Gross, Melissa. "The Giver and Shade's Children: Future Views of Child Abandonment and Murder." Children's Literature in Education 30 (1999): 103-117. Discussion of the ways in which Shade's Children departs from the normal pattern of child abandonment in literature.

Jones, J. Sydney. "Garth Nix." Authors and Artists for Young Adults, vol. 27. Detroit: Gale, 1999. Provides background information and summarizes reviews of Shade's Children.

Something about the Author, vol. 97. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Brief biographical sketch and a short paragraph discussing Shade's Children.