Reference Sources for Canadian Literary Studies offers the first full-scale bibliography of writing on and in the field of Canadian literary studies. Approximately one thousand annotated entries are arranged by reference genre, with sub-groupings related to literary genre.

As Canada came to terms with its role as an independent nation following Confederation in 1867, there was a call for a literary voice to express the needs and desires of a new country. Children’s literature was one of the means through which this new voice found expression. Seen as a tool for both entertaining and educating children, this material is often overtly propagandistic and nationalistic, and addresses some of the key political, economic, and social concerns of Canada as it struggled to maintain national unity during this time. From Nursery Rhymes to Nationhood studies a large variety of children’s literature written in English between 1867 and 1911, revealing a distinct interest in questions of national unity and identity among children’s writers of the day and exploring the influence of American and British authors on the shaping of Canadian identity. The visions of Canada expressed in this material are often in competition with one another, but together they illuminate the country’s attempts to define itself and its relation to the world outside its borders.

In parallel columns of French and English, lists over 4,000 reference works and books on history and the humanities, breaking down the large divisions by subject, genre, type of document, and province or territory. Includes titles of national, provincial, territorial, or regional interest in every subject area when available. The entries describe the core focus of the book, its range of interest, scholarly paraphernalia, and any editions in the other Canadian language. The humanities headings are arts, language and linguistics, literature, performing arts, philosophy, and religion. Indexed by name, title, and French and English subject. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The UBC Library houses several collections of old, rare, and significant children's books, now totalling some ten thousand items. Books That Shaped Our Minds is a fully annotated listing of three hundred and sixty-four treasures primarily from Britain and the United States. They were chosen and arranged to document the effect of particular works on the psyche and the sociology of the child from the late seventeenth century to the present. Independently, the books described are pieces of social history. Taken together, the notes in the catalogue constitute a narraive history of the books that have formed young minds for centuries. In conjunction with the same compilers' previously published Canadian Children's Books, 1799-1939, this catalogue permits a comprehensive and comparative view of the development of English-language books for children.