About this Event

Over the past two decades, authors, illustrators and publishers have been countering the move toward online learning and digital-only resources with a variety of books for young children that emphasize the importance of printed books and of libraries as spaces filled with diverse populations and physical copies of books. 

In an era where screens often dominate children’s attention, these creators have produced imaginative and visually engaging works that celebrate the tactile, multisensory experience of holding a printed book. This presentation will examine works such as Stacey’s Remarkable Books by Stacey Abrams, Library Day by Anne Rockwell and Give Me Back My Book by Travis Foster and Ethan Long and consider what lessons they might offer adults, too.  

Margaret D. Stetz is the Mae and Robert Carter Professor of Women's Studies and Professor of Humanities. Stetz has authored more than 130 articles and several books and exhibition catalogues (including British Women's Comic Fiction, 1890-1990; Facing the Late Victorians; and Aubrey Beardsley, 150 Years Young). She also serves as co-editor of volumes such as Legacies of the Comfort Women of WWII and Michael Field and Their World, in addition to being a widely published poet. She has been curator or co-curator of more than a dozen exhibitions on late-19th-century print culture and art at museums and libraries in the US and the UK. 

This in-person event is free and open to the public.  

We encourage all event attendees to RSVP in advance. Please join us after the presentation for light refreshments and networking. 

This is the 2025 Faculty Lecture, an annual event sponsored by the Friends of the University of Delaware Library.