The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature

{{Short description|Reference work about children's literature}}

{{Italic title}}{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}

The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature is a reference work first published in 1984, with its most recent edition in 2015. The Oxford Companions is a book series providing general knowledge within a specific area,{{cite web| url=https://global.oup.com/academic/content/series/o/oxford-companions-oc/ | title=Oxford Companions | publisher=Oxford University Press | access-date=28 November 2017 }} in this case, children's literature.

The first edition of Companion, by the husband-and-wife team of Humphrey Carpenter and Mari Prichard, was published by Oxford University Press in 1984.{{Cite book|last=West|first=Mark I.|title=Everyone's Guide to Children's Literature|year=1997|publisher=Highsmith Press|isbn=0-917846-90-7|location=Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin|oclc=36713094|pages=13–14}} Iona and Peter Opie originally intended to write the Companion but did not complete it.{{Cite news|last=Welty|first=Eudora|author-link=Eudora Welty|date=1984-08-19|title=Innocence, Sin and J.D. Salinger|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/08/19/books/innocence-sin-and-jd-salinger.html|access-date=2022-01-29|issn=0362-4331}} Although they consulted with others, Carpenter and Prichard wrote each entry themselves.{{cite journal|last1=Alderson|first1=Brian|author-link1=Brian Alderson (children's book critic)|date=June 1986|title=Review of The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature|journal=The Library|volume=8|issue=2|pages=187–189|issn=0024-2160}} In about 2,000 entries,{{Cite book|last=Patrick|first=Gay D.|title=Building the Reference Collection: A How-to-Do-It Manual for School and Public Librarians|year=1992|publisher=Neal-Schuman|isbn=1-55570-105-1|oclc=26503735|page=70}} it covers children's books and folklore from the Commonwealth, United States, and some other countries.{{Cite book|last=Kehler|first=Dorothea|title=Problems in Literary Research: A Guide to Selected Reference Works|year=1997|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=0-8108-3216-X|edition=4th|oclc=35016619|page=180}}

Daniel Hahn's updated edition of the Companion was published in 2015.{{Cite news|last1=Mangan|first1=Lucy|author-link=Lucy Mangan|date=2015-04-18|title=The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature review – from Jonathan Swift to JK Rowling|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/apr/18/oxford-companion-to-childrens-literature-review-jonathan-swift-jk-rowling|access-date=2022-01-29|work=The Guardian}}{{cite journal|last1=Stevens|first1=J.|date=February 2016|title=Review of The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature (2d edition)|journal=Choice Reviews|volume=53|issue=6|id={{Gale|A444596805}}}} Its longest entry is on Harry Potter.