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The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature by Daniel Hahn (view source)
Revision as of 10:07, 17 March 2017
, 10:07, 17 March 2017no edit summary
The book is very accessible and not in the least ''sniffy'' about books which might be considered , er, populist rather than ''great literature'' and it's for this reason that I think children will get as much out of this book as adults. The writing is straightforward but not patronising and I loved the way that the entries can lead you on to other entries - an asterisk before a word indicates that there's an entry available - and the book will encourage children to explore and discover new reading for themselves.
I've one quibble with the book and it's true of all books of this type. Essentially it takes a snapshot of children's literature at a point in time and by the time that it's published the world of publishing has moved on. In late March 2015 - around the time of publication of this book - I was at a presentation by Penguin Random House of their up-and-coming children's books. Of the authors who were there, [[:Category:Jacqueline Wilson|Dame Jacqueline Wilson]] has an entry, as does [[:Category:David Levithan|David Levithan]], but there's no entry for [[:Category:Jennifer Niven |Jennifer Niven]] or [[:Category:B J Novak|B J Novak]]. And I'll confess that I did ''wonder'' if the Randy Penguin presentation didn't look back a little too much at what ''had'' been published rather forward to what was coming. That's me being very picky - all round - though.
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy of the book to the Bookbag.