Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
To give an idea of the breadth of this sampling from children's literature through the ages, consider that the volume's "timeline" begins in the Eighth Century-B.C. The bulk of the material in this slipcased paperback, however (and bulk is used here in the most complimentary way possible), spans the past four centuries. The delights are abundant. A facsimile image of a 1777 version of The New-England Primer, America's original schoolbook, is reprinted in its entirety (sample vocabulary words: humiliation, mortification, purification). John Newbery, who "excelled at collecting materials that could be assembled cheaply and attractively to be marketed" (and for whom the Newbery Medal is named), is represented by an excerpt from his book on "Epistolary Writing." In addition to instructing children on how to correspond with church and government officials, he includes Anne Boleyn's last missive to Henry VIII as an example of an "important" letter. Zipes and his collaborators cull from fables, nursery rhymes, comics, poetry, plays, science fiction and fantasy, providing a lens through which the evolution of childhood itself can be viewed. The scope is expansive-the fairy tales hail from Grimm and Perrault, but also from Francesca Lia Block and Julius Lester. Headnotes introduce authors and illustrators, often tracing the lineage between them: Lear's Yonghy-Bonghy-Bo as grandfather to Seuss's Sneetches, for instance. The volume contains dozens of complete works and hundreds of illustrations, including a 32-page color inset of seminal artwork from the likes of Greenaway, Brunhoff and Sendak. A mile wide and very deep, this is an invaluable resource for professionals, but fun for casual perusing, too. All ages. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
The purpose of this mammoth anthology, according to general editor Zipes (German, Univ. of Minnesota; Fairy Tale as Myth/Myth as Fairy Tale), is to provide "an introduction to children's literature for students," and it easily succeeds in this aim. Fairy tale and fantasy are just two of the 19 genres covered here; the excellent introductory essay for the latter is divided into five sections: "Narratives of Wonder," "England: Fantasy's Foes and Friends," "Fantasy in Early America," "High Fantasy," and "Time, Magic and the Everyday." Works as varied as Lucy Lane Clifford's 19th-century "The New Mother" and Ruth Park's modern "Playing Beattie Bow" are included under fantasy, and both are presented in their entirety, as are approximately 80 other stories. Introductory essays define each genre, detail its writers and their works, and draw conclusions about the contributions of the form to children's literature. All are well written, informative, and thought-provoking. This volume, which spans 350 years, boasts 170 writers and illustrators; more than 400 images, 60 of them in color, enliven its pages. A sturdy frame for students and others "to explore new ways to teach children's literature"; highly recommended.-Kathryn R. Bartelt, Univ. of Evansville Libs., IN (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by School Library Journal Review
This addition to the highly respected Norton Library is impressive for many reasons. A wealth of material is provided with 170 authors and illustrators represented. Eighty works are presented in their entirety, including The New-England Primer, Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses, J. M. Barrie's play of Peter Pan, and Eleanor Estes's The Hundred Dresses. Less familiar but equally interesting selections, such as those by Robert Baden-Powell and Shannon Garst, are also present. The range of material covers a span of 350 years, with the copious but very readable explanatory material provided in terms of introductions, headnotes, etc., tracing not just the historical development of children's literature, but the impact of changing religious, educational, cultural, and social philosophies as well. While the editors state that the book is intended as "an introduction to children's literature for students primarily at colleges and universities" (and it will be a boon to those charged with designing such courses), it also serves to advance the scholarly study of children's literature as a serious and worthwhile enterprise. Resources for both students and instructors are included on the W.W. Norton Web site.-Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
The use of the term literature to describe books written for children is, for many academics, an oxymoron. Most university departments of literature and humanities still dismiss books written for children as unworthy of serious scholarly examination. A cursory look at the British, American, and World Literature editions of the Norton anthologies confirms this sentiment. Children's literature is, with rare exceptions, entirely absent from the accepted canon of great literature. With the publication of The Norton Anthology of Children's Literature, University of Minnesota professor Zipes seeks to alter radically the bias against children's literature and improve its standing in academia. Courses in children's literature, where they are even offered, are typically intended as preparatory training for teachers and librarians. The editors aspire to have children's literature integrated into the general undergraduate curriculum, transforming how college students come to critically understand literature by ""honing their skills in close reading, in visual literacy, and in contextualizing historical and cross-cultural constructions of childhood and adulthood."" What makes this volume different from textbooks such as Zena Sutherland's Children & Books is its scope and purpose: it's designed to serve as an introduction to and representative collection of children's literature for general college students. Like other Nortons, this is a hefty tome, making Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix seem feather-light by comparison. Contained in those trademark tissue-paper pages are more than 170 writers and illustrators, representing the historical development of children's literature in English over the last 350 years, from The New-England Primer to David Macaulay's BAAA. There are nearly twenty categories, or subgenres, represented, including animal fables, classical myths, religious stories, primers, fairy tales, adventure stories, domestic fiction, science fiction, verse, picture books, and comics. Selections are arranged chronologically within each genre and include at least one core, full-length text and a complement of shorter and excerpted works, allowing readers to study ""forms and genres as they developed over time."" For example, in ""Alphabets,"" we find the complete text of Edward Lear's The Absolutely Abstemious Ass along with excerpts from Kate Greenaway, Dr. Seuss, and Alice and Martin Provensen. And with over 400 black-and-white and color illustrations, even Lewis Carroll's Alice (""What is the use of a book...without pictures or conversations?"") would find something to enjoy. Feminist and multicultural concerns are at the forefront of this anthology, resulting in a historical survey that pays careful attention to the ""pivotal roles played by religion, domestic culture, education philosophy and policy, literacy, publishing, and perceptions of race, class, and gender...in shaping children's literature and childhood itself."" Helen Bannerman's The Story of Little Black Sambo and Julius Lester and Jerry Pinkney's Sam and the Tigers are two such examples. Marilyn Nelson's Carver: A Life in Poems, Christina Rossetti's Sing-Song: A Nursery Rhyme Book, and Ashley Bryan's ""Tortoise, Hare and the Sweet Potatoes"" are others. The absence of gay and lesbian literature in this anthology, however, is disappointing considering the stated editorial viewpoint. The sections on fairy tales, poetry, and fantasy are especially noteworthy. In ""Fairy Tales,"" a wide range of classic and emergent writers are represented: Charles Perrault, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Wanda Gig, Jane Yolen, Julius Lester, Joan Aiken, and Laurence Yep. A comparative study of ""Little Red Riding Hood"" variants allows readers to compare classic versions with retellings by Walter de la Mare, Roald Dahl, and Francesca Lia Block. ""Verse"" includes lullabies, nursery rhymes, riddles, and playground and nonsense verse. Selections from Lewis Carroll, Nancy Willard, and Margaret Mahy complement full-text inclusions of Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses, Walter de la Mare's Peacock Pie, and Robert Graves's The Penny Fiddle. Full-text versions of E. Nesbit's The Phoenix and the Carpet, Lloyd Alexander's The Book of Three, and Jon Scieszka's Summer Reading Is Killing Me! round out the ""Fantasy"" section. The least successful sections are ""Science Fiction"" and ""Comics."" The inclusion of H. G. Wells's The Stolen Body and Robert A. Heinlein's Podkayne of Mars in the ""Science Fiction"" section are apt, but George R. R. Martin's ""The Last Super Bowl Game"" and Vonda N. McIntyre's ""Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand"" were stories originally published for adults, not children. Selections from Ray Bradbury, Ursula K. Le Guin, Andre Norton, Madeleine L'Engle, or Eleanor Cameron would have been more suitable. Jill Paton Walsh's The Green Room is not even mentioned, though many consider it to be one of the finest science fiction novels for children written in the last twenty-five years. Equally troublesome is the inconsequential section on comics. The introductory history begins by questioning the inclusion of a section on comics as ""a descent into the trivial,"" and the editors do little to convince readers that the genre is worth studying. Norton anthologies have long held a prominent place in universities and are widely used across the country as collections of literature deemed worthy of study by college students. The literary canon is continually contested in university literature departments, and Norton anthologies have long served as scholarly collections that both reflect the current debates in literary scholarship and contest the very nature of what is a canonical text. This anthology is no different. Like its predecessors The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women and The Norton Anthology of African American Literature, this new volume serves to both create a literary canon of juvenile fiction and contest its place within the larger body of traditionally accepted literary works studied at most colleges and universities. This is indeed a lofty and admirable goal, and for the most part, Zipes and company are successful in mapping a literary geography of children's literature. This anthology will help bring the academic discourse about children's literature to a new level and may, in the process, favorably alter the literary canon. Philip Charles Crawford, library director for Essex High School in Vermont, is the children's literature columnist for Knowledge Quest. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
