Literature, the Child, and the Teen Speakers
Donna Jo Napoli
Donna Jo Napoli is currently a linguistics professor at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. She has also taught at Smith College, the University of North Carolina, Georgetown University and the University of Michigan. Although she grew up in a house with no books and was slow learning to read, by the second grade she had found words and the “never-ending library”, Writing was not a career she envisioned for herself when she was young and she considers herself lucky to have stumbled across writing. Donna Jo has written more than 30 titles for children and young adults across a wide range of genres - historical fiction, fantasy, humorous, and contemporary realistic fiction. Her writing follows her interests often allowing her to travel to enhance her research. She has won multiple awards for her writing including Children’s Book of the Year, Bank Street Child Study; Blue Ribbon Book from Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books; Best Book for Young Adults, YALSA; and multiple times a Best Book selection from Publishers Weekly.
R. Craig Roney
Craig Roney is the Assistant Dean and Head of the Teacher Education Division of the College of Education of Wayne State University. He holds the rank of Professor and has taught both graduate and undergraduate courses in Children's Literature and Story Performance since his arrival at Wayne State in 1977. Craig has served as a member and past chair of both the Committee on Storytelling of the National Council of Teachers of English and the Storyteller’s Special Interest Group of the International Reading Association. He is also an active member of the National Storytelling Network. He frequently conducts workshops, school demonstrations, lectures and seminars both regionally and nationally particularly regarding the use of children's literature and storytelling in the classroom. He has also written numerous publications on these topics.
