Books For Keeps
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Articles
  • Past Issues
  • Latest Issue
  • Authors and Artists
  • Latest News
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
January 20, 2023/in Non Fiction Books About Children's Books 20th century children's literature /by Andrea Reece
BfK Rating:
BfK 258 January 2023
Reviewer: Nicholas Tucker
ISBN: 978-1032308272
Price: £125.00
Publisher: Routledge
Genre: Non Fiction
Age Range: Books About Children's Books
Length: 260pp
Buy the Book

The Women who Invented Twentieth-Century Children's Literature

Author: Elizabeth West

Venerable British publishing houses, it has been fairly said, were once run by men but serviced by badly paid women. Cruelly and inaccurately written off as ‘desiccated spinsters’ by Penguin Book’s historian J.E. Morpurgo, adoptive father of the more famous Michael, the more determined of these bookwomen often took advantage of their overlooked status to get on with creating their own empires. While their employers were having long lunches in the Garrick Club they were nurturing new talent, pressing for higher standards and finally coming up with good sales and critical success.

This present study describes their achievements, focusing on Eleanor Graham, Grace Hogarth, Kaye Webb and Julia MacRae. Space is also given to others also heavily involved in this transformation, in particular the inspired children’s librarian Eileen Colwell and writers Ursula Moray Williams, Kathleen Hale and Amabel Williams–Ellis, all of whom pioneered further innovation. While hardback books cost more than a pretty penny it was inevitable that target audiences remained those middle-class parents who could afford them. Once paperbacks arrived it was possible to start extending readership but Puffin Books’ first supremo Eleanor Graham generally preferred to stay with things as they now were. She rejected The Hobbit as too violent and turned down National Velvet fearing it might offend parents and teachers, especially those in convent schools. But her overall record in improving standards, particularly in the picture book world, is impressive.

She had no time for Enid Blyton, however, and her successor Kaye Webb shared similar misgivings about publishing Roald Dahl, eventually doing so only after pressure from above. For by now those in charge realised that a new golden egg had been hatched, with children’s books’ sales now sometimes subsidising the adult market. Inevitably this led to an emphasis on profit over quality, with former almost universally female editorial support for children’s writers increasingly replaced by interventions from tougher-minded sales managers. The world these bookwomen created was therefore eventually replaced, but it was good while it lasted and well deserves its celebration in Elizabeth West’s closely argued if hideously expensive book.

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail
http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png 0 0 Andrea Reece http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png Andrea Reece2023-01-20 16:51:292023-01-20 16:53:38The Women who Invented Twentieth-Century Children’s Literature

Search for a specific review

Author Search

Search







Generic filters




Filter by Member Types


Book Author

Download BfK Issue Bfk 271 March 2025
Skip to an Issue:

About Us

Launched in 1980, we’ve reviewed hundreds of new children’s books each year and published articles on every aspect of writing for children.

Read More

Follow Us

Latest News

Next stop Shakespeare’s Globe – finalists of Poetry By Heart competition 2025 announced

May 8, 2025

School Library Association announces Information Book Award longlist and new nationwide Book Club

May 7, 2025

National Share-a-Story Month 2025: Saving the World, One Book at a Time

May 2, 2025

Contact Us

Books for Keeps,
30 Winton Avenue,
London,
N11 2AT

Telephone: 0780 789 3369

ISSN: 0143-909X (this is our International Standard Serial Number).

© Copyright 2025 - Books For Keeps | Proudly Built by Lemongrass Media - Web Design Buckinghamshire
Choose Love Colours, Colours Everywhere
Scroll to top