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Worlds of Wonder: Celebrating the Great Classics of Children's Literature
256 pages, Hardcover
Published October 28, 2025
4 people are currently reading
95 people want to read
About the author
Daniel Hahn
137 books37 followersBritish writer, editor and translator; author of a number of works of non-fiction, including biographies, history, and reading guides and for children and teenagers.
His translation of The Book of Chameleons by José Eduardo Agualusa won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in 2007. He is also the translator of Pelé's autobiography, and of work by novelists José Luís Peixoto, Philippe Claudel, María Dueñas, José Saramago, Eduardo Halfon, Gonçalo M. Tavares and others.
A former chair of the Translators Association and national programme director of the British Centre for Literary Translation, he is currently chair of the Society of Authors and on the board of trustees of a number of organisations working with literature, literacy and free expression, including English PEN. He is one of the judges for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize.
adapted from Wikipedia.
His translation of The Book of Chameleons by José Eduardo Agualusa won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in 2007. He is also the translator of Pelé's autobiography, and of work by novelists José Luís Peixoto, Philippe Claudel, María Dueñas, José Saramago, Eduardo Halfon, Gonçalo M. Tavares and others.
A former chair of the Translators Association and national programme director of the British Centre for Literary Translation, he is currently chair of the Society of Authors and on the board of trustees of a number of organisations working with literature, literacy and free expression, including English PEN. He is one of the judges for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize.
adapted from Wikipedia.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 22, 2025
Daniel Hahn looked at almost 200 years of stories for children to put together Worlds of Wonder. This book highlights 80 children's books (not picture books or Teen/YA books) that have had a lasting impact on readers - both children and adults alike. The books included are all available in print in English, but several international authors/titles are represented. Each book covered has some information about the author and then a 1-2 page write up about the book - a short synopsis and why this book has had an impact on readers. The books are divided into 4 sections that cover a span of years. There are several contributors listed in the back of the book who wrote about each title. I do wish that the author had been listed on the page with the write up and I'm not sure why that wasn't the case. Of the 80 books listed, I've read 20 and after reading this book I've added a few more to my to-read list. This is the perfect book for a librarian and I loved reading about old favorites from my childhood and finding some new ones to check out as well.
Some quotes I liked:
[Black Beauty by Anna Sewell] "One Texas cowpuncher arraigned for ill-treating his pony would be sentenced to one month's imprisonment where he was required to read the story three times." (p. 34-35)
[Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers] "P.L. Travers fought hard against the changes to her story that she saw in the Disney film - ultimately, she lost. She was so unhappy with the way she and her novel were treated that she ruled out any further adaptations." (p. 94) [There were 8 books in the Mary Poppins series]
[Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl] "In 2023, four years after Dahl's death, Puffin books announced that they would be revising all of his texts to eliminate derogatory words and passages. In the new version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Augustus Gloop is now described as 'enormous' rather than 'fat,' and the Oompa-Loompas go from being 'tiny' to 'small.' Elsewhere, references to glass eyes, ugliness, old age, disability, and other potentially sensitive topics were removed or altered. Arguments about censorship swiftly broke out, even getting as far as the U.K.'s House of Commons. But Puffin Books' decision to re-issue the original texts in The Roald Dahl Classic Collection finally left readers free to choose whichever version they wanted." (p. 159)
[A quote from the text of Watership Down by Richard Adams] "Animals don't behave like men," he said. "If they have to fight, they fight; and if they have to kill they kill. But they don't sit down and set their wits to work to devise ways of spoiling other creatures' lives and hurting them. They have dignity and animality." (p. 173)
[The Neverending Story by Michael Ende] "Michael Ende disliked the 1984 film adaptation of his novel so intensely that he launched legal action that delayed the release of the sequel until 1990." (p. 184)
[The Story of a Seagull and the Cat Who Taught Her to Fly by Luis Sepulveda] "In Sepulveda's imagination, cats not only understand the language of humans but can speak it - though it's the ultimate taboo to let humans in on that little secret...'Cats were aware, of course, of the sad fate of the dolphins, who had displayed their intelligence to humans who had in turn condemned the dolphins to acting like clowns in aquatic spectacles.'" (p. 206)
Some quotes I liked:
[Black Beauty by Anna Sewell] "One Texas cowpuncher arraigned for ill-treating his pony would be sentenced to one month's imprisonment where he was required to read the story three times." (p. 34-35)
[Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers] "P.L. Travers fought hard against the changes to her story that she saw in the Disney film - ultimately, she lost. She was so unhappy with the way she and her novel were treated that she ruled out any further adaptations." (p. 94) [There were 8 books in the Mary Poppins series]
[Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl] "In 2023, four years after Dahl's death, Puffin books announced that they would be revising all of his texts to eliminate derogatory words and passages. In the new version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Augustus Gloop is now described as 'enormous' rather than 'fat,' and the Oompa-Loompas go from being 'tiny' to 'small.' Elsewhere, references to glass eyes, ugliness, old age, disability, and other potentially sensitive topics were removed or altered. Arguments about censorship swiftly broke out, even getting as far as the U.K.'s House of Commons. But Puffin Books' decision to re-issue the original texts in The Roald Dahl Classic Collection finally left readers free to choose whichever version they wanted." (p. 159)
[A quote from the text of Watership Down by Richard Adams] "Animals don't behave like men," he said. "If they have to fight, they fight; and if they have to kill they kill. But they don't sit down and set their wits to work to devise ways of spoiling other creatures' lives and hurting them. They have dignity and animality." (p. 173)
[The Neverending Story by Michael Ende] "Michael Ende disliked the 1984 film adaptation of his novel so intensely that he launched legal action that delayed the release of the sequel until 1990." (p. 184)
[The Story of a Seagull and the Cat Who Taught Her to Fly by Luis Sepulveda] "In Sepulveda's imagination, cats not only understand the language of humans but can speak it - though it's the ultimate taboo to let humans in on that little secret...'Cats were aware, of course, of the sad fate of the dolphins, who had displayed their intelligence to humans who had in turn condemned the dolphins to acting like clowns in aquatic spectacles.'" (p. 206)
January 17, 2026
I have a bone to pick with this one. It features 80 children's (or young readers) books and it seems like the author was more interested in including books from every culture and country that exists, than in true children's favourites that everyone knows about, like say, Dr. Seuss or the Little House on The Prairie series. (both not featured(!!!!!))
There's more I could list that were everything to me as a young reader, that weren't included:
- Where The Red Fern Grows
- The Velveteen Rabbit
- The Magic Tree House series
I could go on, I'm sure.
Instead, here I read about many books that I've never heard of, some that have only gotten translated for the English-speaking world in recent years.
I was very disappointed:(
There's more I could list that were everything to me as a young reader, that weren't included:
- Where The Red Fern Grows
- The Velveteen Rabbit
- The Magic Tree House series
I could go on, I'm sure.
Instead, here I read about many books that I've never heard of, some that have only gotten translated for the English-speaking world in recent years.
I was very disappointed:(
February 4, 2026
This comprehensive survey of classic Children’s Literature is divided into four distinct stages: The First Golden Age, 1837-1929; New Horizons, 1930-1959; Modern Narratives, 1960-1984; and, Contemporary Classics, 1985-Present … lavishly illustrated, the book ranges far beyond authors writing only in English … expansive …
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews