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Childhood's Pattern: A Study of the Heroes and Heroines of Children's Fiction, 1770-1950
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1975
21 people want to read
About the author
Gillian Avery
82 books17 followersGillian Elise Avery was a British children's novelist, and a historian of childhood education and children's literature. She won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize in 1972 for A Likely Lad. It was adapted for television in 1990.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 25, 2021
A fascinating premise led me to pick this up in an antiquarian bookshop, and though it was certainly interesting once I read it, it also disappointed slightly. This - regrettably - was more because of my own presuppositions, which seems a little unfair, but 'fairly good' was the overall sense I got from reading this non-fiction piece.
Avery aims to review the moral content of fictional works for children from the mid eighteenth to mid twentieth century. She clearly has done a lot of research and pulls out some very interesting and overarching themes in exploring this genre. I learned plenty about the sociology of the period, about the importance of religion (Anglocentric as this book is), about gender roles and morality. It's interestingly heavy-handed how the written word was used, and poses all kinds of questions about other areas of literature and printed media in general.
Perhaps though I was expecting something a little more overarching in the sense of fairy stories, allegory and folk literature. It to me felt a bit more like the author focussed on seven or eight specific themes/subgenres and provided examples without (as might also have been interesting) fully quantifying and discussing the impact of children having been brought up on these stories. In addition, I was left wondering about the 'next' period (the book was published in 1975 and only dealt with children's literature up to 1950). It was disappointing how much of which was written about, I had not ever read.
Avery aims to review the moral content of fictional works for children from the mid eighteenth to mid twentieth century. She clearly has done a lot of research and pulls out some very interesting and overarching themes in exploring this genre. I learned plenty about the sociology of the period, about the importance of religion (Anglocentric as this book is), about gender roles and morality. It's interestingly heavy-handed how the written word was used, and poses all kinds of questions about other areas of literature and printed media in general.
Perhaps though I was expecting something a little more overarching in the sense of fairy stories, allegory and folk literature. It to me felt a bit more like the author focussed on seven or eight specific themes/subgenres and provided examples without (as might also have been interesting) fully quantifying and discussing the impact of children having been brought up on these stories. In addition, I was left wondering about the 'next' period (the book was published in 1975 and only dealt with children's literature up to 1950). It was disappointing how much of which was written about, I had not ever read.
October 2, 2013
An excellentand invaluable book for collectors of children's literature. Packed with information on authors and illustrators. Highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews