Journal of Education for Teaching International research and pedagogy
ISSN: 0260-7476 (Print) 1360-0540 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cjet20
Children’s literature (Second Edition) Emma Macleod-Johnstone To cite this article: Emma Macleod-Johnstone (2015) Children’s literature (Second Edition), Journal of Education for Teaching, 41:5, 612-613, DOI: 10.1080/02607476.2015.1103444 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2015.1103444
Published online: 27 Oct 2015.
Submit your article to this journal
Article views: 23
View related articles
View Crossmark data
Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=cjet20 Download by: [Peninsula Medical School University]
Date: 26 May 2016, At: 04:37
612
Book reviews
Note 1. In Canada, the term preservice teachers refers to individuals who are enrolled in initial teacher education programmes. These individuals are also often referred to as teacher candidates or student teachers. I use the term candidates and preservice teachers interchangeably.
Downloaded by [Peninsula Medical School University] at 04:37 26 May 2016
Mira Gambhir University of Toronto
[email protected] © 2015, Mira Gambhir http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2015.1100365
Children’s literature (Second Edition), by M.O. Grenby, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 2014, 272 pp., £18.99 (paperback), ISBN 978-0748649020 ‘Once upon a time…’. The anticipated stories that unfold following these ubiquitous words invite a reader to expect tales of the wise, wonderful and creative engagement with worlds that inspire, excite, and elucidate life’s patterns, emotions, roles, fantasies, trials and joys. Such a book as Children’s Literature, the second edition by Matthew Grenby, reflects both the above, and yet not quite. The text offers more than the title suggests, as it is indeed about ‘Once upon a time…’, and in essence a critique of the literature of past times, from the familiar to the obscure. But if, as Grenby claims, ‘children’s literature is about coming to terms with a world one does not understand’, then this publication is about opening up an historical understanding of the world of children’s literature, its themes, purposes and legacies. This second edition could, perhaps, have been better served by a clearer reference to this in the title of the book. Nonetheless, this text makes a valuable contribution to the study of published stories for children and what they offer. The most effective way to appraise the value of any book for children, Grenby claims, is to ask if the reader enjoys reading it; if I were to apply the same maxim to this text, the answer would be a resounding yes. The introduction succinctly establishes the parameters of the book’s ambitious scope: ‘a critical guide to deepen understanding of individual children’s books, and of children’s literature as a whole’, and subsequent chapters explore different major genres which have evolved since the inception of literature specifically for children in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The book doesn’t claim to provide a complete account of this literature, and focuses on British and North American books, albeit excluding fairy tales and folk tales, in order to avoid a superficial exploration into a complex and extensive field. Each chapter draws upon a wide-ranging and eclectic array of stories from lesser known works to more popular texts, with the author arguing this is to reflect the conviction that a history of children’s literature needs to embrace past books and sub-genres because of their import in shaping those we write and read today. The cautionary tales of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, for instance, are still a part of works by authors such as Ogden Nash and Roald Dahl. The author’s aim is also to do justice to other critiques of children’s literature without intending this study to provide a ‘survey of current methodologies’ or ‘being overly concerned with problematizing the concept of children’s literature’. Grenby’s wish in writing is to treat children’s texts with the same courtesies received by books for
Downloaded by [Peninsula Medical School University] at 04:37 26 May 2016
Journal of Education for Teaching
613
adults: ‘both may be analysed without theorising about how the intended audience, rather than the text itself, determines meaning’ and he strongly advocates that both equally deserve ‘careful, nuanced and disinterested critical attention’. He also provides some interesting reflections on the future directions of children’s literature; will it continue to be treated as separate from adult literature, and thus freer from regulation and policing, albeit with lesser value and status? Or will it become part of the accepted canon of adult literature, with concomitant restrictions and higher regard? The author acknowledges that if the latter occurs, the long-term value of this text then becomes questionable. The eight individual chapters approach what Grenby claims to be the main genres: Fables; Poetry; Moral Tales and Problem Novels; The School Story; The Family Story; Fantasy; The Adventure Story; and, lastly, a new and welcome chapter in this second edition on Illustrations and Picturebooks. Each chapter draws historical connections and parallels between the different genres and questions, and explores emerging and past literary trends and relevance whilst eschewing the relative values that are generally embedded in any comparison. Key themes could, perhaps, have been more explicitly addressed. Issues such as death, gender and sexuality were given some notice, for example, in the discussions around the complexity of fantasy novels where, ‘even in Fairyland there is no escape from politics’, but needed fuller treatment to do these important subjects justice, especially given contemporary concerns around sexism, transgender issues and the complexities of loss and mourning. Each chapter usefully concludes with a summary of key points, yet it often felt that two further additions could augment a critical and practical engagement with each genre. First, for students of literature and education, a set of posed questions for discussion could invite focussed deliberation and debate around significant issues regarding the purposes and applications of children’s literature. For example, in the chapter addressing ‘Moral Tales and Problem Novels’, Grenby discusses an array of stories from the seventeenth century onwards, and argues that these tales should meet one or both of two issues of realism: first, the accurate depiction of everyday life; secondly, didacticism or instruction for a specific purpose. Thus, with each text he analyses, he critiques the purposes it serves and analyses how it ‘educates’, what ‘education’ it offers and for whom, citing Maxim Gorky’s stance that stories should ‘participate in the construction of a new life, in the process of ‘changing the world’’. Drawing questions around such provocative position statements at the end of the chapter could help to deepen consideration of the key points. It could also provide prompts for practitioners to share their experiences in order to generate ideas about how the stories can be used; this potentially could broaden the text’s appeal towards staff development. Putting these minor criticisms aside, this book represents a great introduction to and stimulus for students and practitioners alike to reflect upon the value, purposes and trends in historical children’s literature. From a personal perspective, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this thought-provoking, well-informed and well-written book, and would recommend it to anyone interested in children’s literature. Emma Macleod-Johnstone Plymouth Institute of Education, Plymouth University
[email protected] © 2015, Emma Macleod-Johnstone http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2015.1103444
