LETIN – Children’s Literature Research Group

LETIN – Children’s Literature Research Group is based at the Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education and Applied Psychology (FISPPA) at the University of Padua. Rooted in historical, literary, and educational research, LETIN investigates contemporary children’s literature through a transdisciplinary lens. Our work explores how literature for young readers fosters critical thinking, ecocritical awareness, and social engagement. Key research areas include picturebook theory, material ecocriticism, plant studies, botanical intersections, design and materiality, biographies, fairy tales, and the history of children’s literature. We also explore reader-response theory, object-oriented literary criticism, and representations of houses, architecture, and landscapes. We adopt interdisciplinary and innovative methodologies that integrate visual arts, historical perspectives, environmental and social humanities, and women’s and gender studies. Our work draws on practices such as walking as critical inquiry, a/r/tography, socially engaged education, and studies on visual and aesthetic culture. These approaches inform how we understand literature’s role in shaping young readers’ sensibilities across time, media, and cultural contexts. LETIN collaborates with universities, research centres, libraries, schools, publishers, and artists worldwide. We coordinate, lead, and participate in European research projects, and host visiting early-career and senior scholars for research and teaching exchanges. Our research is supported by the children’s literature collection at the Beato Pellegrino Library, a vibrant archive of Italian and international award-winning books.