Associate Professor of English

Office: Fretwell 290F
Phone: 704.687.4213
Email:

Education

• Ph.D., University of Massachusetts at Amherst
• M.A., B.A., Boston College

Personal Interests

• Multicultural Children’s Literature
• American and British Children’s Literature
• Visual Images and Children’s Literature
• 19th Century American Literature
• Images of Slavery in Literature
• Film and Popular Culture

Selected Publications and Presentations
Connolly, Paula. “Telling Secrets and the Possibilities of Flight in I Hadn’t Meant to Tell You This,” in Exploring Culturally Diverse Literature for Children and Adolescents: Learning to Listen in New Ways. Ed. Darwin L. Henderson and Jill P. May. Boston: Pearson Education Inc-Allyn and Bacon, 2005. 205- 215.

---. “Narrative Tensions: Telling Slavery, Showing Violence,” in The Presence of the Past in Children’s Literature. Ed. Anne Lawson Lucas. Westport, CT: Praeger-Greenwood Press, 2003. 107-112.

---. “Crossing Borders from Africa to America,” in Transcending Boundaries: Writing for a Dual Audience of Children and Adults. Ed. Sandra Beckett. Children’s Literature and Culture Series. General Editor Jack Zipes. New York: Garland Publishing Co., 1999. 149-164.

---. “The Marketing of Romantic Childhood: Milne, Disney, and A Very Popular Stuffed Bear,” in Literature and the Child: Romantic Continuations, Postmodern Contestations. Ed. James Holt McGavran. Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press, 1999. 188-207.

---. “Still a Slave: Legal and Spiritual Freedom in Julius Lester’s ‘Where the Sun Lives.’” Children’s Literature. Vol. 26. Annual of the MLA Division on Children’s Literature and The Children’s Literature Association. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998. 123-139.

---. Winnie-the-Pooh and the House at Pooh Corner: Recovering Arcadia. Twayne’s Masterwork Studies Series. Robert Lecker, General Editor. New York: Twayne--Macmillan Publishing Co., 1995. (Also available as part of Twayne’s Masterwork Studies on CD-ROM. June 1996.)

Current Projects

• Responsive Voices: Images of American Slavery in Children's Literature, 1800-2000. (a book-length manuscript).
• Stories of Slavery, Stories for Children, 1800-1865. (edited collection of stories about slavery culled from rare book collections).

Courses Taught

• ENGL 2090: Disney and Children’s Films
• ENGL 3050: African-American Children’s Literature
• ENGL 3102: Literature for Young Children
• ENGL 3103: Children's Literature
• ENGL 3104: Adolescent Literature
• ENGL 3142: American Literature, 1870-1920
• ENGL 4102/5102: Classics in British Children's Literature
• ENGL 4103/5103: Classics in American Children's Literature
• ENGL 4104/5104: Multiculturalism in Children's Literature
• ENGL 6070: Award-Winning Children's Books
• ENGL 6070: Slavery and Race in American Literature
• ENGL 6103: Juvenile Literature
• ENGL 6685: Nineteenth-Century American Women Writers

Selected Professional Service

• Editorial Board, Children's Literature in Education: An International Quarterly.
• Scholarship Committee, Children's Literature Association.
• Board of Directors, Chapel of Christ the King Weekday School (an accredited, non-profit, 4-star rated and licensed pre-K, K school for underprivileged children in Charlotte.