| International Companion Encyclopedia Oxford & New York: Routledge, 2004. 2 vols. Review by Elin Fellman-Suominen, Åbo Academy University, Finland & Urban Fellman, Sydväst Polytechnic, Finland. Research students of children's literature The International Companion Encyclopedia of Children's Literature is an extensive work and very useful for any scholar of children's literature. The work comes in two volumes and contains more than one hundred essays written by a large number of (predominantly eminent) scholars of children's literature. The first part of the work deals with theory, theoretical principles and analysis methodology in two large parts. Part two discusses the children's book market, publishing and distribution, schools and libraries etc. And the last, and largest part, deals with national children's literatures. The essays are divided into five sections: “Theory and critical approaches” (dealing with issues such as culture, gender, ideology, psychoanalysis and stylistics), “Forms and genres” (folk tales, poetry, science fiction, pony stories, school stories, etc), “Contexts” (containing essays on for instance censorship, publishing issues and film), “Applications” (educational and psychological aspects of children's literature) and “National and International” (including overviews of national children's literature in a wide range of countries and geographic areas, from Austria to Taiwan). Because of the scope of the subject area, the last part of the book is the largest, with “Forms and genres” a good second. The essays offer the reader a glimpse into the subject and a few main ideas. Many essays include a list of further reading together with the reference list, giving the reader the possibility of looking further into the subject. Thus, the work is especially useful for beginning students of children's literature. Nonetheless, due to the wide range of themes, even the experts in the field should be able to find some new and interesting ideas within the work. The work also contains an extensive 100 page index with authors, themes and titles, useful for any scholar. The index is not flawless, however, and lacks in cross-references. A useful, and uncommon, addition is Kimberley Reynolds' international overview of children's literature organisations, listing international, national and thematical organisations - wisely pointing out the need for such organisations to work together towards common terminology and methodology so that children's literature research can be taken seriously in the academic world. Although some of the contact information will without doubt be out of date in a few years, the essay still instigates the spark for looking up organisations and scholars with a shared topic of interest; as well as showing that there are a large number of such organisations out there. One problem with the work is, as it usually is with this type of encyclopedia, its Anglo-centricism. In the preface Peter Hunt addresses this problem and expresses his regrets for it. Admittedly the problem is a practical one and is motivated e.g. by the need for scholars to be able to read both the key works and reference materials in the English language. Bearing the international study of children's literature in mind this does sound logical, but the fact remains that much non-English literature is neglected because basically only literature that has been translated into English is included. Due to this problem there are serious gaps concerning literature in smaller languages, especially with regards to the newer literature. As a scholar from a non-Anglo-American background, one misses some of the key works; for instance Mio, min Mio (Astrid Lindgren) seems a perfect example on problem-solving fantasy in Louisa Smith's discussion on domestic fantasy. This is clear regarding the Scandinavian countries and Finland and it can safely be assumed that this is a universal problem. The well-known authors that are part of world literature, e.g. Topelius, Tove Jansson and Irmelin Sandman-Lilius are included, but both new and older important works are missing, and especially Finnish literature. This raises the question of why this encyclopedia is called International Companion Encyclopedia of Children's Literature since, despite its efforts, it still remains clearly Anglo-centric. The work begins with a couple of introductory essays. Margaret Meek's introduction is a good opening into the work. It discusses among other things how any encyclopedia is tied to its own time and culture. Emer O'Sullivan's introductory essay “Internationalism, the universal child and the world of children's literature” discussing the idea of children's literature as international and without boundaries is especially interesting. The essay is a good introduction into the topic as it outlines the different models of “universal childhood” offered by Paul Hazard, Zohar Shavit and Maria Nikolajeva. However, O'Sullivan problematizes all the different models as well as the whole idea of internationalism and especially “international classics”. Part one begins with an historical exposition of what children's literature is or is thought to be, and of the development of children's literature analysis, offering an ideologically critical and analytical review of both older and newer models of interpretation (e.g. psychoanalytical, structuralist, gender theory and imperialist criticism). The focus is often on the age-old question of whether children's literature should be considered a literature of its own, where the pedagogical and didactical aspects are more important than modern ideas of literature theory. The different essays emphasize the ideological (or other) contexts of the work and point to the attempts of many scholars to tear down the walls between mainstream literature and children's literature in order to find new aspects in even the classics of children's literature. The profundity and literary awareness in modern works by e.g. Philip Pullman is pointed out, opening up the possibility of strictly modern and current discourses, such as queer studies and - the above-mentioned – imperialist criticism. One problem that is not dealt with extensively is the criticism for political incorrectness (e.g. racism, sexism, neo-colonialism, etc) that, using modern analytical tools and theories, would affect – possibly even falsely – many of the children's literature classics, especially the works from the Golden Age of children's literature in the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries. In these respects, one perspective within the research tradition that is not given enough room is the historical: putting the works into their historical and literary context. Thus these classics could better be seen as the pioneering works that they in fact were in their time. For example in Charles Sarland's essay on “Critical tradition and ideological positioning”, books such as Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows , Hugh Lofting's The Story of Dr Doolittle and Arthur Ransome's Secret Water are befallen by charges of racism, neo-colonialism and social bias. However, Sarland accentuates the potential for interesting contradictory readings. Books can be high-quality and popular despite their tendencies and attitudes. A remarkable phenomenon is that most children who have read the (sometimes outrageously racist) indian books usually support the losing party, i.e. the indians. Of the few chapters offering a more historical perspective on children's literature the best one is possibly Tony Watkins' “History and Culture”. The chapter discusses the fictivity of history and incorporates cultural studies. However, the essay contains too many quotes for such a short text – it feels as if Watkins has tried to include too much into the limited scope of the essay. Thus, some ideas, though fascinating, have been left hanging. Another problem with the critical discussion of the classics that could have received more attention is the change in children's literature after the breakthrough of psychoanalysis: much of the older literature would now be perhaps impossible to write – at least in a naïve unconscious manner. Because of this, one especially interesting essay is Maria Nikolajeva's analysis of narrative theory and the narrative voices in children's literature. Here she is not bound by political correctness and is thus able to choose enlightening examples of children's literature at its very best. She also tries to break the barrier to mainstream literature in order to show that children's literature can be analysed as seriously and theoretically as mainstream literature. Many children's books are as complex with multiple narrative voices as any modernistic classic. The only narrative type almost completely absent in children's literature, according to Nikolajeva, is completely monologic stories, because children's literature generally maintains a didactic and social aspect. The second large section in Part One deals with the genres of children's literature and their historical development. The oldest literature and folk literature is often viewed positively and seen as a foundation for the literature to come. This is evident in the chapter on myths and legends, which is fairly detailed and covers a large area. Unfortunately, the chapter on folk and fairy tales is more superficial and suffers from Anglo-centrism. Mostly, material translated into English is pointed out as important for the development of the genre. Understandably Perrault, the brothers Grimm, H.C. Andersen and even Asbjörnsen and Moe are included because of their becoming well-known through Andrew Lang's important “colour” collections of fairytales. But it is remarkable that Antoine Galland's Les mille et Une Nuits (1704 onward) that was so important for the development of fairytales, as well as literature per se, is not included in the French section but only because of a the selection translated into English. Its general significance is not mentioned at all. Neither is the important selection of Russian fairytales by Afanasiev mentioned, nor our Finnish Kalevala (and Eero Salmelainen's collections). Furthermore, the development from folk to fairy tale should have been discussed in more detail. Outstanding are, on the other hand, the two sections on children's own oral tradition and modern children's lore. It is well worth pointing out that the first one is written by a pioneer in this area, Iona Opie. The children and their culture and creativity are in focus in the Opie's text, as well as in Andy Arleo's survey of modern children's folklore. Here, like in many other places, nonsense literature is seen as superb (and even superior?), both with respect to the children's own creations and in texts written for children – perhaps emphasizing a typically British tradition. Arleo points out that many may be shocked by that which is ambiguous in this tradition; things that can be seen as obscene or racist. He states that “It should however, be remembered that obscene items do not necessarily carry the same meanings for children as for adults; explicit sexual allusions, for example, are often only partially understood and the degree of comprehension varies from child to child. The same applies to sexist and racist material that can be found on the playground” (I, 293). With regards to the remaining accounts of children's literature, it seems that the more traditional genres are perhaps considered more cursorily, whereas the modern genres and literature that is considered important by recent research is emphasized; giving a slightly “trend-aware” impression of the work. Some important older material that is not fashionable has thus been excluded or has suffered from a more modern critical view. Such is the fate of for instance poetry written explicitly for children and classics by R. L. Stevenson, Walter de la Mare and A.A. Milne: authors often regarded as white, middle class bourgeoisie with a patronizing view of children. This seems unfair especially concerning de la Mare, for not only were his poetry anthologies ground-breaking, so too were his short stories and fantasy tales which should have been mentioned. With him, the border between adult and children's literature is truly hazy and he is an overlooked pioneer within fantasy literature already in the 1910s and 1920s. It should, however, be pointed out that Morag Styles acknowledges that the three authors' collections of poetry are good poetry, shown by the fact that time and the children themselves have accepted it – the works are still popular and in print. Considering more current genres, such as fantasy, sci-fi and horror, the articles are more rounded and insightful. Especially the articles on fantasy, divided into subsections on “high fantasy” and “domestic fantasy” are comprehensive and contain much new material. The selection of future 20 th century classics listed by C.W. Sullivan III (I, 445) would fit into any specialist work. It also points to the fact that within fantasy there is no barrier (with regards to quality or genre) between mainstream and children's literature. And viewing today's Harry Potter fever and the success of Philip Pullman, we can foresee further development of the genre. A truly fascinating chapter, pinpointing the modern alignment of the work is Dennis Gifford's article on popular literature, with a review of older adventure and entertainment literature for the working class and the youth (“penny dreadfuls”) - not very long ago considered pulp literature. This genre is becoming increasingly explored by serious scholars, who often by employing a discourse or context analysis find unexpected contexts. Sweeney Todd, Buffalo Bill, Nick Carter and Sexton Blake thus become interesting literary figures in a line ranging from the beginning of the 19 th century to WWII, when the paper shortage in Great Britain, the development of pocket books and new literary ideals finished them off. Other “modern” popular genres that are treated positively – from the children's point of view – are horror literature, and the modern bizarre/absurd picturebooks. The variation in the essays' length and content are, as is expected, varied. Some are very thoroughly researched and insightful, whereas others seem too superficial and/or out of date and raise the question whether or not they have been revised for the second edition. For instance the essay on Nordic children's literature (by Boel Westin) contains no books published after 1995 and leaves out some key works, such as Anna-Clara Tidholm's wordless picturebooks for toddlers; and leaves the discussion on Maria Gripe very short. On the other hand, the essay on film by Ian Wojcik-Andrews has included works as recent as Finding Nemo (2003). This essay is highly interesting and broadens the subject by including a discussion on The Matrix and its relationship to Alice. However, it suffers from its second part on theory being too hastily dealt with and would benefit from some longer discussions. Since this is one of the shorter essays, the space could have been offered for further discussion. One of the top essays is David Buckingham's exploration of television which offers a thorough and interesting overview of children's television. Besides being fascinating, the essay also has a clear structure and is thus easy to follow. Some of the essays use sub-headings, making it easier to follow the line of the argument and finding the key points. One such essay is the discussion on animal stories by Simon Flynn, which also offers a very good overview of the history, use and other aspects of animal stories, touching down on key ideas such as animism, boundaries between animal/human and hybridity. Although the length, style, and quality of the articles vary it can safely be said that the International Companion Encyclopedia of Children's literature is a work that any scholar of children's literature would profit from. Because of the diverse range of articles, anyone should be able to find something that interests them within the approximately 1400 pages of the work. It is commendable that such a work has been compiled and it has certainly not been an easy job for Peter Hunt as editor to keep the whole thing together. Our only concerns are with the minor flaws of omission pointed out in this review and we are hoping to see them corrected in the third edition. Elin Fellman-Suominen and Urban Fellman |