The Center for
Children's Literature
About the Collection
The Center for Children's Literature houses a collection of over 20,000 children's trade books, most of which have been published within the last l0 years. A small number of historical books are also part of the collection. However because of space and budget constraints, the Center does not attempt to provide a comprehensive collection of all children's literature. In addition, the Center focuses only on trade books (those children read for pleasure or information). Textbooks and reference titles are not collected.
The collection grows each year through the generosity of trade book publishers, both major and smaller presses. These publishers send books as complimentary review copies to Center Director, Dr. Stewig, because of his leadership and scholarship in the area of children's literature. Dr. Stewig receives books from virtually all of the major children's trade publishers, and as Director, he continues to cultivate contacts with the smaller publishers. Just recently, the Center has begun to receive books from such smaller presses as Eerdmans, Orca, and Barefoot Books.
The largest part of the collection is fiction. Another large section is nonfiction or informational books. This component includes a strong selection of recent science, social studies and math tradebooks to use in support of the ciriculum. Because of the generous gift in memory of a Carthage alumus, Joy Moldenhauer, a notable strength of the collection is the over 1,500 books of poetry. When you visit the Center Collection in the Hedberg Library, please feel free to ask the library staff to help you access the books you need.
In addition to books, the Center also includes an array of recorded books both of picture book titles for younger listeners, as well as much longer works for middle school children.