ABC-Lit: An Index to Children's Literature Scholarship

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Contributors

Contributors' instructions.
Contributors' list and statistics.

Contributors' Instructions

Abstracts in ABC-Lit are generally non-evaluative summaries of the article's content. They are approximately 85 words in length, give or take 25 words. Because I am not able to incorporate a controlled vocabulary at this time, I ask that the abstractor follow a few conventions to make searching easier for users.

For the primary works discussed, include the author's last name, the title, and the year of publication in the abstract.
Whenever possible, include the theoretical framework for the article, whether it is something general such as feminist criticism or something more specific such as Barthe. If you are unclear as to the framework, check the bibliography for assistance. If you are still unclear, don't worry about it.
State the issue at stake and the author's conclusion with regard to that issue.

If you do these three things, you've written a useful abstract for ABC-Lit. In addition, I like to include a brief quotation from the article. This is not necessary, but if the author states his/her thesis clearly and concisely there is no reason for an abstractor to re-write it.
Below, I give examples of abstracts included in ABC-Lit.

For Hopkin's "Arrietty, Homily, Pod: Home, Size, Gender, and Relativity in The Borrowers":

Hopkins looks at Mary Norton's The Borrowers (1952) for its portrayal of the house as a place of both comfort and confinement. There is limited use of the other books in the series.
For Tarr's "An Unintentional System of Gaps: A Phenomenological Reading of Scott O'Dell's Island of the Blue Dolphins":
Tarr uses Wolfgang Iser's reader-response theory to explain how the unemotional Karana in O'Dell's Island of the Blue Dolphins (1960) is made fuller and more satisfying by the reader's filling in of the gaps in the representation of the character. But in filling in those spaces, the author and reader are building on the stereotype of the stoic Indian. Tarr concludes by commenting on O'Dell's later works, which she believes do not succeed as well as Island.
If you are interested in contributing, please email me at LBartle@csusb.edu so we can discuss what you want to contribute, (so there is no duplication of effort), the deadline for the contribution, and the initials you want to follow your abstracts. You do not need to contribute the rest of your life; a single issue of a periodical would be more than welcome, or a few articles from an annual, such as Children's Literature, would be equally so.

Contributors' List and Statistics

(lrb) Lisa R. Bartle Total: 322 abstracts contributed.

September 1, 2000-August 31, 2001 181

September 1, 2001-August 31, 2002 91

September 1, 2002-August 31, 2003 23

September 1, 2003-August 31, 2004 27

September 1, 2004-August 31, 2005 0

September 1, 2005-August 31, 2006 0

September 1, 2006-August 31, 2007 0

(pn) Professor Philip Nel Total: 3 abstracts contributed.
September 1, 2001-August 31, 2002 3

(ku) Kevin Unrath Total: 31 abstracts contributed.

September 1, 2003-August 31, 2004 18

September 1, 2004-August 31, 2005 13