Professional Autodidact; or, How I Became a Children’s Literature Professor Philip Nel

Children's Literature for Autodidacts Professional Autodidact; or, How I Became a Children’s Literature Professor Philip Nel I teach children’s literature, write books about children’s literature, and direct a graduate program in children’s literature. [...] The Seuss chapter was the only part of the dissertation on children’s literature. [...] I am a scholar of children’s literature, but I am also keenly aware of how much I don’t know about children’s literature. [...] So, I read the relevant scholarly books and articles, regularly attend the children’s literature conferences,3 and read lots of children’s books — which, after all, is the reason I chose this line of work in the first place. [...] 3 I go to the Children’s Literature Association, and the International Research Society for Children’s Literature.