The Oxford Book of Children's Stories

Oxford University Press. Very Good. 1993. Hard Cover. 8vo 0192142283 No dust jacket. Original cloth boards with bright gilt titling on spine. No ownership marks. xx,450 pages clean and tight. Children's writer and Carnegie medallist Jan Mark has selected 44 stories which include moral tales, fairy tales, ghost stories, adventure stories, and school stories; they are inhabited by good and bad children, strict parents, and unkindly uncles and aunts, as well as kings and queens, giants, and enchanters. The stories represent some of the best children's literature written over the past 250 years. They traces how the children's short story has evolved since the publication of Sarah Fielding's "The Governess" in 1749. The book contains work such authors as Louisa M. Alcott, Rudyard Kipling, E. Nesbit, Richmal Cromptom, Philippa Pearce, and Joan Aiken, as well as some long-forgotten tales. Chronologically arranged, the anthology also serves as an introduction to the historical development of the children's short story, providing insights into the way perceptions of childhood and contemporary attitudes have influenced writers of different periods. But as Jan Mark's selection demonstrates, the ingredients of a good children's story - as well as the fictional tastes of children themselves - have remained remarkably constant, despite changes in style and outlook. This is a survey of the children's short story for parents, teachers, librarians, children's literature professionals - and of course for children. .