As I mentioned in my last post, E. Nesbit was probably the single most influential children’s author of the early 20th century. Other authors, like L. Frank Baum, may be more widely known today, but there’s really not much lasting imprint of Oz on children’s literature. E. Nesbit, on the other hand, is everywhere. In… Read more E. Nesbit
My time period really begins with E. Nesbit, one the best children’s authors of the Edwardian era. Though she was not solely responsible, it is fair to say that she was the single most important figure in developing the 20th century children’s novel. Five Children and It was her second novel-length story (after The Treasure Seekers),… Read more Five Children and It (1902)
The ur-work of Nonsense, of course, is Alice. We are dipping well back into the 19th century here, but we can’t not start with Alice. In the Victorian era there were many loosely plotted stories of “fairy-land” (the going term for any fantasy world), but Carroll’s eccentric work was something else altogether. To fully appreciate… Read more Alice in Wonderland (1865)
Ged (with a hard /g/) is born in a tiny village of goatherds on the mountainous island of Gont, where he shows early signs of tremendous magical power. Ged is proud, prickly, and ambitious. Instead of staying as an apprentice with the contempletive old wizard Ogion, the boy chooses to go to the wizarding school… Read more A Wizard of Earthsea (1967)
In a previous post I wrote about the Inventive Small-Town Animal-Loving Boy Whose Name Begins with H. The first of these books by nearly a decade was Homer Price (1942, by Robert McCloskey, better known for Make Way for Ducklings and Blueberries for Sal). Homer Price is clearly the original for this genre — it… Read more Homer Price (1942)
Beyond the Pawpaw Trees is a strange little book, broadly fitting into the Nonsense category, but really somewhere between a fable and a children’s version of magical realism. Anna Lavinia, who has never been beyond the walled garden of her home, is sent by train to visit an aunt, during which journey she meets odd… Read more Beyond the Pawpaw Trees (1954)
I cannot do better than to quote from the front flap: How can anyone describe this book? It isn’t a parable, a fairy story or a poem, but rather a mixture of all three. It is beautiful and it is comic. It is philosophical and it is cheery. There are only a few reasons why… Read more The Thirteen Clocks (1950)
Now that I’ve got a good running start, I’m going to drop back to a schedule of three posts a week. Check in every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for more books!
Edward Eager wrote seven books about magical doings, all of them modeled after E. Nesbit whom he greatly admired. But where Nesbit is serious or understatedly funny, Eager is straight-up comical. He was a playwright, and it shows in his quick pacing and sharp characterization. Who can resist writing like this? “Katharine was the middle… Read more Knight’s Castle (1956)
Most books feature ordinary children to whom unusual things happen, or perhaps a character who turns out to be extraordinary in a generic sort of way (they are the lost prince, or a witch, or have a gift of talking to animals or seeing ghosts). But these characters are usually not, in and of themselves,… Read more Books for Odd Children: A Wrinkle in Time (1962)