MRes Children's Literature

Gain an in-depth knowledge of approaches to – and the history of – children's literature with our fully-taught MRes in Children's Literature, Britain's oldest accredited master's degree on children's literature from literary perspectives.

The University of Reading is 6th in the UK for research outputs in English Language and Literature (Times Higher Education analysis of the latest Research Excellence Framework 2021 – English Language and Literature, when scoring by GPA Output).

The University of Reading is ranked in the top 150 universities in the world for English Language and Literature in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, 2024. You will have full access to the University's many facilities, including the Library, Sports Centre, and Reading Students' Union, and all students benefit from departmental facilities and events such as research talks and guest lectures, especially the research seminars run by the Centre for International Research in Childhood: Literature, Culture, Media (CIRCL).

The MRes in Children’s Literature is run under the aegis of the CIRCL. Our teaching staff are all CIRCL researchers and world-leading specialists in aspects of childhood and children’s literature, publishing in leading international journals and producing edited volumes together, as well as each publishing monographs in the field. Their research includes work on theoretical approaches to childhood, gender and sexual identities, childhood and neuroscience, childhood and animals, childhood and film, childhood in nineteenth-century English fiction, and theories of pedagogy.

Normally a good undergraduate honours degree (2:1 or above), or equivalent from a university outside the UK. For the MRes, you'll need to submit copies of two essays you wrote during your degree (not on children's literature) and a 500-word statement of motivation.