Philip Nel is Associate
Professor of English and Director of the Program in Children’s
Literature at Kansas State University. He is the author of The Annotated Cat: Under the Hats of Seuss
and His Cats (Random House, 2007), Dr. Seuss: American Icon
(Continuum, 2004), The Avant-Garde
and American Postmodernity: Small Incisive Shocks (UP
Mississippi, 2002), J. K. Rowling's
Harry Potter Novels: A Reader's Guide (Continuum, 2001), and
the co-editor (with Julia Mickenberg) of the forthcoming Tales for Little Rebels: A Collection of
Radical Children’s Literature (NYU P, Fall 2008). His work on
Seuss and Rowling has led to appearances on CBS Sunday Morning, NPR’s
Morning Edition, Weekend Edition, and Talk of the Nation. Phil is
currently finishing a critical biography of Crockett Johnson (author of
Harold and the Purple Crayon)
and Ruth Krauss (author of A Hole Is
to Dig); the book is under contract with the University Press of
Mississippi.