Children’s Literature and Social Change. Some Case Studies from Barbara Hofland to Philip Pullman

Dennis Butts has been writing about children’s literature for many years, and this present book brings together some of his occasional pieces now woven into a chronological order. He is particularly interesting on the vogue for flying stories, and also writes well about the nineteenth century, pointing out that the technological developments occurring around 1840 made this a far more important watershed for children’s literature than the 1860s and the publication of The Water-Babies and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Moving onwards, I think he exaggerates the potential for anarchy in Richmal Crompton’s William books, given that this juvenile hero is never any real threat to the comfortable living conditions enjoyed by Mr and Mrs Brown and their various neighbours. Some more proof reading would also have helped, with the final ‘e’ on Graham Greene’s name wandering over to Eleanor Graham’s surname. But these quibbles apart, this well researched study is interesting as well as easy to read, and should be most useful for the increasing amount of students now following this subject.