L.H. Johnson's Blog

In 1868, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott was first published. It was a reluctant project from an author more inclined to write short stories about boys, but who, despite these misgivings, managed to deliver a genuine and enduring story of female, domestic life.  Almost one hundred and fifty years later, Little, Brown Books published […]

My rating: 4 of 5 stars Reckoning with Enid Blyton is, I think, one of the key things that you have to do if you’re interested in how children’s literature works. As a researcher, a reader, and writer in this area, I’ve spent a long time trying to figure this complex and often challenging figure […]

There are some titles and authors that you see a lot of in the vintage children’s book section in the old second hand book shop. (And if there is not a vintage children’s book section, then you must forgive them for they know not what they miss). Those authors, particularly in the UK, tend to […]

My rating: 4 (and a bit) of 5 stars There’s a moment, early doors in this, when Parish effectively says to the reader: “This isn’t for you so I’m going to do this part behind the curtain and come back to you when I’m ready.” That’s the moment when I thought: oh, this is interesting. […]

My rating: 4.15 of 5 stars (I just realised we can do partial stars now, exciting times!) I have always been a little bit patchy with Elinor M. Brent-Dyer’s non-Chalet School books because honestly, I wasn’t really bothered about them. I know that sounds brutal so let me elaborate: I have never been an reader […]

(I’m trying to think about how I don’t just write “there’s a new episode of An Occasional Podcast About Children’s Literature now available” all over again but I think I’m in a Catch 22 and can’t get out of it. SO. Let us just Catch and Get Over It) There is a new episode of […]

My rating: 5 of 5 stars Well known for their first novel, The Far Distant Oxus, written when both Katharine Hull and Pamela Whitlock were schoolgirls, Crowns is their last effort (I think?) in their joint writing career, published in 1947, and dedicated to the author who began it all for them: Arthur Ransome. It […]

My rating: 4 of 5 stars There’s a lot of incredibly interesting layers to this apparently simple thing and the more you think about it, the more the layers reveal themselves. Esther’s Notebooks is based on a series of conversations between Riad Sattouf and his friend’s daughter, ten year old Esther, about her life and […]

My rating: 4 of 5 stars I came across the Puffin edition of this recently and was intrigued, not only at the promise of finally reading Beau Geste after seeing the film, the fact that this copy had been given as a birthday present for “darling Pia” from their “Grampy” which I adore entirely, but […]

My rating: 4 of 5 stars I have often thought about the routes that people take towards a text. By this, I mean the routes that people come towards the original story; the way we can experience something, let’s say an Enid Blyton, for example, in a thousand different shapes before ever experiencing the original […]