A review by gillothen
Children's Fantasy Literature: An Introduction by Farah Mendlesohn, Michael Levy
4.0
A very enjoyable read.
Inevitably "an introduction" lacks space to do every writer justice. I would have liked more on Nesbit's time travel stories (a mention at least), more on Peter Dickinson than the "Changes" trilogy, at the start of a very long career, and Jan Mark and Cynthia Voigt both deserved mentions, I felt. That said, this book is bursting with suggestions of things I now want to find and read. There's an excellent section of further reading, tied to each chapter, both academic critical material and primary material. The writers bring an intelligent and experienced analysis as well as a great deal of experience. I wanted to argue back in places and felt they were extremely generous to Stephenie Meyer, but I suppose someone has to be!
Inevitably "an introduction" lacks space to do every writer justice. I would have liked more on Nesbit's time travel stories (a mention at least), more on Peter Dickinson than the "Changes" trilogy, at the start of a very long career, and Jan Mark and Cynthia Voigt both deserved mentions, I felt. That said, this book is bursting with suggestions of things I now want to find and read. There's an excellent section of further reading, tied to each chapter, both academic critical material and primary material. The writers bring an intelligent and experienced analysis as well as a great deal of experience. I wanted to argue back in places and felt they were extremely generous to Stephenie Meyer, but I suppose someone has to be!