Erin JohnsonEnglish 401Review of JournalsOctober 25, 2003The purpose of this paper is to do a critical analysis of journals in the scholarly field of children’s literature. Adults have been gearing their literature for children since the end of the seventeenth century when the Puritans wrote texts specifically for children.They were not the fun, picture books we think of in today’s society, but a medium in which the adults wrote about the way in which children were supposed to behave and how they were to believe in god, “the first official books for children were ABC books, primers, and horn books whose main goal was to teach the child how to read, primarily for religious purposes and in accordance with a certain religious-educational doctrine” (Nikolajeva 30). The first publications that were marketed for children were John Newbery’s books. His “The History of Little Goody Two Shoes” appealed to children and adults alike. A lot has changed since then, but it is still adults who are writing for children. The adults write what they think the child should read. The purpose of these journals is to give parents, scholars and teachers ideas as to what is good literature for children. Some journals are more scholarly and focus on aspects of the books that children don’t even think about when reading a book while others give insightful descriptions as to the contents of books in a particular area. Each of these journals is unique and helpful to those who know they are there for their benefit.The Horn Book MagazineHornbook was founded by Bertha Mahony Miller in 1924. The current editor-in-chief is Roger Sutton and the publisher is Thomas Todd. It is published six times per yearin Boston, Massachusetts. The beginning section of the July/August 2003 issue that I looked at had articles by Eric Rohmann, Eric Carle and Avi. Rohmann’s article was his acceptance speech of the Caldecott Medal, Carle’s was an article showing surprise that hehad won the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award while Avi’s was on his acceptance of the Newbery Award. There were articles by people that either knew the author or who had researched their life following each of the pieces. The magazine also includes book reviews on picture books, fiction, folklore, poetry and nonfiction. Other items included are a critical connections page, paperback reprints and a section for a column. There is a website at www.hbook.com.SignalSignal was started by Nancy Chambers and Aiden Chambers in January of 1970. They stopped publication at their one-hundredth journal which was in August of 2003. The only editor of the journal was Nancy Chambers who co-founded it. It was published by Thimble Press and printed in England by Short Run Press in Exeter. The May issues had a poetry award for an essay. The September 2002 issue had a very diverse group of writings in it. Articles ranged from: “Elsie Piddock, Then and Now,” “The Discipline of Children’s Literature: To Benchmark or not to Benchmark,” “Keeping the Children’s Classics Alive and the Case of Beatriz Potter,” “Teaching Children’s Literature as a comparative literary subject in a British University,” and “The Collecting Mystery.” The journal includes a contributor’s page which gives a brief description of the authors ofthe articles who were lecturers, authors and professors. There is also an annual index published. Nancy Chambers is quoted as saying, “(w)e wanted to encourage criticalwriting as well as to reflect the world of children’s books from a variety of viewpoints” (Hornbook 432). I think that the Chambers’ achieved that goal by the end of their thirty year run.Children’s Literature in EducationThis journal was started in 1970 and is currently co-edited by Margaret Mackey from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and Geoff Fox from the University of Exeter in Exeter, Devon, England. This journal is published internationally quarterly by Kluwer Academic/Human Sciences Press in the Netherlands, although the September 2003 issue that I looked at was printed in the United States. Each article is accompanied by key words, a summary of the article’s content and a biographical paragraph of the author of the piece. The focus of the journal is, “to promote lively discussion of poetry and prose for children and young adults to heighten professional awareness and understanding of this literature and its use” (Notes 259). The journal publishes articles that have, critical evaluation of individual authors or single works, analysis orcommentary on social issues reflected in books, interviews with or articles by authors and illustrators, accounts of classroom practice and experience, and examinations of the reading process and its developmental role in childhood adolescence (Notes 259).This journal brings a heightened awareness of these issues which it finds very important to the study of literature for children. The website for the journal is www.wkap.nl/journalhome.htm/0045-6713.BooklinksThis is a bi-monthly magazine that is published by Booklist Publications in Chicago, Illinois. The publisher is Bill Ott and the editor is Laura Tillotson. The September 2003 issue I looked at had a focus on history. The articles were on various authors that wrote about history and events in history. The November issue will be on science. After each article there were pages of books that related to the topic. The magazine also has a letter from the editor, a “need to know” section, an index and an index to the advertisers that appear in the pages. The magazine is for adults who wish to affiliate children with books and targets the people who are education today’s youth. Thewebsite is www.ala.org/Booklinks.BookbirdThere are four editors for this particular journal and they are; Evelyn B. Freeman, Barbara A. Lehman, Lilia Ratcheva-Stratieva and Patricia L. Sharer. It is published quarterly and is brought to us by the International Board on Books for Young People or IBBY which was founded in 1953. The July 2003 issue I looked at focused on controversial children’s literature. The major questions this publication focused on were; should literature keep children as innocents or reflect the truth of the world? And is literature for learning or aesthetic appeal? These two ideas are the basis for the debate onwhat makes a children’s book controversial. Each publication has a different