Edited by Morag Styles and written by an interational team of acknowledged experts, this series provides jargon-free, critical discussion and a comprehensive guide to literary and popular texts for children. Each book introduces the reader to a major genre of children's literature, covering key authors, major works and contexts in which those texts are published. Margaret Meek and Victor Watson provide a profound and revealing examiniation of the treatment of personal development, maturation and rites of passage in literature written for children and adolescents. Including a broad survey of the theme across a number of genres and an in-depth analysis of the work of key writers, the authors work towards an answer to the question What is a classic? Margaret Meek is Reader Emeritus at the Institute of Education in London. Victor Watson is Assistant Director of Research at Homerton College, Cambridge.

This book investigates the 'series' in children's literature. The works of several well-known children's authors - UK and the US, traditional and contemporary - are analyzed, and using these examples, the book explores the special nature and appeal of series writing for children. As well as providing an historical overview of the series, the author raises important questions about the nature of literary criticism applied to children's literature.

This book investigates the 'series' in children's literature. The works of several well-known children's authors - UK and the US, traditional and contemporary - are analyzed, and using these examples, the book explores the special nature and appeal of series writing for children. As well as providing an historical overview of the series, the author raises important questions about the nature of literary criticism applied to children's literature.

It is impossible to reflect upon children's books without considering the children who read them. Where Texts and Children Meet explores the ways in which children make meaning of the various texts they meet both in and out of school.
Eve Bearne and Victor Watson have brought together chapters on all the major issues and topics in children's literacy including:
*the meaning and relevance of terms such as literature and classic texts
*an analysis of new genres including picture books and CD-ROMs
*moral dilemmas and cultural concerns in children's texts
working with quality texts that children will also adore.
Where Texts and Children Meet shows how the world of children's books is changing and how teachers can build imaginative learning experiences for their pupils from a whole range of published materials.

eBook available with sample pages: HB:0415206626

"Opening the Nursery Door" is a fascinating collection of essays inspired by the discovery of a tiny archive: the nursery library of Jane Johnson 1707-1759, wife of a Lincolnshire vicar. It has captured the scholarly interest of social anthropologists, historians, literary scholars, educationalists and archivists as it has opened up a range of questions about the nature of childhood within English cultural life over three centuries: the texts written and read to children, the multifarious ways childhood has been considered, shaped and schooled through literacy practices, and the hitherto ignored role of women educators in early childhood across all classes.

Opening the Nursery Door is a fascinating collection of essays inspired by the discovery of a tiny archive: the nursery library of Jane Johnson 1707-1759, wife of a Lincolnshire vicar. It has captured the scholarly interest of social anthropologists, historians, literary scholars, educationalists and archivists as it has opened up a range of questions about the nature of childhood within English cultural life over three centuries: the texts written and read to children, the multifarious ways childhood has been considered, shaped and schooled through literacy practices, and the hitherto ignored role of women educators in early childhood across all classes.

A young Anglo-Saxon woman is travelling across an empty East Anglian landscape. She's dressed as a man, for safety. But when her only companion is murdered, she knows she faces discovery, and almost certainly much worse. In the Napoleonic period, a little boy has to walk several miles to market, on his own, for the first time. In the present day, a mixed-race teenage girl - along with her best friend Rob - faces the difficulties of extreme shyness and mutism. There is another presence too. Professor Molly Barnes - an archaeologist in her eighties - unwittingly presides over the narratives, looking back at her own coming-of-age, recalling her earliest memories of friendship, and questioning her own profession and its capacity to discover true versions of history. Time After Time is a coming-of-age novel, written from an adult perspective. It is set in the East Anglian countryside, and links three different stories to the archaeological discovery of a Roman mosaic floor and a mysterious Anglo-Saxon bracelet.

The Cambridge Guide to Children's Books is an alphabetized reference work providing a critical and appreciative overview of children's books written in English worldwide. It is not a guide to "children's literature" but has a wider task--to include any author, or illustrator, or work, believed by the editors to have made a significant impact on young readers, or to have in some way influenced the development of children's books. In addition to the long-established traditions of children's writing from Great Britain and the USA, the Guide covers the increasing range of successful children's books produced in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, West Africa, and India; and the exciting renaissance in children's books currently taking place in Ireland and South Africa. Reflecting the developing scholarly appreciation for the history of children's books, The Guide gives due weight to children's books from pre-Norman times, and acknowledges recent developments in publishing practices and in children's own reading. Victor Watson is Assistant Director of Research, Homerton College, University of Cambridge. He has edited several volumes about children's literature, including Opening the Nursery Door (Routledge, 1997) and Where Texts and Children Meet (Routledge, 2000).

Edited by Morag Styles and written by an international team of acknowledged experts, this series provides jargon-free, critical discussion and a comprehensive guide to literary and popular texts for children. Each book introduces the reader to a major genre of children's literature, covering key authors, major works and contexts in which those texts are published, read and studied. Margaret Meek and Victor Watson provide a profound and revealing examiniation of the treatment of personal development, maturation and rites of passage in literature written for children and adolescents. Including a broad survey of the theme across a number of genres and an in-depth analysis of the work of key writers, the authors work towards an answer to the question "What is a classic?"