This April, Scholars Portal is highlighting International Children’s Book Day, which is observed annually on noted fairy tale author Hans Christian Andersen’s birthday (April 2). This yearly event, sponsored by the International Board on Books for Young People, an international non-profit, promotes a love of reading, recognizes the role of books in the development and education of children, and calls attention to children’s literature. To celebrate Children’s Book Day, we’ve gathered material on children’s literature and literacy practices from our books, journals, and <odesi> platforms.

Books

• Windows and words: A look at Canadian children’s literature in English
• The making of the Alice books: Lewis Carroll’s uses of earlier children’s literature
• Language and control in children’s literature
• Children’s literature: A reader’s history, from Aesop to Harry Potter
• Critical multicultural analysis of children’s literature: Mirrors, windows, and doors
• Home words: Discourses of children’s literature in Canada
• Reading into racism: Bias in children’s literature and learning materials
• The role of translators in children’s literature: Invisible storytellers
• Relentless progress: The reconfiguration of children’s literature, fairy tales, and storytelling
• Freud in Oz: At the intersections of psychoanalysis and children’s literature
• From nursery rhymes to nationhood: Children’s literature and the construction of Canadian identity
• Unsettling narratives: Postcolonial readings of children’s literature

​Journal Articles

• Book ownership and young children’s learning
• Celebrating and revitalizing language: Indigenous bilingual children’s books
• The role of child interests and collaborative parent-child interactions in fostering numeracy and literacy development in Canadian homes
• Children’s book illustrations: Visual language of picture books – open access
• Do children read the children’s literature adults recommend? A comparison of adults’ and children’s annual “best” lists in the United States 1975-2005
• The role of out-of-school factors in the literacy problem
• The wonderful world of children’s books? Negotiating diversity through children’s literature
• Humans (really) are animals: Picture-book reading influences 5-year-old urban children’s construal of the relation between humans and non-human animals – open access
• Conceptualisations of literacy and literacy practices for children with severe learning difficulties
• Surviving the storm: Trauma and recovery in children’s books about natural disasters

Data

Survey on Reading and Buying Books, 2005

This survey provides a detailed statistical picture of the habits of Canadians with respect to buying and reading books for pleasure. Coverage of reading habits includes genre type, frequency of reading, books bought, proportion of Canadian authors among books bought, and library use. The respondents were also asked about non-reading activities such as television watching and use of Internet to provide a comparison to reading.

Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, 2012 [Canada]

The Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies is a multi-cycle international programme of assessment, focused on adults’ literacy, numeracy, and information communication technology skills and competencies. It aims to collection information from residents of several countries, including Canada, and seeks to provide information regarding change in distribution of skills over the years, the extent of the skill being measured, and information about individuals with low levels of competency.

National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, 1998-1999 [Canada]: Cycle 3, Primary File

This survey is part of a long-term study monitoring the development and well-being of Canadian children as they grow from infancy to adulthood, with data collected at two-year intervals. It includes variables related to the children’s activities, literacy, education, and reading tests, among many others.