Folio Books: Review of The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature

Review of

The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature

by Humphrey Carpenter and Mari Prichard

Oxford University Press, 1984

Hardcover, 588 pages

The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature is both a comprehensive reference source and an entertaining browse, a treasure trove of information on the stories behind the stories and the people behind the pen names. The authors express the hope that it will prove to be "an interesting and entertaining book in itself", and it certainly is. Entries are in alphabetical order like an encyclopedia and are extensively cross-referenced. It covers both British and American children's literature in depth and has summaries of the literatures of other lands and languages. Many of the entries are very detailed: that for Peter Pan, for instance, occupies three pages. The book is strong on biographical information on authors and on the history of publishing for children, an example being ABC books which date back to medieval times.

The authors note that the popular and the classic are especially hard to keep separate in the field of children's literature, and that, unlike the Oxford Companion to English Literature, inclusion of a particular book or author is not necessarily an indication of merit. They frequently offer an opinion on the strengths and weaknesses of a book or a writer, making the Companion all the more interesting for the reader, who is free to disagree.

Some facts picked out at random: Andrew Lang never became rich despite his huge output and great popularity and had to write for his living almost to his dying day. Jean Webster, author of Daddy Long-Legs (1912), was the daughter of Mark Twain's business partner, Charles L. Webster. Another random turn of the page, and there's a description of a book I'd never heard of, called "My Friend Mr Leakey", by the scientist JBS Haldane (apparently his one and only children's book), with a very funny quote.

Naturally, the first thing I did was to look up books I know well myself. I found that the authors convey a very good sense of the books in their summaries, and that their judgments are fair. They often give two sides in the case of controversial books, noting, for example, that many adults object to a certain cruelty in some of Roald Dahl's writing, but that his following among children themselves is "enormous and enthusiastic". They describe The Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier as "one of the most remarkable children's books published since 1945", and go on to note that "Serraillier has not tried to repeat its success." This caused me to wonder why The Silver Sword has recently been renamed Escape From Warsaw in America -- if indeed it is a renaming rather than an abridged or adapted version.

Overall, the Companion is a well-written, well-thought-out book, both concise and detailed, bringing together a wealth of carefully-researched information which would be all but impossible for the average person to find elsewhere.

Order from Amazon.com, US$55.00

M.A., August 20, 1997