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An Introduction to Children's Literature
Passionately enjoyed as much by the young as by adults, children's literature is a vital part of Western culture. Attracting increasing scholarly attention, its indelible influences on most people's psyche attest to its widespread importance. Well-known for his work in the field, Peter Hunt here offers a history of children's literature--primarily British, although including American and other works as well--along with an assessment of its literary, sociological, and pedagogical roles. In addition, Hunt looks at the uses to which children's literature is put, the claims that are made for it, and the difference between children's and adults' ways of reading.
241 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
10 people are currently reading
160 people want to read
About the author
Peter Hunt
35 books8 followersPeter Hunt (born 1945) is a British scholar who is Professor Emeritus in Children's Literature at Cardiff University.
Hunt's books include works of criticism, novels, and stories for younger children. The Children's Literature courses that he ran at Cardiff were the first to treat children's literature as a subject of academic study in the UK. He has lectured on the subject at over 120 universities in 20 countries, from Finland to New Zealand; the International Society for the Fantastic in the Arts presented him with its Distinguished Scholarship Award in 1995, and 2003 he won the International Brothers Grimm Award for services to children's literature from the Institute for Children's Literature, Osaka.
He has edited or is editing the Oxford University Press World's Classics editions of Bevis, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and The Wind in the Willows. His books have been translated into Arabic, Chinese, Danish, Persian, Greek, Japanese, Korean, and Portuguese
Hunt's books include works of criticism, novels, and stories for younger children. The Children's Literature courses that he ran at Cardiff were the first to treat children's literature as a subject of academic study in the UK. He has lectured on the subject at over 120 universities in 20 countries, from Finland to New Zealand; the International Society for the Fantastic in the Arts presented him with its Distinguished Scholarship Award in 1995, and 2003 he won the International Brothers Grimm Award for services to children's literature from the Institute for Children's Literature, Osaka.
He has edited or is editing the Oxford University Press World's Classics editions of Bevis, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and The Wind in the Willows. His books have been translated into Arabic, Chinese, Danish, Persian, Greek, Japanese, Korean, and Portuguese
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 26, 2025
This small volume contains a great deal of fascinating information on what can be considered children's literature and to what extent a story that appeals to children is likely to appeal to their elders. Does children's literature actually exist?
Each of Mr Hunt's chapters seems to introduce more titles than the preceding one so that, presuming we wanted to get the maximum benefit from the book , it would probably take us some twenty years!
I am now cogitating on which section of the book would be most worth studying, so there may be many reviews coming up on hundreds of novels intended for youngsters or those far beyond the age 'normally' attracted to The Wind in the Willows or Red Shift.
Each of Mr Hunt's chapters seems to introduce more titles than the preceding one so that, presuming we wanted to get the maximum benefit from the book , it would probably take us some twenty years!
I am now cogitating on which section of the book would be most worth studying, so there may be many reviews coming up on hundreds of novels intended for youngsters or those far beyond the age 'normally' attracted to The Wind in the Willows or Red Shift.
June 26, 2008
I have very mixed views about this book. On one hand, there were parts of it that I enjoyed a great deal. I thought he made some wonderful points about theories and tendencies in studying children's literature, and I thought it was very, very interesting. I also learned a ton about the history, which I knew very little about before. Once I finished the book, I felt like I had gotten a very solid orientation for the topic.
Having said all of that, the book definitely had some weaknesses. I have never read anything that relied so heavily on quotations from other sources. There were many parts of the book where it seemed that Hunt did nothing more than provide the framework and transitions for a collection of other people's thoughts. I also got bogged down by the sheer number of books that referred to. In some ways, this was very helpful - I now know what books I need to go read to have a decent grasp on children's literature canon. It also was very confusing and discouraging, though. Having not read everything that he mentioned, and having not even heard of a lot of it, there were times when I felt absolutely lost.
Two last things to keep in mind are that this is an introduction to British children's literature, and focuses mainly on British texts and British world events, and that this book was published in 1994, so it's a little bit dated.
Having said all of that, the book definitely had some weaknesses. I have never read anything that relied so heavily on quotations from other sources. There were many parts of the book where it seemed that Hunt did nothing more than provide the framework and transitions for a collection of other people's thoughts. I also got bogged down by the sheer number of books that referred to. In some ways, this was very helpful - I now know what books I need to go read to have a decent grasp on children's literature canon. It also was very confusing and discouraging, though. Having not read everything that he mentioned, and having not even heard of a lot of it, there were times when I felt absolutely lost.
Two last things to keep in mind are that this is an introduction to British children's literature, and focuses mainly on British texts and British world events, and that this book was published in 1994, so it's a little bit dated.
September 21, 2009
Read this as preliminary reading for a class. It was kind of interesting -- lots of history of the book, or at least the children's book. It got rather wearing after a while because of the constant parade of titles and names and dates. Still, it might be a useful reference, and it was a reasonable introduction to some of the range of books out there. I'm not sure about some of the choices in books, and it was quite Brit-focused.
I'm not sure how much that was new came into this. There were lots of quotations and references -- though I was glad to see Ursula Le Guin being referred to several times.
Interesting discussion of whether children's books should be updated/censored to suit the times, too. I'll be interested to see if my course picks up on that aspect -- I assume it will.
Feeling quite nostalgic and dug out/bought new copies of some of the books it mentions here.
I'm not sure how much that was new came into this. There were lots of quotations and references -- though I was glad to see Ursula Le Guin being referred to several times.
Interesting discussion of whether children's books should be updated/censored to suit the times, too. I'll be interested to see if my course picks up on that aspect -- I assume it will.
Feeling quite nostalgic and dug out/bought new copies of some of the books it mentions here.
October 2, 2023
I recently picked up a fair few of the older children's literature theory books, the ones that I've always known as points of reference to be read in extracts and photocopied chapters whilst also taking them with a slight pinch of salt due to their age. Time moves on, there are always children and there will always be books for them and both publishing and theory moves swiftly and sometimes not at all. It's one of the things I'm realising now, with one foot in publishing and another in academia, that one field talks to the other and the other talks back to it and sometimes both of them spend years not listening to each other in the slightest.
But an unexpected haul of the older theory books interested me because theory books are expensive when they're first published, sometimes it's nice to remind yourself of the bedrocks of your field, and if you pick them up and read them with the knowledge that things have changed and that they are not as definitive as they once were (but paradoxically still definitive in their own way), then there is something fascinating in that. As with my books (Daisy May Johnson), I find a lot of use in knowing where children's literature has been to know where it is going.
An Introduction to Children's Literature was published in 1994 by the Oxford University Press. It's a deeply readable book that resists the urge to be too scholarly whilst also being unafraid of giving you some theory. It's also deeply deft at points; Hunt has an ability to give you a line or two, here and there, that are so articulate and to the point that I found myself stopping and underlining. Metaphorically. Not actually. I'm not a monster. ANYWAY. It's a well-written book and even though the concept of it demands lists of titles and years and for a necessary pace that leaves you longing for more time to be spent on certain authors, I think it's still a very solid introduction to the field. As it was. A lot's happened since then but this does still stand very nicely.
Another thing to mention is that this is primarily about British children's literature and although there is mention of other cultures, namely America and Japanese, they tend to be wedded to literary movements or cultural phenomena. In many senses it's useful to remember the time and context Hunt is writing in; this is early internet stuff, he's a British writer, and global children's literature really doesn't have the visibility in Britain that it does now. (I can remember being absolutely dazzled as a child when we went on a trip to America and discovering that there were all these other titles in a series that I was collecting - hundreds and hundreds of them - when all that had ever been published in the UK were the first four...).
I like this book. I like how steady and solid it is. It's worth picking up if you come across it second hand if only for the way that it will tell you about titles that you've never heard of and suddenly really fancy reading. It's also rather prescient in terms of discussions of representation and diversity and does, I was quite pleased to see, hint at some of the tensions that characterise these discussions today. I also really liked how Hunt treated the influence of female writers and how he actually gave Angela Brazil a little space to be considered! the novelty! justice for angie!
But an unexpected haul of the older theory books interested me because theory books are expensive when they're first published, sometimes it's nice to remind yourself of the bedrocks of your field, and if you pick them up and read them with the knowledge that things have changed and that they are not as definitive as they once were (but paradoxically still definitive in their own way), then there is something fascinating in that. As with my books (Daisy May Johnson), I find a lot of use in knowing where children's literature has been to know where it is going.
An Introduction to Children's Literature was published in 1994 by the Oxford University Press. It's a deeply readable book that resists the urge to be too scholarly whilst also being unafraid of giving you some theory. It's also deeply deft at points; Hunt has an ability to give you a line or two, here and there, that are so articulate and to the point that I found myself stopping and underlining. Metaphorically. Not actually. I'm not a monster. ANYWAY. It's a well-written book and even though the concept of it demands lists of titles and years and for a necessary pace that leaves you longing for more time to be spent on certain authors, I think it's still a very solid introduction to the field. As it was. A lot's happened since then but this does still stand very nicely.
Another thing to mention is that this is primarily about British children's literature and although there is mention of other cultures, namely America and Japanese, they tend to be wedded to literary movements or cultural phenomena. In many senses it's useful to remember the time and context Hunt is writing in; this is early internet stuff, he's a British writer, and global children's literature really doesn't have the visibility in Britain that it does now. (I can remember being absolutely dazzled as a child when we went on a trip to America and discovering that there were all these other titles in a series that I was collecting - hundreds and hundreds of them - when all that had ever been published in the UK were the first four...).
I like this book. I like how steady and solid it is. It's worth picking up if you come across it second hand if only for the way that it will tell you about titles that you've never heard of and suddenly really fancy reading. It's also rather prescient in terms of discussions of representation and diversity and does, I was quite pleased to see, hint at some of the tensions that characterise these discussions today. I also really liked how Hunt treated the influence of female writers and how he actually gave Angela Brazil a little space to be considered! the novelty! justice for angie!
January 22, 2025
Gets the job done, and has that combination of useful information and some oddly dismissive comments that tends to characterize this genre of semi-academic-yet-presumably-meant-for-ordinary-folks writing.
No earth shattering insights, but Hunt makes some good points, and tries to be as objective as possible, which is difficult to do when approaching this topic.
No earth shattering insights, but Hunt makes some good points, and tries to be as objective as possible, which is difficult to do when approaching this topic.
April 7, 2009
An more accurate title for this book would be An Introduction to the History of Children's Literature in the United Kingdom. The opening chapters provide decent background information on the subject, but the meat of the book at times becomes a river of namedropping, and the extensive citations and quotations are more distracting than supportive.
Despite having been published in 1994, the chronology of milestones in children's literature becomes rather sparse after the 1970's, and many of the choices for important works in the category of children's literature are odd and debatable.
All in all, An Introduction to Children's Literature is a fair book on the subject but should be treated as a jumping off place or a supplement. If you're teaching a course in children's literature, stick with the first three chapters and then lecture according to your own research and thoughts.
Despite having been published in 1994, the chronology of milestones in children's literature becomes rather sparse after the 1970's, and many of the choices for important works in the category of children's literature are odd and debatable.
All in all, An Introduction to Children's Literature is a fair book on the subject but should be treated as a jumping off place or a supplement. If you're teaching a course in children's literature, stick with the first three chapters and then lecture according to your own research and thoughts.
December 11, 2014
Hindi pala napaghandaan ang Literaturang pambata bagkus ito pala ay isang aksidente na pinagsama ng Klasiko at pag modernong babasahin na may kinalaman sa maagang pagkamulat ng mga bata.
Dahil dito bumuo ng mga konsepto upang ayusin ang mga aklat na hindi angkop sa murang edad o maka-impluwensiya.
Ang mga konseptong ito ay binalangkas upang magkaroon ng mga batayan o standards hinggil sa pagkategirya sa mga literaturang pambata.
Nakatutuwang isipin na akala ko, ito'y sadyang pinaghandaan subalit resulta ng aksidente na siya pa lang lilikha ng mga batayan sa Literaturang Pambata.
Dahil dito bumuo ng mga konsepto upang ayusin ang mga aklat na hindi angkop sa murang edad o maka-impluwensiya.
Ang mga konseptong ito ay binalangkas upang magkaroon ng mga batayan o standards hinggil sa pagkategirya sa mga literaturang pambata.
Nakatutuwang isipin na akala ko, ito'y sadyang pinaghandaan subalit resulta ng aksidente na siya pa lang lilikha ng mga batayan sa Literaturang Pambata.
February 12, 2011
A required textbook for class. You can gather from it the history of Children's Literature, but it is quite limited to British lit. Found it to be very dull considering how fascinating and engaging my interest is in the subject matter.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews