Employing a bibliometric approach with CiteSpace software, this study analyzes 153 publications on reader response within literary studies (2003-2024), indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection. The research aims to map the progress and key areas of scholarly attention in this field over the past two decades and to explore its implications for research in children's literature. Co-word analysis reveals a sustained academic focus on topics such as reader response in children's and young adult literature, narrative, and empathy, alongside an inclination towards empirical methodologies. More significantly, this study identifies a marked affective and embodied turn within the field, emphasising the integrated roles of the body, emotions, and socio-cultural contexts in the reading process. Concurrently, scholarly attention to materiality has notably increased. Furthermore, the analysis highlights the interaction and tension between theoretical and empirical approaches, underscoring the need to integrate diverse methodologies for understanding the complexities of reading phenomena. Based on these findings, this paper argues that future research in children's literature should investigate embodied reading, the materiality of reading, and underlying power structures. It also advocates for a more critical examination of the role adults play in shaping children's reading experiences.
