. Invited Visiting Scholar, 2013-2014

Children’s Literature Association. Faculty Research Grant, 2013