The Oxford Handbook of Children's Literature

The editors' goal “was to create an interdisciplinary book that uses literary texts to introduce theoretical, methodological, and critical approaches, as well as historical, political, and sociological themes”. It is primarily therefore a collection of 26 analytical articles with an extensive and searching introduction, though the basic facts are given concerning the authors and works that are discussed. Part 1, “Adults and children's literature”, begins with a chapter on the “Fundamentals of children's literature criticism” by Peter Hunt that raises essential issues such as what the term “children's book” means as opposed to other books. Readers may of course make...