Masterplots II

by Frank N. Magill (Editor)

***Volume 2 of 4 Only*** "Masterplots II, Juvenile and Young Adult Fiction", is the 7th set in the Masterplots II series, inaugurated in 1986 with the 4-volume "American Fiction Series." This volume contains criticisms and reviews for 480 stories, of which 445 of them are covered by the Masterplots (II) series for the first time. Books for readers age 10 to 18 form the focus here (picture books and other books for children under 10 fall outside the scope of this set), and several categories governed many of the choices of these titles. The editors' primary concern was to include as many as possible of those classics of the genre which had never before received coverage in this series. Nearly all of the Newbery Medal Winners appear Hugh Lofting's "The Voyages of Doctor Doolittle" (1923, Newbery Medal), Elizabeth Coatsworth's "The Cat Who Went to Heaven" (1930), Armstrong Sperry's "Call it Courage" (1941), Esther Forbes's "Johnny Tremain" (1944), Elizabeth George Speare's "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" (1959), Elizabeth Borton de Trevino's "I, Juan de Pareja" (1966), Mildred D. Taylor's "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry" (1977), and Joan W. Blos's "A Gathering of Days" (1980) are among the 43 Newbery Medalists represented. Old favorites such as "Lassie Come-Home", Little House on the Prairie", "Little Lord Fauntleroy", the Mary Poppins Series, "The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood", My Friend Flicka", "National Velvet", "Old Yeller" , "Pippi Longstockings", "Pollyanna", "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farms", "The Secret Garden", " Winnie-the-Pooh", and "The Wizard of Oz" are joined by newer works rapidly attaining the status of Roald Dahl's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", E. B. White's "Charlotte's Web", and Robert Cormier's "The Chocolate War", for example.

440 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1991

About the author

Dr. Frank Northen Magill (1907-1997) was a writer and editor of distinguished reference works for over forty years.

Magill also founded the Salem Press in 1949. Magill’s expertise became so recognizable in the hundreds of volumes of reference works published by Salem Press that librarians sometimes referred to the publications as “Magill books.”

Born in Smyrna, Ga., Magill earned an undergraduate degree at Georgia Tech and a master’s degree in engineering at Columbia University. He began working as an engineer, then served as a major in the Army Air Corps during World War II. While stationed in the Panama Canal Zone, Magill read widely and conceived of a book that he titled “Masterplots.” That was the first book to be published by Salem Press, in 1949.

Eventually the company branched into history, humanities, social science and sciences. Operating offices in New York and Los Angeles, Magill earned a doctorate and taught a popular reference course at USC.