The Cambridge Guide to Children's Books is an alphabetized reference work providing a critical and appreciative overview of children's books written in English worldwide. It is not a guide to "children's literature" but has a wider task--to include any author, or illustrator, or work, believed by the editors to have made a significant impact on young readers, or to have in some way influenced the development of children's books. In addition to the long-established traditions of children's writing from Great Britain and the USA, the Guide covers the increasing range of successful children's books produced in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, West Africa, and India; and the exciting renaissance in children's books currently taking place in Ireland and South Africa. Reflecting the developing scholarly appreciation for the history of children's books, The Guide gives due weight to children's books from pre-Norman times, and acknowledges recent developments in publishing practices and in children's own reading. Victor Watson is Assistant Director of Research, Homerton College, University of Cambridge. He has edited several volumes about children's literature, including Opening the Nursery Door (Routledge, 1997) and Where Texts and Children Meet (Routledge, 2000).Read more
- Comprehensive and authoritative, ranging in time from King Alfred to Harry Potter
- Contains entries a range of well known authors and illustrators including Shirley Hughes, Philippa Pearce, Jan Mark, Philip Pullman, and Victoria Wood
- Entries on major topics such as fantasy, television, picturebooks as well as more innovative entries such as neglected authors, child authors, music and story, soap operas
Reviews & endorsements
"There is nothing more satisfying than coming across a reference work that is not only comprehensive in its inclusion of the requisite dates and facts and other biographical detail, but is also thoughtful and creative in its treatment. Such a book is Victor Watson's The Cambridge Guide to Children's Books in English."
-Copley News ServiceSee more reviews
"the entries are all thoughtful, detailed, and illuminating. many cover the history of their subject from the earliest appearance to mdoern publications, giving a depth that is often lacking in other reference works [...] Highly recommened for all libraries."
"a useful reference tool, and a great browsing item, too."
-School Library Journal
"Cross-refrences abound, and the entries themselves, especially those dealing with genres or literary movement, evince enthusiasm and respect for their subjects."
-The Bulletin, Jan 2002
"This valuable alphabetical reference offers easy access to an overflowing chest of encyclopedic material...this 814-page volume serves as a fairly complete reference work on children's books of historical interest, and provides plenty of delicious morsels regarding their effect on the contemporary scene."
-Napra Review, Jan 2002
"[it] will be useful in the public or academic library setting."
"This much-anticipated book is clearly one of the best single-volume reference works in the field. It is thorough in its coverage of both British and American children's books, and it does a respectable job of covering children's literature from the rest of the English-speaking world. It is exceptionally strong in the area of contemporary children's literature, but it also includes substantial entries on important children's authors from the past."
-Children's Literature Association Quarterly
"[The] diversity of contributors is reflected in the gratifying diversity of the over 2,500 entries.... Unlike previous reference books put out by British presses, this one goes out of its way to recognize the work in English of authors and illustrators from minorities and from countries other than the United States and Great Britain; poetry is also unusually well represented.... In addition, the Cambridge Guide has a wider historical scope than I have found in other reference books of this type.... The Cambridge Guide is a bargain for the price--I strongly recommend it not only to libraries of all types but to the general reader who is interested in children's literature and children's culture."
-Libraries and Culture
"Watson's informative reference work provides a comprehensive overview of historic and contemporary children's books published in English.... The volume covers a wide range of subjects, each thoroughly explored and analzed by a distinguished group of contributors.... Highly recommended for all libraries." -Choice
"Impressive in its breadth of coverage and attention to the political, social, and commercial forces affecting what young persons read and view, Cambridge Guide to Children's Book in English is not the standard desktop companion in its field."
-MLA: Literary Research Guide
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- Date Published: August 2001
- format: Hardback
- isbn: 9780521550642
- length: 828 pages
- dimensions: 244 x 170 x 44 mm
- weight: 1.51kg
- contains: 150 b/w illus.
- availability: Available
Table of Contents
A note to the reader
List of contributors
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