This multidisciplinary Handbook is the first attempt to pull together in one volume the research on childrens and young adult literature which is currently scattered across three intersecting disciplines: education, English, and library and information science. The books organization reflects the special interests of each of these disciplines. Section one focuses on readers, the province of education; section two on the analysis of text, the province of English and literature; and section three looks at the social contexts surrounding and influencing the intersections of readers and texts.