Michael O. Tunnell

Michael O. Tunnell (born June 14, 1950) is an American children's writer and educator. He was the department chair of children's literature at Brigham Young University (BYU), but recently retired. He has published several books on children's literature, especially on the work of Lloyd Alexander. Although he was born in Nocona, Texas, he was raised in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. When he was a teenager, his family moved back to the United States to Vernal, Utah. He was raised by his grandparents, and his grandmother would read to him every day. He began studying law in college, until he visited an elementary school one day for his job at a car dealership. He realized that he wanted to pursue education instead. As a professor he conducts research at BYU. Among his interests are children's literature and the effects it has on learning history. Tunnell's first novel published was School Spirits, which drew from his childhood during the 1950s.

Selected works

Articles "Profile: Eilonwy of the Red-gold Hair", Language Arts 66.5 (September 1989), pp. 558– "The Double-Edged Sword: Fantasy and Censorship", Language Arts 71.8 (1994), pp. 606–12 "The Remarkable Journey of Lloyd Alexander", School Library Journal (2007), pp. 64–65 "The Origins and History of American Children's Literature", The Reading Teacher 62.2 (2013), pp. 80–86

Books The Prydain Companion: A Reference Guide to Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles (1989) Lloyd Alexander: A Bio-bibliography (1991) (with James S. Jacobs) The Story of Ourselves: Teaching History Through Children's Literature (1992) (with Richard Ammon) The Joke's on George (1993) Chinook! (1993) Beauty and the Beastly Children (1993) Children's Literature, Briefly, 1st ed. with CD-ROM (1996), by James S. Jacobs and Tunnell Mailing May (1997) School Spirits (1997) Halloween Pie (1999) Brothers in Valor (2001) Children's Literature: Engaging Teachers and Children in Good Books, 1st ed. with CD-ROM (2002), by Daniel L. Darigan, Tunnell, and Jacobs, Wishing Moon (2004) Moon Without Magic (2007) Children's Literature, Briefly, 4th ed. (2008), by Tunnell and Jacobs, Wishes on the Moon (2009) Candy Bomber (2010) Children's Literature, Briefly, 7th ed. (forthcoming August 2022), by Young, Bryan, Jacobs, and Tunnell,