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Cover image of The Lion and the Unicorn
Cover image of The Lion and the Unicorn
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The Lion and the Unicorn

Editors :

David L. Russell, Ferris State University; Karin E. Westman, Kansas State University; and Naomi J. Wood, Kansas State University

Volume:
Volume
47 (2023)
Frequency:
Frequency
3 issues
The Lion and the Unicorn, an international theme- and genre-centered journal, is committed to a serious, ongoing discussion of literature for children. The journal's coverage includes the state of the publishing industry, regional authors, comparative studies of significant books and genres, new developments in theory, the art of illustration, the mass media, and popular culture. It is especially noted for its interviews with authors, editors, and other important contributors to the field, as well as its outstanding book review section.
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About

Journal Details

The Lion and the Unicorn is a peer-reviewed journal that critically examines children’s literature within the wider concepts of children’s and adolescent culture. General issues and special issues are published. Interviews with children's authors and reflective essays are occasionally published. L&U aims to promote research within the international community of the interdisciplinary field of children’s literature and culture.

Editorial correspondence and manuscripts for general issues should be sent to:

lionunicorn@ksu.edu
Department of English
108 English/CS Building
Kansas State University
Manhattan, KS 66506

Books and all inquiries for reviews should be sent to:

Victoria Ford Smith
University of Connecticut
victoria.f.smith@uconn.edu

Anastasia Ulanowicz
University of Florida
aulanow@ufl.edu

Guidelines for Submission

Manuscripts should follow the format outlined in the MLA Handbook. All text must be double-spaced in a clear, easy-to-read 12-point typeface. Text should be left justified with one-inch margins. Manuscripts are not to exceed (25) twenty-five double-spaced pages, including endnotes and Works cited pages. Illustrations or other images (graphs, charts) should be counted as occupying half a page of text. Manuscripts should be submitted electronically, as attachments to: lionunicorn@ksu.edu. Please make sure that personal identification does not appear on the manuscript itself. Send a second attachment with your name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address. Illustrations can be sent as .jpgs at this stage. Manuscripts should be original and not previously published.

Acknowledgement of receipt of your manuscript will be sent by e-mail. Then your manuscript will be sent anonymously for review. You will be notified of the results and a copy of the comments will be sent to you.

If the manuscript is accepted for publication, the author(s) must submit an electronic copy in Word. Illustrations must be sent as .tif files at 300dpi—on a CD if necessary. Authors are also required to submit a 100 word abstract and a brief biographical note.

Permissions for copyrighted materials. The author must secure any necessary permissions for copyrighted material for print and electronic reproduction. Permission fees are the responsibility of the author.

The Hopkins Press Journals Ethics and Malpractice Statement can be found at the ethics-and-malpractice page.

Peer Review Policy

The Lion and the Unicorn publishes literary criticism and author interviews. Submissions should be original work, and the journal does not accept simultaneous submissions. Translations may be considered. Work should explain its relationship to current critical conversations in the field of children's literature studies, or otherwise establish its own exigency. The editorial team determines if the work is appropriate to the journal and sufficiently developed to be sent to outside readers for review. All outside reviews are double-blind, typically with two reviewers per submission. Editors return reviewer comments to the author with one of the following recommendations: accept, revisions required, revise and resubmit, decline. If revisions are required, the editor determines whether or not the original reviewer(s) will be consulted.  Revised and resubmitted essays are typically returned to an original reviewer as well as to one new reviewer.  The timetable is approximately 12-14 weeks from submission to decision. However, exigent circumstances may require more review time.

Editors

David L. Russell, Ferris State University
Karin E. Westman, Kansas State University
Naomi J. Wood, Kansas State University

Poetry Award Editor

Krystal Howard, California State University, Northridge

    Book Review Editors

    Victoria Smith, University of Connecticut—Storrs
    Anastasia Ulanowicz, University of Florida—Gainesville

    Editorial Board

    Daniel Feldman, Bar-Ilan University
    Richard Flynn, Georgia Southern University
    Marilisa Jiménez Garcia, Lehigh University
    Kelly Hager, Simmons College
    Michael Joseph, Rutgers University
    Kenneth Kidd, University of Florida—Gainesville
    Michelle Martin, University of Washington
    Marek Oziewicz, University of Minnesota
    Lissa Paul, Brock University
    Anne Phillips, Kansas State University
    Phillip Serrato, San Diego State University
    Katharine Capshaw Smith, University of Connecticut—Storrs
    Lynne Vallone, Rutgers University
    Andrea Mei-Ying Wu, National Cheng Kung University

      Founding Editors

      Geraldine DeLuca, Brooklyn College
      Roni Natov, Brooklyn College

        Previous Editors

        Sandra Beckett, Brock University
        Lissa Paul, Brock University
        Louisa Smith, Mankato State University
        Jan Susina, Illinois State University
        Jack Zipes, University of Minnesota

          Editorial Consultants

          Editorial consultants rotate for each issue of the journal according to the essays  reviewed and selected for publication.

          Send books for review to:

          Victoria Ford Smith
          University of Connecticut
          victoria.f.smith@uconn.edu

          Anastasia Ulanowicz
          University of Florida
          aulanow@ufl.edu

          Please send book review copies to the contact above. Review copies received by the Johns Hopkins University Press office will be discarded.

          Abstracting & Indexing Databases

          • Clarivate Analytics
            • Arts & Humanities Citation Index
            • Current Contents
            • Web of Science
          • De Gruyter Saur
            • Dietrich's Index Philosophicus
            • IBZ - Internationale Bibliographie der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Zeitschriftenliteratur
            • Internationale Bibliographie der Rezensionen Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlicher Literatur
          • EBSCOhost
            • Academic Search Alumni Edition, 1/1/2005-
            • Academic Search Complete, 1/1/2005-
            • Academic Search Elite, 1/1/2005-
            • Academic Search Premier, 1/1/2005-
            • Current Abstracts, 1/1/2000-
            • Humanities International Complete, 1/1/2005-
            • Humanities International Index, 1/1/2005-
            • Humanities Source, 1/1/2005-
            • Humanities Source Ultimate, 1/1/2005-
            • MLA International Bibliography (Modern Language Association)
            • Poetry & Short Story Reference Center, 1/1/2005-
            • RILM Abstracts of Music Literature (Repertoire International de Litterature Musicale)
            • TOC Premier (Table of Contents), 1/1/2005-
          • Elsevier BV
            • Scopus, 2002-
          • Gale
            • MLA International Bibliography (Modern Language Association)
          • OCLC
            • ArticleFirst, vol.19, no.1, 1995-vol.35, no.1, 2011
            • Electronic Collections Online, vol.19, no.1, 1995-vol.35, no.1, 2011
            • Periodical Abstracts, v.24, n.1, 2000-v.34, n.2, 2010
          • Personal Alert (E-mail)
          • ProQuest
            • MLA International Bibliography (Modern Language Association)
            • Periodicals Index Online
            • Professional ProQuest Central, 06/01/1996-
            • ProQuest 5000, 06/01/1996-
            • ProQuest Central, 06/01/1996-
            • Research Library, 06/01/1996-
            • RILM Abstracts of Music Literature (Repertoire International de Litterature Musicale)

          Abstracting & Indexing Sources

          • Abstracts of English Studies   (Ceased)  (Print)
          • Children's Literature Abstracts   (Ceased)  (Print)
          • MLA Abstracts of Articles in Scholarly Journals   (Ceased)  (Print)

          Source: Ulrichsweb Global Serials Directory.

          0.1 (2022)
          0.2 (Five-Year Impact Factor)
          0.00034 (Eigenfactor™ Score)

          Rank in Category (by Journal Impact Factor):
          Note: While journals indexed in AHCI and ESCI are receiving a JIF for the first time in June 2023, they will not receive ranks, quartiles, or percentiles until the release of 2023 data in June 2024.
           

          © Clarivate Analytics 2023

          2020

          Winner: 
          Kwame Alexander. The Undefeated. Illustrated by Kadir Nelson. Versify, 2019.

          Honorable mentions: 
          Nikki Grimes. Ordinary Hazards: A Memoir. WordSong, 2019.
          Aida Salazar. The Moon Within. Scholastic, 2019.
          Patrice Vecchione and Alyssa Raymond, editors. Ink Knows No Borders:
          Poems of the Immigrant and Refugee Experience. 
          Seven Stories P, 2019.

          2019

          Winner: 
          Elizabeth Acevedo. The Poet X. Harper Teen, 2018.

          Honorable mentions: 
          Joy McCullough. Blood Water Paint. Penguin Books, 2018.
          Tony Medina. Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Boy. Illustrated by Floyd Cooper et al. Penny Candy Books, 2018.
          Naomi Shihab Nye. Voices in the Air: Poems for Listeners. Illustrated by Dawn Henning. Greenwillow Books, 2018.

          2018

          Winner: 
          Nikki Grimes. One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance. Artwork by Cozbi A. Cabrera, et al. New York: Bloomsbury, 2017.

          Honorable mentions: 
          Francisco X Alarcón. Family Poems for Every Day of the Week / Poemas familares para cada día de la semana. Illustrated by Maya Christina Gonzales. New York: Children’s Book Press (a division of Lee &
          Low), 2017.
          Jo Ellen Bogart. Count Your Chickens. Illustrated by Lori Joy Smith. Toronto: Tundra Books (Penguin Random House of Canada), 2017.
          JonArno Lawson. But It’s So Silly: A Cross-Cultural Collage of Nonsense Play and Poetry. Hamilton, Ontario: Wolsak and Wynn, 2017.

          2017

          Winner: 
          Nikki Grimes. Garvey’s Choice. Honesdale, Pennsylvania: WordSong, 2016.

          Honorable mentions:  
          Kwame Alexander. Booked. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016.
          Jorge Argueta. Somos como las nubes We Are Like the Clouds. Pictures by Alfonso Ruano. Translated by Elisa Amado. Toronto: Groundwood Books, 2016.
          JonArno Lawson. The Hobo’s Crowbar. Woodcuts by Alex Dempster. The Porcupine’s Quill, 2016.

          2016

          Winners: 
          Calef Brown. Hypnotize a Tiger: Poems about just about Everything. Henry Holt and Co., 2015.
          Marilyn Nelson. My Seneca Village. namelos, 2015.

          2015

          Winner: None.

          Honorable mentions: 
          Marilyn Nelson. How I Discovered Poetry. Illus. Hadley Hooper. New York: Penguin, 2014.
          Lemony Snicket. 29 Myths on the Swinster Pharmacy. Illus. Lisa Brown. McSweeney’s McMullins, 2014.

          2014

          Winners:  
          Dana Teen Lomax, ed. Kindergarde: Avant-Garde Poems, Plays, Stories, and Songs for Children. Illus. Cliff Hengst. Lafayette: Black Radish, 2013.
          JonArno Lawson. Enjoy It While It Hurts. Illus. JonArno Lawson. Hamilton, Ontario: Wolsak, 2013.

          Honorable mentions: 
          Robert Priest. Rosa Rose and Other Poems. Illus. Joan Krygsman. Hamilton, Ontario: Wolsak, 2013.
          Maurice Sendak. My Brother’s Book. Illus. Maurice Sendak. New York: HarperCollins, 2013.

          2013

          Winner: 
          JonArno Lawson. Down in the Bottom of the Bottom of the Box. Illus. Alec Dempster. Ontario: The Porcupine’s Quill, 2012.

          2012

          Adoff wins The Lion and The Unicorn Poetry Award

          Arnold Adoff has been named the winner of The Lion and The Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry for his collection Roots and Blues: A Celebration. The journal, published by the Johns Hopkins University Press, has sponsored the award since 2005. 

          Read the announcement

          2011

          Winner: Susan Blackaby
          Honorable Mentions: Nan Forler, Paul B. Janeczko

          2010

          Winner: None

          2009

          Winner: JonArno Lawson
          Honorable Mentions: Helen Frost, William New

          2008

          Winner: Linda Sue Park
          Honorable Mentions: Jay M. Harris, Carole Boston Weatherford

          2007

          Winner: JonArno Lawson
          Honorable Mentions: Helen Frost, Walter Dean Myers, Walter Dean Myers

          2006

          Winner: Wynton Marsallis
          Honorable Mentions: Marilyn Nelson, Naomi Shahib Nye, Shel Silverstein

          2005

          Winner: Marilyn Nelson
          Honorable Mentions: Helen Frost, JonArno Lawson, Walter Dean Myers, Allan Wolf

          Published three times a year

          Readers include: Librarians, teachers, writers, scholars, and those interested in children's literature

          Print circulation: 124

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          January Issue - November 15

          April Issue - February 15

          September Issue - July 15

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