Publications
Current book project:
Children of the Black Press: Youth Periodical Writing and the Making of an African American Literature for Young People
(under contract with The Ohio State University Press)
Children of the Black Press: Youth Periodical Writing and the Making of an African American Literature for Young People
(under contract with The Ohio State University Press)
"…[a] smart and engaging monograph … Gray's book offers a compelling argument about the interdependence of journalism and children's literature at the turn of the century, and she writes in lively, invitational prose." — American Periodicals
"Gray's lively writing draws readers in … [she] contextualizes her work in a tightly woven web drawn from the fields of journalism, literary history, children's literature, media history, childhood studies, and communication, especially as applied to newspapers and children's literature." — Children's Literature Association Quarterly
"Cub Reporters adds an exciting new volume to the growing collection of scholarship about American periodical culture and children's culture alike. Gray lays out her arguments neatly and convincingly, and supports them, throughout. The book is accessible, convincing, and engaging, and is poised to become a touchstone for future academic work." — Karen Roggenkamp, author of Narrating the News: New Journalism and Literary Genre in Late Nineteenth–Century American Newspapers and Fiction
"Gray's intricate and well-researched argument in Cub Reporters is a critical read … and it paves the way for much more scholarly work to come." — Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth
Essay Collections
“A Living Thing: The Very American Invention of Jack Pumpkinhead.” The Characters of Oz. Eds. Dina Massachi and Mark West. Forthcoming.
“'Bizarre Creatures' and the Fans Who Love Them: The Dark Crystal as Alternative Children's Culture.” Alt Kidlit: What Children's Literature Has Been, Never Was, and Might Yet Be. Eds. Kenneth B. Kidd and Derritt Mason. Forthcoming.
“Let Us Make the World Know that We Are Living: The Brownies’ Book, African American Newspapers, and Black Childhood Identity.” A Centennial Celebration of The Brownies' Book. Eds. Dianne Johnson-Feelings and Jonda C. McNair. University Press of Mississippi, 2022.
“(In)Visibility and Voice(lessness): Destabilizing Disability in The Summer of the Swans and The Westing Game.” Co-authored with Sara K. Day. Dust Off the Gold Medal: Rediscovering Children’s Literature at the Newbery Centennial. Eds. Sara L. Schwebel and Jocelyn Van Tuyl. New York: Routledge, forthcoming.
“Readers and Primers.” The de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection: History and Holdings. Eds. Eric L. Tribunella and Ellen Ruffin. Oxford, MS: University Press of Mississippi, forthcoming.
“‘You've Seen Too Much to Be Innocent’: The Outsiders, the Myth of American Youth, and Young Adult Literature” and “Greasers and Gallants: Realism, Romanticism, and Identity in The Outsiders.” Critical Insights: The Outsiders. Ed. M. Katherine Grimes. Amenia, NY: Grey House-EBSCO.
"A Spectacle of Girls: L. Frank Baum, Women Reporters, and the Man Behind the Screen in Early Twentieth Century America.” Girls’ Series Fiction and American Popular Culture. Ed. LuElla L. D'Amico. Lanham, MD: Lexington-Rowman & Littlefield, March 2016
Articles
"Join the Club: African American Children's Literature, Social Change, and the Chicago Defender Jr." (Children's Literature Association Quarterly, 42.2, Summer 2017)
“‘A Different Sunshine’: Writing Jamaican National Identity Through the Girl’s Coming-of-Age Story in Paulette Ramsey’s Aunt Jen” (Bookbird: A Journal of International Children's Literature 53.2, May 2015)
"'Bloom in the Moonshine': Imagination as Liberation in Anne of Green Gables" (Children's Literature, 2014)
Reviews
"Darger's Resources by Michael Moon" (The Journal of American Culture, Dec. 2013)
"Gray's lively writing draws readers in … [she] contextualizes her work in a tightly woven web drawn from the fields of journalism, literary history, children's literature, media history, childhood studies, and communication, especially as applied to newspapers and children's literature." — Children's Literature Association Quarterly
"Cub Reporters adds an exciting new volume to the growing collection of scholarship about American periodical culture and children's culture alike. Gray lays out her arguments neatly and convincingly, and supports them, throughout. The book is accessible, convincing, and engaging, and is poised to become a touchstone for future academic work." — Karen Roggenkamp, author of Narrating the News: New Journalism and Literary Genre in Late Nineteenth–Century American Newspapers and Fiction
"Gray's intricate and well-researched argument in Cub Reporters is a critical read … and it paves the way for much more scholarly work to come." — Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth
Essay Collections
“A Living Thing: The Very American Invention of Jack Pumpkinhead.” The Characters of Oz. Eds. Dina Massachi and Mark West. Forthcoming.
“'Bizarre Creatures' and the Fans Who Love Them: The Dark Crystal as Alternative Children's Culture.” Alt Kidlit: What Children's Literature Has Been, Never Was, and Might Yet Be. Eds. Kenneth B. Kidd and Derritt Mason. Forthcoming.
“Let Us Make the World Know that We Are Living: The Brownies’ Book, African American Newspapers, and Black Childhood Identity.” A Centennial Celebration of The Brownies' Book. Eds. Dianne Johnson-Feelings and Jonda C. McNair. University Press of Mississippi, 2022.
“(In)Visibility and Voice(lessness): Destabilizing Disability in The Summer of the Swans and The Westing Game.” Co-authored with Sara K. Day. Dust Off the Gold Medal: Rediscovering Children’s Literature at the Newbery Centennial. Eds. Sara L. Schwebel and Jocelyn Van Tuyl. New York: Routledge, forthcoming.
“Readers and Primers.” The de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection: History and Holdings. Eds. Eric L. Tribunella and Ellen Ruffin. Oxford, MS: University Press of Mississippi, forthcoming.
“‘You've Seen Too Much to Be Innocent’: The Outsiders, the Myth of American Youth, and Young Adult Literature” and “Greasers and Gallants: Realism, Romanticism, and Identity in The Outsiders.” Critical Insights: The Outsiders. Ed. M. Katherine Grimes. Amenia, NY: Grey House-EBSCO.
"A Spectacle of Girls: L. Frank Baum, Women Reporters, and the Man Behind the Screen in Early Twentieth Century America.” Girls’ Series Fiction and American Popular Culture. Ed. LuElla L. D'Amico. Lanham, MD: Lexington-Rowman & Littlefield, March 2016
Articles
"Join the Club: African American Children's Literature, Social Change, and the Chicago Defender Jr." (Children's Literature Association Quarterly, 42.2, Summer 2017)
“‘A Different Sunshine’: Writing Jamaican National Identity Through the Girl’s Coming-of-Age Story in Paulette Ramsey’s Aunt Jen” (Bookbird: A Journal of International Children's Literature 53.2, May 2015)
"'Bloom in the Moonshine': Imagination as Liberation in Anne of Green Gables" (Children's Literature, 2014)
Reviews
"Darger's Resources by Michael Moon" (The Journal of American Culture, Dec. 2013)
