Acknowledgments

    Without the help and support of many, this book would have been impos
sible.  Rebecca Torres has been my faithful typist and right-hand assistant
through numerous difficulties, detours, and tight places during the prepa
ration of the manuscript.
    Mona Bryant and Barbara Grady provided excellent assistance with
library research.  Dorothy Wonsmos and the interlibrary loan staff at the
University of New Mexico Library helped with access to over one hundred
articles and books.  Carol Gay made available the complete published pro
ceedings of the Children's Literature Association.  Margaret N. Coughlan
provided assistance with materials in the Children's Literature Center at
the Library of Congress.
    The resources of numerous libraries have been essential in compiling
this work, notably those of the University of Arizona, the University of
New Mexico, the Albuquerque Public Schools, and the Albuquerque Public
Library.
    At the very beginning of this project I received encouragement, sup
port, and advice from Bruce Bonta and my fellow librarians at Penn State
University, and from professor Harrison T. Meserole of Penn State's English
Department.  Later, Richard Van Dongen and the students I met through his
courses in children's literature at the University of New Mexico broadened
my perspectives of the field and provided me with firsthand experience of
the needs of students and scholars.
    Editors Janice Meagher and Rachel Fordyce have been patient, encourag
ing, and a source of expert advice.  My husband, G. Edward Philips, has
given personal support and assisted me with the complexities of computer
hardware and software.
    Finally, the financial support of the National Endowment for the Huma
nities has been invaluable, as was the encouragement and advice offered by
grants officer Marcella Grendler on more than one occasion.