Reflections on literature for children. - book reviews

This volume brings together 26 essays on children's literature that have appeared in the Modern Language Association Journal, Children's Literature. Its editors are Francelia Butler, professor of English at the University of Connecticut and editor-in-chief of Children's Literature: An International Journal, and Richard Rotert, an editorial assistant to the Journal.

The book is divided into four sections: Stories for the Very Young (featuring Raggedy Ann, Oz, Babar and Pooh); Meaning in Children's Literature; Poetry for Children; and Some Extraordinary Writers of Children's Books (including Carlo Collodi, George Mac Donald, Louisa May Alcott, Frances Hodgson Burnett, E. Nesbit, C.S. Lewis and Maurice Sendak).

Most of the essays are very sober; they look at children's literature very seriously. Alison Lurie writes that Eeyore (of Winnie the Pooh) is "the complete pessimist who is depressive with delusions of persecution." Seth Sicroff writes that "the technical language in Ginger and Pickles (by Beatrix Potter) suggests the awesome complexity of the problems besetting the dog and the cat." Of Pinocchio, James Heisig writes, "To characterize Pinocchio mythologically as an archetypal motherless child is to classify his adventures psychologically as a quest for that which can transform a man from within, heal his divided self, and restore him to a state of primordial wholeness."

On the other hand, some of the essays--particularly those in the section on Meaning--are as delightful as the books they discuss. John Seelye writes that the important thing about Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden is not its flowers but its secrecy. And P.L. Travers, of Mary Poppins fame, has a wonderful response to query of her general ideas on literature for children and her aims and purposes in writing for children. She says, "Well, this flummoxed me. I hadn't any ideas, general or specific, on literature for children and I hadn't set out with aims or purposes."

This collection is at its best when it explores the simple truths, the joy and the wonder found in great literature for children. It is also good for new insights into a few favorite children's books. And, I suppose, if you really are into psychoanalyzing the animals who inhabit Pooh's corner, it is good for that, too.

COPYRIGHT 1985 U.S. Government Printing Office
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