The International Research Society
for Children's Literature















Book Reviews


Feeling Like a Kid: Childhood and Children’s Literature
By Jerry Griswold

*NEW* review here


National Character in South African English Children’s Literature
By Elwyn Jenkins

*NEW* review by Karen Sands-O’Connor


Changing Concepts of Childhood and Children’s Literature. Edited by Vanessa Joosen and Katrien Vloeberghs

*NEW* review by David Rudd


Children’s Literature Global and Local: Social and Aesthetic Perspectives. Edited by Emer O’Sullivan, Kimberley Reynolds and Rolf Romeron

*NEW* review by Karen Sands-O’Connor
*NEW* review by Jennifer Sattau


Radical Children’s Literature: Future Visions and Aesthetic Transformations in Juvenile Fiction by Kimberley Reynolds

*NEW* review by Pat Pinsent


Reading Lessons from the Eighteenth Century: Mothers, children and texts by Evelyn Arizpe and Morag Styles, with Shirley Brice Heath

review by Professor Jacqueline Labbe


Colouring outside the Lines:Flemish Illustrators Making their Mark
by Marita Vermeulen, translated by Laura Watkinson

review by Bridget Carrington


Towards or Back to Human Values?
Spiritual and Moral Dimensions of Contemporary Fantasy.
edited by Justyna Deszcz-Tryhubczak
and Marek Oziewicz. Newcastle, U.K.

review by Naomi Wood


Modern Children’s Literature: an Introduction
edited by Kimberley Reynolds

review by Tess Cosslett


Extracts from Inis: The Magazine for Children’s Books in Ireland

Reading Lessons from the Eighteenth Century:
Mothers, Children and Texts:
review by Susan M. Parkes

Children’s Literature Global and Local:
Social and Aesthetic Perspectives
:
review by Amanda Piesse

From the Dairyman’s daughter to Worrals of the WAAF: the Religious Tract Society, Lutterworth Press and children’s literature:
review by Lydia Ferguson

Religion, Children’s Literature and Modernity
in Western Europe 1750-2000:

review by Mary Shine Thompson

read reviews here


Ursula K. Le Guin Beyond Genre. Fiction for Children and Adults
edited by Mike Cadden

review by Marek Oziewicz


Towards or Back to Human Values?
Spiritual and Moral Dimensions of Contemporary Fantasy

edited by Justyna Deszcz-Tryhubczak and Marek Oziewicz

review by Lindsay Myers


Modern Children's Literature: an Introduction
edited by Kimberley Reynolds

review by Tess Cosslett


His Dark Materials Illuminated:
Critical Essays on Philip Pullman's Trilogy

edited by Millicent Lenz and Carole Scott

review by William Gray


International Companion Encyclopedia of Children's Literature
Peter Hunt (Ed) Second Edition

review by Elisabeth Rose Gruner
review by Elin Fellman-Suominen and Urban Fellman


The Robber with a Witch's Head:More Stories from the Great Treasury of Sicilian Folk and Fairy Tales.
Collected by Laura Gonzenback
Translated and Edited by Jack Zipes

review by Francesca Orestano


Inside the World of Literary Criticism for Children & Adolescents
reviews by Lydia Kokkola


Children's authors and illustrators too good to miss:
Biographical sketches and bibliographies

by Sharron, L. McElmeel

review by Mary Napoli


Children's Literature: New Approaches
By Karin-Lesnik-Oberstein, (ed.).

review by Lydia Kokkola


Dark Horse - A Life of Anna Sewell
By Gavin, Adrienne, E.

review by Andrew Stibbs
review by Bridget Carrington


Coming of Age in Children's Literature: Growth and Maturity in the Work of Philippa Pearce, Cynthia Voigt and Jan Mark
By Margaret Meek and Victor Watson

and

Darkness Visible: Inside the world of Philip Pullman
By Nicholas Tucker

review by Valerie Krips


Constructing the Canon of Children's Literature
By Anne Lundin

review by Anette Øster


The Making of the Modern Child:
Children's Literature and Childhood in the Late Eighteenth Century.

By Andrew O'Malley

review by Ann Lawson Lucas


Brown Gold:Milestones of African-American
Children's Picture Books, 1845 – 2002

By Michelle H. Martin

review by Professor Andree-Jeanne Tötemeyer


The Presence of the Past in Children's Literature
Contributions to the Study of World Literature, Number 120

edited by Ann Lawson Lucas

review by Bridget Carrington


Innocence and Experience:
An Introduction to the Philosophy of Children's Literature

By Morteza Khosronejad

synopsis here


New Voices in Children's Literature Criticism
Edited by Sebastien Chapleau

review by Professor Jean Webb


'The Fairy Tale: The Magic Mirror of the Imagination'
by Steven Swann Jones

review by Ruth B. Bottigheimer,
review by Rosemary Lovell-Smith


Out of this World: Why Literature Matters to Girls
by Holly Blackford

review by Mary Napoli



Fairy Tales and Feminism
by Donald Haase

review by Vanessa Joosen


Children's Literature and Childhood in Performance and Childhood Remembered edited by Kimberly Reynolds

review by Maj Asplund Carlsson


Studies in Children's Literature, 1500-2000
edited by
Celia Keenan and Mary Shine Thompson

review by Adrienne Kertzer


'Od literatury dla dzieci do literatury dzieciecej. Tematy - gatunki- konteksty.(From Literature for Children to Childrens' Literature. Themes, Genres, Contexts) by Ryszard Waksmund

review by Dorata Milchulka,


'Literature and the Child: Romantic Continuations, Postmodern Contestation' edited by James Holt McGavran

review by Margot Hillel,


'Shonentachi no America : Shishunki Bungaku no Teikoku to 'Otoko' (Boys' America: The Empire and Masculinities in Adolescent Literature)' by Junko Yoshida

review by Ariko Kawabata,


'The Poetics of Childhood' by Roni Natov

review by Lois Kuznets
review by Francesca Orestano,
review by Adrienne E. Gavin,
review by Elisabeth Wesseling,
review by Lydia Kokkola,


  
Aim of the Book Reviews Section

We aim to publish up to three reviews per book by our international membership in the reviews section of the website so that colleagues have a chance to see both the range of books available in members' countries and how books relating to the academic study of/scholarship in children's literature are received in different countries. We normally try to include both the original language of publication (of the review) and an English language summary, since the lingua franca of the IRSCL is English.

We anticipate that reviews will be fair, balanced, academically rigorous assessments of the books, and that the reviews will be a reliable source of information for colleagues' professional needs.

We shall be making links from the site with academic publishers to ensure a steady supply of review copies. However, if any colleagues wish to recommend individual books for review, we should be very grateful to receive from them the publication details. Books recommended to the committee for the biennial IRSCL Award will be reviewed in the newsletter. If members have seen reviews of relevant books in their local journals, it would be helpful to have copies of these sent for a 'round up' feature. For copyright reasons we could not reproduce the full reviews, but we would extract quotes with a commentary on how a particular text was received in different countries.

We need members' expertise to provide appropriate reviews. To ensure the fullest participation, we shall assume that all members are willing to review books which fall within their particular area if expertise unless they explicitly indicate otherwise. If you are willing also to be a regular reviewer, please contact the reviews editor and provide details of your name, professional affiliation, contact details, including full postal address to expedite the circulation of the review copies and areas of special interest/expertise.

Reviewing Guidelines

Reviews should be not more than 1,000 words with (as appropriate) a 200-300 word English language summary. They should comply with the MLA Style (as used in The Children's Literature Association Quarterly , for example).

Ideally, we request that reviewers try to return their reviews within one month of receiving the review-copy, or as soon as possible afterwards.

Finished reviews must include the Bibliographical details, (including ISBN and page numbers) at the start of the review, and the name of the reviewer and the institution to which they are attached at the conclusion of the review.

The reviews section is being handled by:
Christine Wilkie-Stibbs , University of Warwick, CV4 7AL, UK.
E-mail : c.wilkie@warwick.ac.uk or Cwilkiestibbs@aol.com



Design by Patrick Telford 2003