“Wrestling with Religion: Pullman, Pratchett, and the Uses of Story.” Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 36.3 (Fall 2011), 276-295.

"Education and Knowledge in Recent Children's Fantasy," Children's Literature 37 (2009), 216-235.

"Saving Cinderella: History and Story in Ever After and Ashpet." Children's Literature 31 (2003), 142-154.

"Born and Made: Sisters, Brothers, and the Deceased Wife's Sister Bill," SIGNS: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 24:2 (Winter 1999), 423-447

"Cinderella, Marie Antoinette, and Sara: Roles and Role Models in A Little Princess,"  The Lion and the Unicorn, 22:2 (Spring 1998), 163-187

"Plotting the Mother: Caroline Norton, Helen Huntingdon, and Isabel Vane," Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature,16:2 (Fall 1997), 303-325

“The Bullfinch and the Brother: Marriage and Family in Frances Burney’s Camilla,”  JEGP, 93:1 (January 1994), 18-34

Gruner, Elisabeth. "Leading through Reading in Contemporary Young Adult Fantasy by Philip Pullman and Terry Pratchett." In Frontiers in Spiritual Leadership: Discovering the Better Angels of Our Nature, edited by Scott Allison, Craig Kocher, and Al Goethals, 127-46. Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.

"Education," in Keywords for Children's Literature, ed. Philip Nel and Lissa Paul. NY; NYU P, 2011. 70-74.

“Telling Old Tales Newly: Intertextuality in Young Adult Fiction for Girls,” in Telling Children’s Stories: Narrative Theory and Children’s Literature, ed. Michael Cadden. Lincoln, NE: U Nebraska P, 2011. 3-21.

"Short Fiction by Women in the Victorian Literature Survey," Teaching British Women Writers 1750-1900, Joanne Moskal and Shannon R. Wooden, eds., New York: Peter Lang, 2005. Pgs. 101-109.

“Family Secrets and the Mysteries of The Moonstone,” Victorian Literature and Culture, 21 (1993), 127-145.  (Reprinted in Wilkie Collins, ed. Lyn Pykett.  New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998.  221-243)

“‘Loving Difference’: Sisters and Brothers from Frances Burney to Emily Brontë,” in The Significance of Sibling Relationships in Literature, ed. JoAnna Stephens Mink & Janet Doubler Ward, Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1993.  32-46.

“The Mill on the Floss,” entry for Moss, Joyce, ed.  Literature and its Times. Profiles of notable literary works and the historical events that influenced them / Supplement 1.  Detroit: Gale Group, 2003.

“Great Expectations,” entry for Moss, Joyce, ed.  World Literature and its Times, Detroit: Gale Publishing Group, 2001.

Weekly blog: "Mothering at Mid-Career," Inside Higher Ed (weekly since May 6, 2008: http://www.insidehighered.com/views/blogs/mama_phd)

“Wuthering Heights,” entry for Moss, Joyce, ed.  World Literature and its Times III: British and Irish Literature and their Times, Detroit: Gale Publishing Group, 2000.

Journalism and Creative Nonfiction

"I Am Not a Head on a Stick: On Being a Teacher and a Doctor and a Mommy," Mama, PhD: Women write about motherhood and academic life, ed. Elrena Evans and Caroline Grant.  New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 2008.  123-128.

"Teaching and Tae Kwon Do," Inside Higher Ed, May 21, 2008 (http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2008/03/21/gruner)

Reviews of The Noah Confessions (Barbara Hall); The Alchemyst (Michael Scott); The Name of this Book is Secret (Pseudonymous Bosch); Raleigh's Page (Alan Armstrong); for The Edge of the Forest (http://www.theedgeoftheforest.com/)

Bi-monthly column, “Children’s Lit Book Group,” Literary Mama; First column published November 2004; monthly January 2008 – August 2008; bimonthly August 2008 – June 2009.

“Does Motherhood Make You Crazy? A Review of Inconsolable and Down Came the Rain.”  Literary Mama, published Oct. 2005.

“From War to Revolution: A Review of The Truth Behind the Mommy Wars: Who Decides What Makes a Good Mother and Perfect Madness: Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety.” Literary Mama, published Oct. 2005.

“We Are Not Alone: Review of The Grand Permission: New Writings on Poetics and Motherhood,” ed. Patricia Dienstfrey and Brenda Hillman.  Literary Mama, published May 2005

“Should You Read Your Kid’s E-mail?  No,” Brain Child: The Magazine for Thinking Mothers, 6:1 (Winter 2005), 19, 21.

“Masks, Chains, and Myths: Analyzing Motherhood,” review of The Mommy Myth, by Susan J. Douglas and Meredith W. Michaels, The Price of Motherhood, by Ann Crittenden, and The Mask of Motherhood, by Susan Maushart. Originally published September, 2004.

“The Third Snow Day,” in Three-Ring Circus: How Real Couples Balance Marriage, Work, and Family, ed. Dawn Comer Jefferson and Rosanne Welch.  Seal Press, 2004.

“Mama Mentor,” in A Cup of Comfort for Teachers, ed. Colleen Sell.  Adams Media, 2004.

Bi-monthly column, “Midlife Mama,” Literary Mama; columns published in November, January, March,  May, July, and September 2003-2004.

“How She Writes It,” review of I Don’t Know How She Does It, by Alison Pearsall. Originally published March 2004.

“Fix Me,” in  Toddler: Real-Life Stories of those Fickle, Urgent, Irrational, Tiny People We Love, ed. Jennifer Margulis, Seal Press, October 2003

“Walking with the Women in Black,”  Books and Babies: Writing about Motherhood Literary Web Zine, May 2003.

“The Bad Mother Did It: A Chat with Mystery Writer Ayelet Waldman,” Brain, Child: The Magazine for Thinking Mothers, 4:2 (Spring 2003), 14-15.

“To sleep, perchance,” Books and Babies: Writing about Motherhood Literary Web Zine,   March 2003.

“Love or hate this season, Mr. Dickens is the cause,” Fredericksburg Freelance Star, Sunday, December 22, 2002.  (Syndicated in Knight-Ridder newspapers.)

“I (Don’t) Remember Mama,” Brain, Child: The Magazine for Thinking Mothers 3:1 (Spring 2002).

“Baby Talk,” Brain, Child: The Magazine for Thinking Mothers 2:2 (Summer 2001), 9-11.

“Telling Tales,” Brain, Child: The Magazine for Thinking Mothers 2:1 (Spring 2001), 10-11.

“The Wonder Years: Three Writers Talk about the Time that Leaves Most of Us Speechless,” Brain, Child: The Magazine for Thinking Mothers, 1:3 (Winter 2001), 62-65. Reprinted in LiteraryMama, Nov. 2003.

“‘Mom-Brain’ Explained,” Brain, Child: The Magazine for Thinking Mothers, 1:2 (Fall 2000), 8-9.