Ph.D., The Ohio State University
M.A., The Ohio State University
B.A., Gettysburg College
Co-editor of Crosscurrents of Children’s Literature: An Anthology of Texts and Criticism, with J. D. Stahl and Elizabeth Lennox Keyser. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.
Director of website AppLit: Resources for Readers and Teachers of Appalachian Literature for Children and Young Adults, http://www2.ferrum.edu/AppLit, 2000-present.
“Struggles for Life, Liberty, and Land: Mining Communities in Appalachian Children’s Books.” Southern Quarterly: A Journal of Arts and Letters in the South 54 (Spring/Summer 2017): 94-113.
“Lotteries and Scapegoats: Literary Antecedents and Influences on The Hunger Games.” Critical Insights: The Hunger Games Trilogy. Ed. Lana A. Whited. Grey House/Salem Press, 2016.
“‘Way back yonder’ But Not So Far Away: Teaching Appalachian Folktales.” Appalachia in the Classroom. Ed. Theresa Burriss and Patricia Gantt. Ohio University Press Ethnicity and Gender in Appalachia Series, 2013, 109-28.
“It’s Not All About Jack: Old and New Tales from Anne Shelby.” Review essay on The Adventures of Molly Whuppie and Other Appalachian Folktales. Appalachian Journal 35 (Summer 2008): 366-70.
“Capturing Characters on Stage for the College and Community: An Interview with Playwright Rex Stephenson.” Photos by Jeff Dalton. Virginia Libraries 54, nos. 3 & 4 (2008): 7-12.
“‘Read my tales, spin my rhymes’: The Books for Children.” In James Still, Appalachian Writer: Critical Essays on the Dean of Appalachian Literature. Ed. Ted Olson and Kathy H. Olson. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2007, 174-89.
“The Descendants of Robinson Crusoe in North American Children’s Literature.” In The Presence of the Past in Children’s Literature. Ed. Ann Lawson Lucas. Contributions to the Study of World Literature, No. 120. London: Praeger, 2003, 61-69.
“The Taming of the Dragon in Twentieth-Century Picture Books.” Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts 14 (Spring 2003): 7-26.
“The Art and the Dragon: Intertextuality in the Pictorial Narratives of Dragon Feathers.” In Tales, Tellers and Texts. Ed. Gabrielle Cliff Hodges, Mary Jane Drummond, and Morag Styles. London: Cassell, 2000, 79-94.
“Strong Women in Appalachian Folktales.” The Lion and the Unicorn 24 (April 2000, special issue on folklore in children’s literature): 225-46.
“‘To Sleep, Perchance to Dream’: Sleeping Beauties and Wide Awake Plain Janes in the Stories of Jane Yolen.” Children’s Literature26 (1998): 140-67.
Children’s literature
Folktale adaptations
Appalachian literature and folktales
Environmental issues in literature
Holocaust literature for children
Dragons in children’s literature
History of the Jack Tale Players and Blue Ridge Dinner Theatre at Ferrum College
