The Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children’s Literature presents a special Speaker Series: Home in Children’s Literature on March 10, 2026 at the Fresno State Library.
In children’s literature, the idea of home carries a wide range of meanings and perspectives. Through storytelling, children learn not only what home looks like—whether a house, a neighborhood, or a landscape—but also how it feels and how memory and place become intertwined in shaping who we are. Stories help children hold multiple meanings at once, offering diverse interpretations of home shaped by curiosity, growth, displacement, or necessity.
About the speakers:
Leonard Marcus’s curatorial work on Building Stories with the National Building Museum highlights how the built environment functions as an often-overlooked character in children’s literature, shaping how children begin to understand their surroundings and their place within them. Homes in books are not merely backdrops; they are spaces that invite exploration, offer refuge and spark imagination.
Jim Silverman’s slideshow brings a complementary perspective with his focus on 19th- and early 20th-century children’s books published in California—from a Mexican schoolbook to Hollywood fairy tales. Together the books reveal a sense of place defined by many cultures, self-invention, layered histories, and only-in-California themes and storylines.
Open to the public. Light snacks and beverages will be available.
Date: Tuesday, March 10
Time: 2 – 4 p.m.
Location: Ellipse Gallery, second floor north wing, Fresno State Library
Register: Here
Need accommodations? Contact the Arne Nixon Center’s Librarian at karina@mail.fresnostate.edu.
Fresno State Library News 