Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 52: American Writers for Children since 1960: Fiction, Gale, 1986. This article provides an encyclopedic reference useful for high school and college-age students.

Kingman Lee, editor, Newbery and Caldecott Medal Books, 1976-1985, Horn Book, 1986.

This comprehensive list of past winners provides useful summary and bibliographic information.

Spivak, Charlotte, Merlin's Daughters: Contemporary Women Writers of Fantasy, Greenwood Press, 1987. This is a scholarly text on contemporary retellings of folk and fairy tales by women writers, in which McKinley is treated topically.