Department of English

John Cech’s recent research involves a documentary history of children’s literature that makes use of the University of Florida’s premier collection of children’s books, The Baldwin Library of Historical Children’s Literature. In 2017, Cech provided the Afterword for a new edition of D’Aulaire’s Greek Myths, and he gave the Edward G. Holley Memorial Lecture at the annual conference of the American Library Association on “History, Creativity, and Children’s Literature.” Cech is the author of Angels and Wild Things, The Archetypal Poetics of Maurice Sendak; Imagination and Innovation, The Story of Weston Woods; and a series of picture-book retellings, with historical notes, of classic fairy tales. Cech directs the interdisciplinary Center for Children’s Literature and Culture. He serves on the advisory board of the International Children’s Media Center, and he was the recipient of the Anne Devereaux Jordan award for his contributions as a scholar and as a public intellectual in the field of children’s literature. Among Cech’s recent courses are graduate seminars in The Art and Legacy of Maurice Sendak; Childhood, Culture, and Creativity; and Childhood and its Poetics.