Publications
Books
2017: Was the Cat in the Hat Black?: The Hidden Racism of Children’s Literature, and the Need for Diverse Books. New York and London: Oxford UP. Forthcoming.
2012: Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss: How an Unlikely Couple Found Love, Dodged the FBI, and Transformed Children’s Literature. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. 367 pp. Nominated for an Eisner Award, 2013; named as Honor Book by Children’s Literature Association, 2014; winner of SWPACA’s Rollins Book Award, 2014.
2007: The Annotated Cat: Under the Hats of Seuss and His Cats. New York: Random House. 190 pp.
2004: Dr. Seuss: American Icon. New York and London: Continuum Publishing. 320 pp. A Choice Magazine “Outstanding Academic Book of 2004.”
2002: The Avant-Garde and American Postmodernity: Small Incisive Shocks. Jackson and London: University Press of Mississippi. 249 pp.
2001: J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Novels: A Reader’s Guide. New York and London: Continuum Publishing. 96 pp.
Books Edited
2018: Keywords for Children’s Literature, Second Edition. Co-edited with Lissa Paul and Nina Christensen. New York: New York University Press. In progress.
2017-2018: Crockett Johnson’s Barnaby, Volumes 4-5. Co-edited with Eric Reynolds. Seattle, WA: Fantagraphics Books. In progress.
2016: Crockett Johnson’s Barnaby, Volume Three: 1946-1947. Co-edited with Eric Reynolds. Introduction by Jeff Smith. Essays by Nathalie op de Beeck and Coulton Waugh. Biographical Essay and Notes by Philip Nel. Seattle, WA: Fantagraphics Books. 371 pp.
2014: Crockett Johnson’s Barnaby, Volume Two: 1944-1945. Co-edited with Eric Reynolds. Introduction by Jules Feiffer. Essays by R.C. Harvey and Max Lerner. Biographical Essay and Notes by Philip Nel. Seattle, WA: Fantagraphics Books. 375 pp.
2013: Crockett Johnson’s Barnaby, Volume One: 1942-1943. Co-edited with Eric Reynolds. Introduction by Chris Ware. Essays by Jeet Heer and Dorothy Parker. Biographical Essay and Notes by Philip Nel. Seattle, WA: Fantagraphics Books. 319 pp. Nominated for an Eisner Award, 2014.
2011: Keywords for Children’s Literature. Co-edited with Lissa Paul. New York: NYU Press. 282 pp.
2008: Tales for Little Rebels: A Collection of Radical Children’s Literature. Co-edited with Julia Mickenberg. Foreword by Jack Zipes. New York: NYU Press. 300 pp.
Books in translation
2015: Crockett Johnson’s Barnaby. Co-edited with Eric Reynolds. French translation by Harry Morgan. Actes Sud Editions, 2015. 319 pp.
2002: J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Novels: A Reader’s Guide. Japanese translation by Ihei Taniguchi. Tokyo: Jiritsu-shobo Inc. 166 pp.
Afterword to Book
2005: Crockett Johnson, Magic Beach. Appreciation by Maurice Sendak. Afterword by Philip Nel. Ashville, NC: Front Street Books, 2005. Also available in French translation by Quentin Le Goff: La Plage Magique. Tourbillon, 2006. In German translation by Michael Krüger: Der Zauberstrand. Carl Hanser Verlag, 2007. And in Italian translation by Elena Fantasia: Spiaggia Magica. Orecchio Acerbo, 2013.
Journal, Edited with Introduction
2005: Children’s Literature and the Left. Co-edited with Julia Mickenberg. Special issue. Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 30.4 (Winter 2005).
Articles in Books
2017: “Children and Comics.” Comics Studies: A Guidebook, eds. Bart Beaty and Charles Hatfield. Rutgers UP. Forthcoming, 23 pp. in ms.
2016: “‘Don’t assume anything’: A Conversation with Maurice Sendak.” Conversations with Maurice Sendak. Ed. Peter Kunze. Jackson: UP Mississippi. 107-143.
2015: “Surrealism for Children: Paradoxes and Possibilities.” Children’s Literature and the Avant-Garde. Ed. Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer and Elina Druker. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. 267-284.
2011: “Postmodernism.” Keywords for Children’s Literature, eds. Philip Nel and Lissa Paul. NYU Press. 181-185.
2009: “1957: Dr. Seuss.” A New Literary History of America, eds. Greil Marcus and Werner Sollors. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP. 876-880.
2009: “Lost in Translation?: Harry Potter, from Page to Screen.” Harry Potter’s World: Multidisciplinary Perspectives, revised edition, ed. Elizabeth Heilman. Routledge. 275-290.
2008: “DeLillo and Modernism.” The Cambridge Companion to Don DeLillo, ed. John N. Duvall. New York and Cambridge: Cambridge UP. 13-26.
2006: “Homicidal Men and Full-Figured Women: Gender in White Noise.” Approaches to Teaching DeLillo’s White Noise, eds. Tim Engles and John N. Duvall. New York: Modern Language Association. 180-191.
2002: “You Say ‘Jelly,’ I Say ‘Jell-O’?: Harry Potter and the Transfiguration of Language.” The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter: Perspectives on a Literary Phenomenon, ed. Lana Whited. Columbia and London: University of Missouri Press. 261-84.
Articles in Refereed Journals
2015: “A Manifesto for Children’s Literature; or, Reading Harold as a Teen-Ager.” Iowa Review 45.2 (Fall 2015): 87-92. <http://iowareview.org/from-the-issue/volume-45-issue-2-%E2%80%94-fall-2015/manifesto-childrens-literature-or-reading-harold>.
2015: “When Will the Children Be Free?: Looking Back on Free to Be… You and Me.” Women’s Studies Quarterly 43.1-2 (June 2015): 282-285.
2014: “Was the Cat in the Hat Black?: Exploring Dr. Seuss’s Racial Imagination.” Children’s Literature 42: 71-98.
2014: “Wild Things, I Think I Love You: Maurice Sendak, Ruth Krauss, and Childhood.” PMLA 129.1 (Jan. 2014): 112-116.
2013: “Keywords for Children’s Literature: Mapping the Critical Moment.” Co-written with Lissa Paul. Barnelitterært forskningstidsskrift/Nordic Journal of ChildLit Aesthetics 4: <www.childlitaesthetics.net/index.php/blft/article/view/21092>.
2013: “Re-Imagining America: Jeff Smith, Herman Melville, and National Dreamscapes.” Co-written with Jennifer A. Hughes. The Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics 4.1: 117-133.
2012: “Same Genus, Different Species?: Comics and Picture Books.” Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 37.4 (Winter 2012): 445-453.
2011: “Radical Children’s Literature Now!” Co-written with Julia Mickenberg. Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 36.4 (Winter 2011): 445-473.
2010: “Obamafiction for Children: Imagining the Forty-Fourth U.S. President.” Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 35.4 (Winter 2010): 334-356.
2007: “Children’s Literature Goes to War: Dr. Seuss, P.D. Eastman, Munro Leaf, and the Private SNAFU Films (1943-1946).” The Journal of Popular Culture 40.3: 468-87.
2005: “Is There a Text in This Advertising Campaign?: Literature, Marketing, and Harry Potter.” The Lion and the Unicorn 29.2 (Apr. 2005): 236-267.
2003: “The Disneyfication of Dr. Seuss: Faithful to Profit, One Hundred Percent?” Cultural Studies 17.5 (Sept. 2003): 579-614.
2002: “Don DeLillo’s Return to Form: The Modernist Poetics of The Body Artist.” Contemporary Literature 43.4 (Winter 2002): 736-59.
2002: “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bored: Harry Potter, the Movie.” Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 46.2 (Oct. 2002): 172-75. Repr. Reading Online Nov. 2002 <www.readingonline.org/newliteracies/lit_index.asp?HREF=/newliteracies/jaal/10-02_column>.
2001: “‘Never overlook the art of the seemingly simple’: Crockett Johnson and the Politics of the Purple Crayon.” Children’s Literature 29: 142-74.
2001: “Amazons in the Underworld: Gender, the Body, and Power in the Novels of Don DeLillo.” Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction 42.4 (Summer 2001): 416-36. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol. 213, ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Detroit: Gale, 2006.
2001: “‘Said a Bird in the Midst of a Blitz…’: How World War II Created Dr. Seuss.” Mosaic: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature 34.2 (June 2001): 65-85.
1999: “‘A small incisive shock’: Modern Forms, Postmodern Politics, and the Role of the Avant-Garde in Don DeLillo’s Underworld.” Modern Fiction Studies 45.3 (Fall 1999): 724-52. <muse.jhu.edu/journals/modern_fiction_studies/v045/45.3nel.html>.
1999: “Dada Knows Best: Growing Up ‘Surreal’ with Dr. Seuss.” Children’s Literature 27: 150-84.
Articles
2016: “Dancing on the Manhole Cover: The Genius of Richard Thompson.” The Comics Journal 3 Aug. 2016: <http://www.tcj.com/dancing-on-the-manhole-cover-the-genius-of-richard-thompson/>.
2016: “Just a Shot Away.” Inside Higher Ed. 12 Apr. 2016: <https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2016/04/12/armed-campuses-spell-demise-public-universities-essay>.
2015: “Advice for Aspiring Academics.” Inside Higher Ed 19 Aug. 2015: <https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2015/08/19/essay-advice-academics-starting-their-careers>.
2014: “Nightmare Neighbors, Dream Collaborators: Mark Newgarden and Megan Montague Cash on Bow-Wow, Comics, Picture Books and Telling Stories Without Words.” The Comics Journal 3 Nov. 2014: <http://www.tcj.com/nightmare-neighbors-dream-collaborators-mark-newgarden-and-megan-montague-cash-on-bow-wow-comics-picture-books-and-telling-stories-without-words/>.
2014: “Board of Regents can learn from social media work group.” The Lawrence Journal-World 15 Apr. 2014. <http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2014/apr/15/your-turn-board-regents-can-learn-social-media-wor/>.
2014: “In Search of Lost Time.” Inside Higher Ed 3 Mar. 2014: <http://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2014/03/03/essay-why-faculty-members-work-so-much>.
2014: “KSU Prof weighs in on social media policy.” The Lawrence Journal-World 7 Jan. 2014. <http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2014/jan/07/opinion-ksu-prof-weighs-social-media-policy/>.
2013: “Comics for Progressives: Coulton Waugh’s Hank.” Archives of American Art Journal. 52.3-4 (Fall 2013): 32-39.
2013: “Crockett Johnson and the Invention of Barnaby.” The Comics Journal. 22 Apr. 2013. <www.tcj.com/crockett-johnson-and-the-invention-of-barnaby/>.
2013: “Wild Things, Children, and Art: The Life and Work of Maurice Sendak.” The Comics Journal 302: 12-29.
2012: “Adjunct to the Tenure Track — Part II.” Inside Higher Ed 3 Oct. 2012. <www.insidehighered.com/advice/2012/10/03/essay-how-adjunct-got-job-tenure-track>.
2012: “From Adjunct to the Tenure Track.” Inside Higher Ed 1 Oct. 2012. <www.insidehighered.com/advice/2012/10/01/essay-moving-adjunct-tenure-track-professor>.
2012: “Before Barnaby: Crockett Johnson Grows Up and Turns Left.” The Comics Journal 26 Sept. 2012. <www.tcj.com/before-barnaby-crockett-johnson-grows-up-and-turns-left/>.
2012: “Artists Are to Watch: Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss in the 1950s.” Horn Book Sept-Oct. 2012. 10-18.
2010: “Dr. Seuss’s Biography” and “Timeline.” Seussville.com Aug. 2010. <www.seussville.com/#/author>.
2008: “The Fall and Rise of Children’s Literature.” American Art 22.1 (Spring 2008): 23-27.
2008: “Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!: Dr. Seuss’s Political Education.” Child Parenting Journal [Australia] Spring 2008: 18-20.
2004: “Crockett Johnson and the Purple Crayon: A Life in Art.” Comic Art 5 (Winter 2004): 2-18.
Reference
2015: “Sendak, Maurice Bernard.” American National Biography. Oxford UP, Oct. 2015. 6 pp. in ms. <http://www.anb.org/articles/17/17-02000.html>.
2006: Entries on Ruth Krauss, Molly Leach, Winsor McCay, and Lucy Sprague Mitchell. Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature. Ed. Jack Zipes. Oxford UP. Vol. 2: 383, 412. Vol. 3: 50-51, 81.
2005: “Seuss, Dr. (Theodor Seuss Geisel).” The Encyclopedia of New England Culture. Ed. Burt Feintuch and David Watters. New Haven and London: Yale UP. 1026-1027.
2003: “Dr. Seuss.” Men & Masculinities: A Social, Cultural, and Historical Encyclopedia, Vol. II: K-Z. Eds. Michael Kimmel and Amy Aaronson. Santa Barbara, Denver, and Oxford: ABC-Clio Press. 710-713.
2000: “Underworld by Don DeLillo.” Beacham’s Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction. Vol. 12. Ed. Mark W. Scott. Farmington Hills, MI: The Gale Group. 445-61.
2000: “The Harry Potter Phenomenon.” Dictionary of Literary Biography Yearbook: 1999. Ed. Matthew J. Bruccoli. Detroit: The Gale Group. 173-79.
1997: “Don DeLillo: An Annotated Bibliography.” Co-written with Curt Gardner. Don DeLillo’s America. Website. Ed. Curt Gardner. 10 pp. in manuscript <perival.com/delillo/ddbiblio.html>.
Multimedia
2010: “Metafiction for Children: A User’s Guide.” 4-minute film. In Media Res 3 Sept. 2010. <mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/imr/2010/09/03/metafiction-children-users-guide>.
2010-: Nine Kinds of Pie: Philip Nel’s Blog. July 2010-present. <www.philnel.com>.
1999-2014: The Don DeLillo Society. June 1999-2014. <www.ksu.edu/english/nelp/delillo>.
1998-: The Crockett Johnson Homepage. July 1998-present. <www.ksu.edu/english/nelp/ purple>. Named a Yahoo! “Cool Site” in Nov. 1998, and deemed “Noteworthy” by Britannica.com in Dec. 2000.
Varia
2016: “Running Out of Time.” Every Little Thing, ed. Alison Piepmeier. 11 Jan. 2016: <http://alisonpiepmeier.blogspot.com/2016/01/running-out-of-time-guest-post-by.html>
2015: “Innocent Children and Frightened Adults: Why Censorship Fails.” From the Square: The NYU Press Blog 30 Sept. 2015: <http://www.fromthesquare.org/?p=7814#. Vi418RCrSHr>.
2010: “Brave Potatoes.” Curious Pages: Recommended Inappropriate Books for Kids, ed. Lane Smith and Bob Shea. Mar. 2010. <curiouspages.blogspot.com/2010/03/brave-potatoes.html>.
2009: “Flat Stanley.” Everything I Needed to Know I Learned from a Children’s Book: Life Lessons from Notable People from All Walks of Life, ed. Anita Silvey. Roaring Brook Press. 66-67.
2008: “A Is for Art.” An Abstract Alphabet: New Works by Stephen Johnson (exhibition catalogue). Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 19 May – 5 Aug. 2007. Revised version printed in Alphabet Soup: Work by Stephen Johnson, Jim Munce, Tony Fitzpatrick, Beach Museum, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, 4 April – 3 Aug. 2008. Repr. <www.philnel.com/2010/08/31/stephen-johnson-abstract/>.
2006: Letter to the Editor. The Horn Book Nov.-Dec. 2006: <www.hbook.com/magazine/letters/nov06.asp>.
2004: “Research Notes: ‘A Left Turn.’” The Courant 1 (Fall 2004): 4-5. <library.syr.edu/information/spcollections/courant/no1-2004.pdf>. [Published by Syracuse University Libraries’ Special Collections.]
1999: “A Pro-Feminist Man.” SKIRT! Magazine Nov. 1999: 39. Longer version printed as “A Pro-Feminist Man Is Not an Oxymoron: A Conversation with Michael Kimmel.” The Forum: Women’s Studies at the College of Charleston 3.1 (Fall 1999): 4-5.
Reprints
2015: “Wild Things, I Think I Love You: Maurice Sendak, Ruth Krauss, and Childhood.” Children’s Literature Review 196, ed. Lawrence J. Trudeau. Gale/Cengage, 2015. 179-182. [from PMLA 129.1 (2014)]
2009: “Seussism.” Wildlife Art Journal 18 Aug. 2009 <wildlifeartjournal.com/articles/wildlife-art-journal-premium-content/fall-2009/76/seussism.html>. [adapted from Dr. Seuss: American Icon]
2008: “Is There a Text in This Advertising Campaign?: Literature, Marketing, and Harry Potter.” Key readings in media today: Mass communication in contexts. Eds. Brooke Erin Duffy, Joseph Turow. New York: Routledge, 2008. [from The Lion and the Unicorn 29.2 (Apr. 2005)]
2008: “Fantasy, Mystery, and Ambiguity.” The Norton Guide to Field Writing with Readings and Handbook. Eds. Richard Bullock, Maureen Daly Goggin, Francine Weinberg. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2008. 663-669. [from J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Novels: A Reader’s Guide (2001), 36-41.]
2005: “‘Said a Bird in the Midst of a Blitz…’: How World War II Created Dr. Seuss.” Children’s Literature Review, Vol. 100, ed. Tom Burns. Detroit: Gale, 2005. [from Mosaic 34.2 (June 2001)]
2005: “Dada Knows Best: Growing Up ‘Surreal’ with Dr. Seuss.” Children’s Literature Review, Vol. 103, ed. Tom Burns. Detroit: Gale, 2005. [from Children’s Literature 27 (1999)]
