Zena Sutherland, 86; Leading Critic, Scholar of Children’s Literature

Zena Bailey Sutherland, 86, an influential scholar of children’s literature, died Wednesday of cancer in Chicago.

For more than 40 years, Sutherland was an internationally known children’s literature critic who reviewed more than 30,000 books. She wrote 19 books, including the textbook “Children and Books,” considered a classic in the field of library science. She was the children’s book editor at the Chicago Tribune from 1972 to 1984.

A University of Chicago professor from 1972 to 1986, she edited its Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books for nearly 30 years.

Born in Winthrop, Mass., she grew up in Chicago and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Chicago. From 1966 to 1972, she edited the monthly “Books for Young People” column for the Saturday Review.