Department of English
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611
(352) 392-6650, ex. 285
email: jcech@ufl.edu
internet: recess.ufl.edu
Professor of English, American, and Children’s Literature, The University of Florida.
Director, Center for Children’s Literature and Culture, The University of Florida.
Creator, Producer and Host of “Recess!” a daily Public Radio program about cultures of childhood, 1999 – 2007.
Recipient of the Chandler Award of Merit for Contributions to the Field of Children’s Literature.
President and member of the Executive Board, Children’s Literature Association, 1980 – 1984.
Author of articles, essays, and other works on Maurice Sendak, Randolph Caldecott, H. C. Andersen, Pinocchio, Howard Pyle, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, the art of the storyteller, children’s folklore, children’s media, and other subjects in such publications as Children’s Literature, Children’s Video, Detskaya Literatura, The Horn Book, The Lion and the Unicorn, Parabola, and Southern Studies.
Contributor of feature articles and numerous reviews of books for children and adults in Child, The Christian Science Monitor, The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post Book World, and USA Today.
Selected Publications
Books
- Imagination and Innovation: The Story of Weston Woods. New York: Scholastic Press. Fall 2009.
- Angels and Wild Things: The Archetypal Poetics of Maurice Sendak. University Park: Penn State Press, 1995. Named Honor Book of the Year, Children’s Literature Association; Finalist for the Gradiva Award (in the category of works related to childhood), given annually by the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis, April 1997.
- Editor, American Writers for Children, l900-l960, Volume 22 of The Dictionary of Literary Biography. Detroit: Gale Research, l983. Series developer for the DLB’s volumes on American children’s literature.
- Charles Olson and Edward Dahlberg: A Portrait of a Friendship. Vancouver, B.C.: The English Literary Studies Monograph Series, l982.
- An Afternoon at Colonus: A Recollection of Edward Dahlberg. New York: The Pequod Press, l978. In limited and trade editions.
- Charles Olson in Connecticut: Last Lectures. With Oliver Ford and Peter Rittner. Iowa City: The Windhover Press, l974. Limited edition. Rpt. as Charles Olson in Mansfield: Last Lectures. Boston: Northeastern University Press, l977.
Works for Children
- The Nutcracker (retelling of E. T. A. Hoffmann story), illustrated by Eric Puybaret. New York, Sterling, 2009.
- Aesop’s Fables (retelling with scholarly note), illustrated by Martin Jarrie. New York, Sterling, 2009.
- The Twelve Dancing Princesses (retelling with scholarly note), illustrations by Lucy Corvino. This book and the other fairy tales listed below are part of Sterling’s Classic Fairy Tale Series. New York: Sterling, 2009.
- Rumplestiltskin (retelling with scholarly note), illustrated by Martin Hargreaves. New York: Sterling, 2008.
- Jack and the Beanstalk (retelling with scholarly note), illustrated by Robert Mackenzie. New York: Sterling, 2008.
- The Princess and the Pea (retelling with scholarly note), illustrated by Bernhard Oberdieck. New York: Sterling, 2008.
- The Elves and the Shoemaker (retelling with scholarly note), illustrations by Kirill Chelushkin. New York: Sterling, 2008.
- The Southernmost Cat, with illustrations by Kathy Osborne. Simon and Schuster, 1996. Winner of the Silver Storybook Award from Parents’ Choice Magazine.
- Django, with illustrations by Sharon McGinley-Nally. Four Winds Press / Simon and Schuster, 1994.
- Jacques-Henri Lartigue: Boy With A Camera. Four Winds Press/ Simon and Schuster, 1994.
- First Snow, Magic Snow, with illustrations by Sharon McGinley-Nally. Four Winds Press / Macmillan: 1992. Named an Outstanding Book in the Field of Social Studies by the Children’s Book Council and the National Council of Social Studies.
- My Grandmother’s Journey, with illustrations by Sharon McGinley-Nally. Bradbury Press/Macmillan: 1991. Named an Outstanding Book in the Field of Social Studies by the Children’s Book Council and the National Council of Social Studies.
Works for Theater
- The Secret River, an adaptation for the stage of the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings story, first produced in conjunction with the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of M. K. Rawlings at the annual Rawlings Society conference, 1996.
- From Inside a Swan’s Egg, a play based on the life of Hans Christian Andersen. Toured throughout Florida and the Southeast by The Learning Stage and Caldwell Theatre in the Schools programs (1982-85); selected for performance at the World Festival of Theatre Young Audiences held at the World’s Fair in New Orleans, 1984.
Fiction
- A Rush of Dreamers, being the Remarkable Story of Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico. New York: Marlowe, 1998.
Education and Degrees
Ph.D. in English and American Literature, University of Connecticut at Storrs, 1974.
B.A. in English, University of Illinois at Urbana, cum laude, 1966.
A complete curriculum vitae is available upon request.