Rate My Professor Mary Napoli

Mary Napoli, Ph.D., serves as Associate Professor of Reading and Children's Literature in the School of Behavioral Sciences and Education at Pennsylvania State University at Harrisburg - The Capital College. She earned her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction, with an emphasis in Language and Literacy Education and a minor in Women's Studies, from The Pennsylvania State University. Additionally, she holds an M.S. in Reading Education from Marywood University and a B.S. in Elementary Education from East Stroudsburg University. Before entering academia, Napoli worked as a kindergarten and first-grade teacher, which informs her practical approach to teaching undergraduate and graduate courses such as Children's Picture Books as Multimodal Texts, Teaching Beginning Readers, Children's Literature, and Literature for Children and Adolescents.

Her scholarly work centers on children's and adolescent literature, global and international children's literature, transactional theory of reader response, and interdisciplinary instruction. Napoli has published extensively, including the forthcoming edited volume Celebrating Poetry Across the K-12 Curriculum (IGI Global, 2025, with Deanna Day and Barbara A. Ward), Books as Partners: Global and Multicultural Literature for Early Childhood Classrooms (Rowman & Littlefield, 2020, with Lesley Colabucci), and peer-reviewed articles such as "Around the World without Words: Exploring OIB International Wordless Picturebooks" (Bookbird: A Journal of International Children's Literature, 2025, with Lesley Colabucci), "Integrating Science Concepts through Poetry: A Study Comparing Online and Face-to-Face Teaching Methods Courses for Pre-Service Elementary Education" (Journal of Science Education and Technology, 2023, with Tyler S. Love and David Lee), and "Examining Pre-Service Elementary Educators' Perceptions of Teaching Science when Integrated with Poetry" (School Science and Mathematics, 2023, with Tyler S. Love and David Lee). She co-edited the Journal of Children's Literature for the Children’s Literature Assembly of the National Council of Teachers of English from 2018 to 2022. Napoli has held influential roles on national book award committees, including the International Literacy Association Lee Bennett Hopkins Promising Poet Award Committee (Chair), United States Board on Books for Young People Outstanding International Books Committee, Jane Addams Children’s Book Award Committee for Peace and Social Justice, National Council of Teachers of English Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children Committee, and Notable Books in the Language Arts Award Committee. In 2021, she received the George W. Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching. As professor-in-charge of literacy education and site director for the Capital Area Writing Project, she contributes significantly to teacher preparation and literacy initiatives.