BfK


REVIEWERS IN THIS ISSUE


Brian Alderson is founder of the Children’s Books History Society and a former Children’s Books Editor for The Times. Gwynneth Bailey is a freelance education and children’s book consultant. Clive Barnes, formerly Principal Children’s Librarian, Southampton City is a freelance researcher and writer. Diane Barnes, was a librarian for 20 years, mostly as a children’s specialist, working in Kent, Herts, Portsmouth and Hampshire, and Lusaka (Zambia) with the British Council. Jill Bennett is the author of Learning to Read with Picture Books and heads up a nursery unit. Jon Biddle is English Coordinator/Reading Champion at Moorlands Primary Academy in Norfolk, and co-founder of the Patron of Reading scheme. Rebecca Butler writes and lectures on children’s literature. Jane Churchill is a children’s book consultant. Stuart Dyer is an Assistant Head Teacher in a Bristol primary school. Anne Faundez is a freelance education and children’s book consultant. Janet Fisher is a children’s literature consultant. Geoff Fox is former Co-Editor (UK) of Children’s Literature in Education, but continues to work on the board and as an occasional teller of traditional tales. Sarah Gallagher is a headteacher and director of Storyshack.org www.storyshack. org


Christine Hammill teaches in a college of further education and is also an author Ferelith Hordon is a former children’s librarian and editor of Books for Keeps Matthew Martin is a primary school teacher. Sue McGonigle is a Lecturer in Primary Education and Co-Creator of www.lovemybooks.co.uk Dr. Lucy Pearson is Lecturer in Children’s Literature, Newcastle University. Margaret Pemberton is a school library consultant and blogs at margaretpemberton.edublogs.org. Val Randall is Head of English and Literacy Co-ordinator at a Pupil Referral Unit. Andrea Reece is Managing Editor of Books for Keeps. Sue Roe is a children’s librarian. Elizabeth Schlenther is the compiler of www.healthybooks.org.uk Nicholas Tucker is honorary senior lecturer in Cultural and Community Studies at Sussex University.


Books About Children’s Books


Reading & Rebellion. An Anthology of Radical Writing for Children 1900-1960


HHHH


Edited by Kimberley Reynolds, Jane Rosen and Michael Rosen,


OUP, £25 hbk


Packed with unfamiliar material from and about authors stretching from the well-known to the totally obscure, this anthology breathes new life into a branch of British children’s literature too long overlooked or simply ignored. Often barely accessible to all but the most determined researchers, the overall


picture it reveals can now


stand on more equal terms with those better preserved authors and titles from the past that chose to stay within a basically more establishment view of children, their parents and their country. Contents include stories, chapters


or illustrations advocating socialism, pacifism, fighting fascism and praise of the Soviet Union to discussions


of modern architecture, sexual


development and the impact of the new sciences.


Much of this now


seems hugely dated, but it is still moving to witness the courage and commitment of


these contributors


and their publishers when it came to raising topics often considered deeply unsuitable at the time. No particular classic emerges from these forgotten texts, and their recurring belief in the possibility of achieving a brave new world in the near future no longer fits the popular mood today. But as the editors point out, much that was being advocated in once obscure journals is now taken for granted. In her excellent introduction, Polly Toynbee makes the point


that while traditional tales all


literature for children over the ages has often tended at least initially to side with the poor and oppressed. But


have


Cinderella or Dick Whittington happily joining forces with the rich and powerful in their final pages, left-wing authors usually felt unable to fulfil


this particular dream of social mobility up and away from a character’s straitened beginnings. Instead they offered a more essentially moral view of how to live, with comforts for main characters drawn not from newly acquired wealth or social elevation but from solidarity with kindred spirits living in the same environment which they are all trying to improve. A worthy message, certainly, and when backed up by consenting parents at the time one that sometimes had a lasting impact, arguably even on numbers of future politicians and legislators. Older readers of this fascinating anthology may well experience the odd nostalgic stab when an otherwise long-forgotten title hoves into view. In 1977 the late teacher turned writer Bob Dixon wrote Catching Them Young, a pioneering two volume study of right-wing bias in past children’s books plus a look at current authors now taking a different line. How he would have enjoyed this newest entry into the debate! NT


New Talent Maybe the Moon HHHH


Frances Ives, Michael O’Mara Books 32pp, 9781910552877 £12.99 hbk


Frances Ives won the 2016 LOM


Art prize, and this is her debut picture book. Based on her own experience of moving to the


city from the


countryside, she shows the happy life of Eric in the country as he helps his mother in their garden and befriends the animals (which include a fox, a badger, and a bear!) At night he likes to look at the sky and think, ‘I see the moon, so high above, shining on me and the friends that I love’. One snowy day Eric’s mother


takes him on a long journey to the city, and, contrasted with the many lush greens in the forest, the city looks a grey and threatening place, with Eric and his mother as the only colour on a double-page spread: Eric has a lovely yellow coat. The moon in their new house looks very different, but a sad Eric still chants a version of his refrain: ‘Maybe the moon, so high above, is shining on me and the friends that I love’. Eric is not daunted for long, and tells the cat who lives in the house all about his animal friends, then sets off to explore the city. Close


to, there is more colour - he finds a farmers’ market, and a park where there are other children, and animals. He shows his new friends how to plant a garden and help it grow, and he even gets used to the moon, looking at it while sitting on a wall with a new friend and the cat. In the spring, Eric and his mother


return to the countryside, and he tells his forest friends all about his adventures in the city (bubble pictures show a fountain, playing in the park, and the animals in the street). He concludes, ‘I know that the moon, so high above, is shining on me and friends that I love. Whether we live in the forest or play in the park, we are all joined together by the light in the dark’. The idea of the moon shining on people who are not with you is not new, but it is charmingly portrayed in this book. DB


Under 5s Pre – School/Nursery/Infant Counting Blessings


HHH


Emma Dodd, Templar Publishing, 22pp, 978 1 7874 1191 3, £7.99pp hbk


In this small rhyming picture book two dachshunds, a Mum and her little one, look at the good things in life from their perspective. Number one is ‘a happy family’, number two, a heart full of love, number three is playing together and so on until they reach the end of the day when Big Dog bestows upon Little Dog blessing number ten – a kiss goodnight. In between they’ve appreciate the warm sun, the rain, the blue sky, the joy of being alive, good food and more. Emma Dodd’s illustrates her simple


litany to love with in her bold bright style burnishing it with eye-catching glowing golden touches throughout. The things that this pair appreciate


are not confined to canines; humans too young and not so young will count them as blessings. JB


Mummy Time HHH


Judith Kerr, Harper Collins, 9780008306809, £12.99 hbk


Parents, particularly mothers,


choosing this book as a cosy, feel- good story to share with their toddler will be in for a shock. The cover, title and premise, a trip to the park for some time with Mummy, certainly


Books for Keeps No.233 November 2018 21


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