This is a non-guaranteed panel co-sponsored by the GS Children’s and Young Adult Literature Forum and the TS Age Studies Forum for the Modern Language Association (MLA) Annual Convention, January 8-11 in Toronto, ON. In the spirit of the conference theme “Family Resemblances”, we are interested in opening conversations on the interdisciplinary intersections of Health Humanities, Children’s Literature, and Age Studies. These offer a rich space for exploring how contemporary narratives shape our understanding of mental health across generations.

This panel seeks to foster a dialogue between these fields by examining how children’s literature and media provide frameworks for discussing mental health, attachment, anxiety, trauma, and caregiving in ways that resonate across the lifespan. Recent studies in psychology emphasize the role of parent-child relationships in fostering mental well-being. Pepping and MacDonald’s work on attachment theory highlights the necessity of a “safe haven” for children to process emotional experiences and develop resilience. These insights align with literary theories such as Joe Sutliff Sanders and Meghann Meeusen’s use of the concept of “chaperoning”, which argues that adult figures in children’s literature and media serve as guides in conversations about difficult subjects, including mental health.

The depiction of mental health in picture books, graphic novels, YA literature, and other literary works opens spaces for intergenerational learning, providing both children and caregivers with tools to navigate emotional challenges. This panel also seeks to engage Age Studies as a critical framework for understanding how literature addresses mental health across the lifespan. The field of Age Studies has long explored the narratives we construct around caregiving, intergenerational relationships, and the aging process, all of which are deeply tied to childhood experiences.

The 2023 volume Keywords for Health Humanities underscores the urgency of engaging with mental health as a social, cultural, and historical construct, emphasizing how anxiety and trauma are both individual experiences and collective societal concerns. By integrating Age Studies with Children’s Literature and Health Humanities, we can illuminate how childhood mental health discussions shape later life experiences and how children’s literature reflects broader cultural anxieties about mental health and well-being.

Please send a 250-word abstract and a 100-word bio to Edcel J. Cintron-Gonzalez at ejcintr@ilstu.edu and Lan Dong at baerchendong@yahoo.com by Monday, 10 March 2025. Accepted panelists must be current members of MLA by April 1, 2025.