A book on history of children's literature missing Grimm Brothers, Charles Perrault, E.T.A. Hoffmann, H.K. Andersen, A. Lindgren, but featuring Vladimir Nabakov (sic!) is a tad too short to my liking...

I checked out Children's literature between the covers because I was curious about changes since I took a class on the history of children's literature in 1976 or '77. Professor Reynolds teaches at Newcastle University, so it's not surprising that the main emphasis is on British children's literature. We Americans are not left out completely, although it would have been nice to have even part of one lecture devoted to the impact of girl sleuths such as Nancy Drew, Judy Bolton, Trixie Belden, and the Dana Girls, etc. back when girls had few examples of fictional heroines who had adventures (aside from Dorothy Gale and Alice, of course), to read about.

We do get told about changing views of what childhood and adolescence are or should be over the centuries and how that shaped the kind of books that were written for children. Harry Potter gets plenty of attention, particularly in lecture 14. I learned about some authors and books, old and new, I hadn't already encountered. I wonder if Professor Reynolds is including urban fantasies for teens such as those by Kelley Armstrong and Kim Harrison these days. ( )