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The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature.

Article Excerpt
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature. Jack Zipes, editor in chief. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. 4 volumes, 1952 pp.

We have entered the second golden age of the encyclopedia. Part of this renaissance is the result of the proliferation of academic publishers that regularly announce new, and indispensable, encyclopedias on important-sounding subjects. Invitations to contribute to these worthy volumes of scholarship are extended much to the relief of eager graduate students and assistant professors anxious for publications. Printed encyclopedias began in the eighteenth century thanks, in part, to the ambitious work of intellectuals and encyclopedists during the French Enlightenment. The alphabetic format was introduced in 1704 by John Harris, with his Lexicon Technicum; or, An Universal English Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. However, Ephraim Chambers, who published a two-volume Cyclopaedia in 1728, is sometimes credited as the father of the modern English-language encyclopedia. But perhaps the best-known work in this genre remains the Encyclopaedia Britannica, first issued in 1768. Move ahead about 250 years, and print encyclopedias, including the formidable Encyclopaedia Britannica, are experiencing stiff competition from upstarts on the Internet, such as Wikipedia. While the accuracy of information circulating on the Web may be questioned, what we are seeing is that such materials are relatively quick and easy to access, edit, and debate. Reliable print text sometimes migrates to the Web, where copyright rules and attributions may be murky. Even so, Web resources are where students often turn first....