Tunnell, Michael O.

Mike Tunnell the teacher and Mike Tunnell the writer both deal with good books for children. After a long career of educational analysis of children's books, Mike wrote two of his own picture books, Chipnook and The Joke's on George. His titles also include Halloween Pie and Mailing May.Mike is an assistant professor of children's literature in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Northern Illinois University. He earned his doctorate from Brigham Young University under Jim Jacobs (a previous member of the Chautauqua faculty). He has been an active member of the International Reading Association and the National Council of Teachers of English, serving on the latter's advisory board of the Children's Literature Assembly. A member of the American Library Association, he served on the 1991 Newbery Medal Committee.He has written articles for such professional journals as The Reading Teacher, School Library Journal, and The Horn Book. He is the author of a book on Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles and co-author (with Jim Jacobs) of Lloyd Alexander: A Bio-Bibliography, the first in a series of bio-bibliographies in American literature by Greenwood Press. He also co-edited Heinemann Publishing Company's The Story of Ourselves: Teaching History through Children's Literature.Mike and his wife, Glenna, are the parents of four children.