What do you think?
Rate this book
Children's Literature: The Development of Criticism
Book by Hunt, Peter
195 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
2 people are currently reading
16 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
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 26, 2017
I've been trying to write a sequel to my children's book Of Wheels and Witches and thought this book might give me some ideas. It's a kind of potted history of criticism of children's literature -- a collection of essays from various people written at various periods.
I found some a lot more useful than others for my purposes, but then the book wasn't compiled for my purposes, but rather to ask and try to answer the question whether children's books should be criticised using the same criteria as one would use for other books. There is also the question of what exactly are children's books. Many books were written for adults, but are somehow lumped with children's literature -- Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver's Travels, for example.
The essays I found most useful for my purpose were one by Roger Lancelyn Green, which was more of a survey or a review than a critique, and one by John Rowe Townsend, 'Standards of Criticism for Children's Literature'. But best of all was Aidan Chambers, 'The Reader in the Book'.
Authors often make assumptions about their readers, and what they know, and what they will be familiar with. Chambers points out that most books, including most children's books, have an 'implied reader':
This, says Chambers, is something that could usefully be borne in mind by teachers who teach literature to children, and critics of children's literature in determining whether or not a books is for children:
That is something I think important not only for teachers of children's literature to bear in mind, but also the authors. Whether articulated or not, most authors have a particular kind of reader in mind, and make assumptions about what the reader knows or doesn't know.
I found some a lot more useful than others for my purposes, but then the book wasn't compiled for my purposes, but rather to ask and try to answer the question whether children's books should be criticised using the same criteria as one would use for other books. There is also the question of what exactly are children's books. Many books were written for adults, but are somehow lumped with children's literature -- Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver's Travels, for example.
The essays I found most useful for my purpose were one by Roger Lancelyn Green, which was more of a survey or a review than a critique, and one by John Rowe Townsend, 'Standards of Criticism for Children's Literature'. But best of all was Aidan Chambers, 'The Reader in the Book'.
Authors often make assumptions about their readers, and what they know, and what they will be familiar with. Chambers points out that most books, including most children's books, have an 'implied reader':
... we can also detect from a writer's references to a variety of things just what he assumes about his implied reader's beliefs, politics, social customs and the like. Richmal Crompton in common with Enid Blyton, A.A. Milne, Edith Nesbit and many more children's authors assumed a reader who would not only be aware of housemaids and cooks, nannies and gardeners but would also be used to living in homes attended by such household servants. That assumption as as unconsciously made as the adoption of a tone of voice current among people who employed servants at the time the authors were writing.
This, says Chambers, is something that could usefully be borne in mind by teachers who teach literature to children, and critics of children's literature in determining whether or not a books is for children:
I am suggesting that the the concept of the implied reader, far from unattended to by critics in Europe and America, offers us a critical approach which concerns itself less with the subjects portrayed in a book than with the means of communication by which the reader is brought in to contact with the reality presented by an author. It is a method which could help us determine whether a book is for children or not, what kind of book it is, and what kind of reader (or, to put it another way, what kind of reading) it demands. Knowing this will help us to understand better how to teach not just a particular book, but particular books to particular children.
That is something I think important not only for teachers of children's literature to bear in mind, but also the authors. Whether articulated or not, most authors have a particular kind of reader in mind, and make assumptions about what the reader knows or doesn't know.
Displaying 1 of 1 review