Feeling Like a Kid: Childhood and Children's Literature

Feeling Like a Kid: Childhood and Children's Literature
ISBN-10
0801885175
ISBN-13
9780801885174
Category
Literary Criticism
Pages
148
Language
English
Published
2006-12
Publisher
JHU Press
Author
Jerome Griswold

Description

Outstanding Academic Title for 2007, Choice Magazine In this engaging and reflective essay, Jerry Griswold examines the unique qualities of childhood experience and their reappearance as frequent themes in children’s literature. Surveying dozens of classic and popular works for the young—from Heidi and The Wizard of Oz to Beatrix Potter and Harry Potter—Griswold demonstrates how great children's writers succeed because of their uncanny ability to remember what it feels like to be a kid: playing under tables, shivering in bed on a scary night, arranging miniature worlds with toys, zooming around as caped superheroes, listening to dolls talk. No softheaded discussion of kids’ “cute” convictions nor a developmentally-focused critique of their “immature” beliefs, Feeling Like a Kid boldly and honestly identifies the ways in which the young think and see the world in a manner different from that of adults. Written by a leading scholar, prize-winning author, and frequent contributor to the Los Angeles Times, this extensively illustrated book will fascinate general readers as well as all those who study childhood and children's literature.

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