Examines the garden in "The Secret Garden" as an image, a metaphor, and a symbol that help readers to appreciate the levels of meaning and the narrative movement of the book. (HOD)

Examines A. A. Milne's "Winnie the Pooh" as a treatise on gender roles in middle-class English society. Explains how each of the animal characters becomes an archetype to describe the effects of the patriarchy on the individual. (MM)

Demonstrates how an understanding of Roald Dahl's novel, "Matilda," can be enhanced by recognition of the influences of Victorian novels upon the author. Discusses particularly Dahl's affinities with Charles Dickens. (HB)

Lists 33 children's picture books that have endured with both children and critics, and examines a dominant pattern of structural similarities. Topics include historical and developmental observations; textual and artistic issues; form and function, including graphic art and narrative art; and tone. (LRW)

Focuses on a resource used by author Monteiro Lobato to maintain a dialogue with society, i.e., giving voice to the character Emilia in his children's novels to express his own opinions about the "world order." (PA)

This annotated bibliography of children's books about Africa cites more than 800 entries written in English and published in the United States, Africa, and Europe. The books (designed for children in early elementary school through young adulthood) are evaluated in terms of the validity of the perspective of Africa which they present. Both…

Examining six texts about the traumatic experience of the internment either in Canada or the United States during World War II, we focus not only on their stylistic shift from visualization to verbalization as targeted ages of readers increase, but also on the effects, both historical and personal, social and domestic, on children of their…

This article considers ideological, pedagogical and constitutive functions of children's picture books, with particular emphasis on the ways in which texts construct children and childhood in economic terms. Through an analysis of Lauren Childs' "Hubert Horatio Bartle Bobton-Trent" and Anthony Browne's "Voices in the Park", the article…

Lasting appreciation of literature does not just naturally issue out of basic reading skill training, because the outcomes desired in basic reading skills and in literary appreciation are different. Therefore, the materials used in each must be different. The language adapted for skill building exercises is different from that used in stories,…

Reviews the life and works of Bertha Mahony Miller, a collector of children's books and a sometime critic. (RB)

A former publisher of children's books presents a personalized account of her successes and failures and includes some personal remembrances from her private life. (RB)

Some science books are also good literature when judged by literary criteria. A few examples are cited and a selective bibliography is included. (LS)

There are many similarities between Robert Browning's "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" and Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" that are seldom noted by literary critics. Both works were begun for the amusement of specific children, both employ a strange subterranean journey as a central device, and both are works of nonsense…

Describes the qualities which make a good book good to both critic and child and defends the criticism of children's literature. (DD)

Discusses the role and responsibilities of the reviewer of children's books. (DD)