Children′s Literature – A Reader′s History from Aesop to Harry Potter - Hardcover

Lerer, Seth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0226473007 ISBN 13: 9780226473000

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2008

Synopsis

Ever since children have learned to read, there has been children's literature. Seth Lerer here charts the makings of the Western literary imagination from Aesop's fables to Mother Goose, from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland to Peter Pan, from "Where the Wild Things Are" to "Harry Potter". The only single-volume work to capture the rich and diverse history of children's literature in its full panorama, this extraordinary book reveals why J. R. R. Tolkien, Dr. Seuss, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Beatrix Potter, and many others, despite their divergent styles and subject matter, have all resonated with generations of readers. "Children's Literature" is an exhilarating quest across centuries, continents, and genres to discover how, and why, we first fall in love with the written word.

About this title

Review:

"Lerer has so many unusual insights, and illuminating observations that anyone who loved reading as a child will find his book utterly absorbing."--Christina Hardyment "BBC History Magazine "

"It's a thick scholarly tome, but also a charming read that revels in children's imaginations and the timeless works that stimulate them. . . . The book's main attraction is its obvious delight in the subject matter: Lerer perfectly captures the love of literature that follows a voracious child reader into adulthood."--Rachael Scarborough King "New Haven Review "

"Lerer's Olympian survey of more than 2,000 years leaves the reader with a stimulating vision of history. . . . His narrative swells and ebbs like a symphony. . . . To find Pilgrim's Progress and Weetzie Bat in a single volume is itself a pleasure."

-- (05/11/2008)

"Lerer has accomplished something magical. Unlike the many handbooks to children's literature that synopsize, evaluate, or otherwise guide adults in the selection of materials for children, this work presents a true critical history of the genre. . . . Scholarly, erudite, and all but exhaustive, it is also entertaining and accessible. Lerer takes his subject seriously without making it dull."

-- (05/15/2008)

"Lerer's history reminds us of the wealth of literature written during the past 2,600 years. . . . With his vast and multidimensional knowledge of literature, he underscores the vital role it plays in forming a child's imagination. We are made, he suggests, by the books we read."

-- (07/06/2008)

"There is hardly a children's classic, from Robinson Crusoe to Where the Wild Things Are to pop-up books, which [Lerer] does not discuss with sympathy and wit."--Eric Ormsby, New York Sun --Eric Ormsby "New York Sun "

"There are dazzling chapters on John Locke and Empire, and nonsense, and Darwin, but Lerer's most interesting chapter focuses on girls' fiction. In a brilliant series of readings, he uncovers a preoccupation with theatricality in classic fiction for girls, from the melodramatic conduct of Anne of Green Gables to Jo March's career as dramatist."

-- (01/02/2009)

"A history of children's literature is . . . a history of literature itself and Seth Lerer, by training a medieval philologist like J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, has written a very good one."

-- (08/24/2008)

"A dazzling cornucopia of erudition and originality on a subject of grave concern in twenty-first century U.S. education and culture. Every page of Seth Lerer's brilliant book reminds us of the supreme and enduring value of childhood reading. This volume deserves the attention of all who care about the shaping of lives--educators on all levels, policy makers, psychologists, and parents, as well as scholars. Lerer writes that children's literature is meant 'docere et delectare' (to instruct and to delight), and this is precisely what he himself has done in this fascinating book."

-- (12/11/2007)

"A wonderful book, with remarkable temporal breadth in its vision of the children's tradition. Highly effective as a work of synthesis, yet with many, many moments of originality and surprise, even for expert readers. Anyone engaged (whether as scholar, educator, even 'simply' as parent) with the psychic life of children will have much to learn from Lerer's account."

-- (09/19/2007)

Synopsis:

Ever since children have been taught to read, there has been children's literature. Its history is inseparable from the history of childhood, as children are indelibly molded by the tales they hear and read - stories they will one day share with their own sons and daughters."Children's Literature" charts the makings of the Western literary imagination from "Aesop's fables" to "Mother Goose", from "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" to "Peter Pan", from "Where the Wild Things Are" to "Harry Potter". Seth Lerer here explores the iconic books, ancient and contemporary alike, that have forged a lifelong love of literature in young readers during their formative years. Along the way, Lerer also looks at the changing environments of family life and human growth, schooling and scholarship, and publishing and politics in which children found themselves changed by the books they read. This ambitious work appraises a broad trajectory of influences - including Shakespeare's plays, John Locke's theories of education, Darwin's "Origin of Species", and the Puritan tradition - which have each shaped children's literature through the ages as well.The only single-volume work to capture the rich and diverse history of children's literature in its full panorama, this extraordinary book reveals why J.

R. R. Tolkien, Dr. Seuss, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Shel Silverstein, and many others, despite their divergent styles and subject matter, have all resonated with generations of readers. "Children's Literature" is an exhilarating quest across centuries, continents, and genres to discover how, and why, we first fall in love with the written word.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0226473007
• ISBN 13: 9780226473000
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352