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The astonishing success of J.K. Rowling and other contemporary
children's authors has demonstrated how passionately children can
commit to the books they love. But this kind of devotion is not
new. This timely volume takes up the challenge of assessing the
complex interplay of forces that have created the popularity of
children's books both today and in the past. The essays collected
here ask about the meanings and values that have been ascribed to
the term 'popular'. They consider whether popularity can be
imposed, or if it must always emerge from children's preferences.
And they investigate how the Harry Potter phenomenon fits into a
repeated cycle of success and decline within the publishing
industry. Whether examining eighteenth-century chapbooks, fairy
tales, science schoolbooks, Victorian adventures, waif novels or
school stories, these essays show how historical and publishing
contexts are vital in determining which books will succeed and
which will fail, which bestsellers will endure and which will fade
quickly into obscurity. As they considering the fiction of Angela
Brazil, Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl and J.K. Rowling, the contributors
carefully analyse how authorial talent and cultural contexts
combine, in often unpredictable ways, to generate - and sometimes
even sustain - literary success.
The astonishing success of J.K. Rowling and other contemporary
children's authors has demonstrated how passionately children can
commit to the books they love. But this kind of devotion is not
new. This timely volume takes up the challenge of assessing the
complex interplay of forces that have created the popularity of
children's books both today and in the past. The essays collected
here ask about the meanings and values that have been ascribed to
the term 'popular'. They consider whether popularity can be
imposed, or if it must always emerge from children's preferences.
And they investigate how the Harry Potter phenomenon fits into a
repeated cycle of success and decline within the publishing
industry. Whether examining eighteenth-century chapbooks, fairy
tales, science schoolbooks, Victorian adventures, waif novels or
school stories, these essays show how historical and publishing
contexts are vital in determining which books will succeed and
which will fail, which bestsellers will endure and which will fade
quickly into obscurity. As they considering the fiction of Angela
Brazil, Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl and J.K. Rowling, the contributors
carefully analyse how authorial talent and cultural contexts
combine, in often unpredictable ways, to generate - and sometimes
even sustain - literary success.
While there are many books about children's literature, few discuss
it within its social context or investigate the ways writers
reflect or react to change in society. Dennis Butts explores how
shifting attitudes and historical upheavals from the 1840s onwards
affected and continue to affect books written for younger
audiences. Spanning from the industrial revolution to the sexual
revolution, this title tells about the impact these external events
have had on writers as diverse as moral storyteller Barbara Hofland
and the controversial Melvin Burgess. G.A. Henty, Robert Louis
Stevenson and even Philip Pullman are included in the discussion,
as Butts identifies commonalities between books of the past and
present, arguing that trends shown in most of the early children's
literature are being displayed again now, albeit in a more subtle
manner. This book will appeal to undergraduate students attending
complementary courses in children's literature during their degree
in English Literature or Cultural Studies. It will also be of use
to postgraduate research students working in the field of
Children's Literature.
After the success of How Did Long John Silver Lose His Leg?, Dennis
Butts and Peter Hunt take their forensic lenses to more mysteries
that have troubled readers of children's books over the centuries.
Their questions range from the historical to the philosophical,
some of which are puzzling, some of which are controversial: - Why
does it seem there are no Nursery Rhymes before 1744? - Why did God
start to die in children's books long before Nietzsche noticed it?
- Why are the schoolgirls at Enid Blyton's St Clare's so horrible?
- Why are there so many dead parents littering children's books? -
Why does C.S. Lewis annoy so many people? The book also explains
why an elephant captures Adolph Hitler, who was Biggles's great
love, and whose side G.A. Henty was on in the American civil war,
and delivers a plethora of erudite, entertaining answers to
questions that you may not have thought of asking. And notably, of
course, it reveals why William George Bunter, the Fat Owl of the
Remove, was never permanently removed from Greyfriars School.
'How did Long John Silver Lose His Leg?' is a diverting tour
through some of the best-loved classics of children's literature,
addressing many of the unanswered questions that inspire intense
speculation when the books are laid down. Could Bobbie's train
really have stopped in time ('The Railway Children')? Did Beatrix
Potter have the 'flu in 1909, and did this lead to a certain
darkness in her work ('The Tale of Mr Tod')? Would the 'rugby
football' played by Tom Brown be recognised by sportsmen today
('Tom Brown's Schooldays')? The authors speculate entertainingly
and informatively on the anomalies and unexplained phenomena found
in children's literature and, having established the cultural
importance of children's books in the modern age, also consider the
more serious issues raised by the genre. Why are we so defensive of
the idyllic worlds presented in children's books? Why have some of
our best-loved authors been outed as neglectful parents to their
own children? Should we ever separate the book from its creator and
appreciate the works of writers convicted of crimes against
children?A treat for any enthusiast of children's literature, two
of the most distinguished writers on the subject provide rich
detail, witty explication, and serious food for thought. Dennis
Butts has taught Children's Literature at Reading University and is
a former Chairman of The Children's Books History Society. He is
co-editor of 'From the Dairyman's Daughter to Worrals of the WAAF'
(The Lutterworth Press, 2006). Peter Hunt is Professor Emeritus at
the School of English, Cardiff University, Visiting Professor at
Newcastle University, and Visiting Professor at the Universita Ca'
Foscari, Venice. In 2003 he was awarded the Brothers Grimm Award
for services to children's literature, and in 1998 the
Distinguished Scholarship Award, International Association for the
Fantastic in the Arts. 'This is a book that wears its learning
lightly but offers much in the way of cultural insight and some
serious reflections on the condition and future of the children's
book in a digital age.' Professor Kimberley Reynolds, School of
English Literature, Language and Linguistics, Newcastle University.
'An imaginative and clever book that showcases some of children's
literature's most beloved classics and the mysteries and puzzles
they contain . . . a work certain to delight and inform children's
book lovers of every age.' Professor Lynne Vallone, Department of
Childhood Studies, Rutgers University.
Children's literature did not suddenly appear as if by magic. It
came into existence in printed form in the 18th century, though
religious and instructional books had appeared earlier, and grew to
fruition in Britain and America in the 19th century because of
quite specific developments in society. The ideas of such men as
John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau helped to change European
perspectives on the nature of childhood, and to suggest that it had
needs and values of its own. This book charts the development of
books for children by examining factors such as the gradual spread
of education from the later half of the 18th century onwards, first
through the Sunday School Movement, and then through the faltering
steps towards providing state education. Finally, innovations in
printing and publishing meant that it became possible to produce
attractive books more cheaply for children. The combination of
these several forces was irresistible and throughout the 19th
century more and more books were published for children.
A collection of essays based on the Children's Books History
Society study conference marking the bicentenary of the Religious
Tract Society and the Lutterworth Press. The book analyses the
children's literature it produced, charting the development of the
genre from the evangelical tract through to the popular school
story, spanning the period from the late eighteenth to the
mid-twentieth centuries. It shows how publishing worked within the
context of a missionary society with a global reach. The book
details the nature and development of the tract genre both in
Britain and America, before looking at the range of RTS and
Lutterworth output of children's titles, including its movement
into magazine publishing. The work studies the two great magazines
for which the RTS and Lutterworth were known to generations of
children, the Boy's Own Paper and the Girl's Own Paper, as well as
other magazines, such The Child's Companion. There are also
chapters on popular tracts, such as The Dairyman's Daughter, and
successful authors, from Hesba Stretton and Mrs Walton to W.E.
Johns and Laura Ingalls Wilder. These essays explore how, in order
to reflect an increasingly secular age, the subject matter widened,
providing more non-fiction in its periodicals as well as an
increasingly broad range of fiction, mostly secular in nature. It
was also necessary for the Society to alter its didactically
religious tone in order to present its Christian values with more
subtlety. With chapters on subjects as diverse as American
religious tracts, boy's school stories, secular publishing for
girls and the presentation of gender roles, this collection is a
major contribution to publishing history in the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries. Contributors include Brian Alderson, Mary
Cadogan, Aileen Fyfe and Anne Thwaite.
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