Table of Contents

Acknowledgements; Chronology; Introduction; Chapter 1: Fables; Definitions, early history and audience; The evolution of Aesop; Humanitarian and pantheistic fables; Dystopian and environmentalist fables; Political fables; Fables and race; Fables of personal fulfilment; Chapter 2: Poetry; Definitions and early history; Devotional, vernacular and cautionary verse; Nonsense and narrative verse; Sentimental cynicism; 'Urchin verse'; Chapter 3: Moral and Instructive Tales; Realism and didacticism; The eighteenth-century moral tale; The modern moral tale; The moral tale in the nineteenth century; Chapter 4: The School Story; Definitions, national tradition and early history; The individual and the community; The school ethos; The politics of school: class and empire; The modern school story: challenging the conventions; Chapter 5: The Family Story; Definitions; The instructive family; The imperialist family; The confining family; The political family; Non-traditional families; The vertical family; Chapter 6: Fantasy; Fantasy, reality and the interface between them; Fantasy, history, ideology; Fantasy and the politics of gender; Fantasy, freedom, order and empowerment; Fantasy, didacticism and the search for selfhood; Chapter 7: The Adventure Story; Definitions and blurred boundaries; The fantasy of empowerment; Adventure and Morality; Authenticity and Exoticism; The politics of adventure: gender and empire; Student Resources; Glossary; Further Reading; Index.

About the Author

M. O. Grenby is Reader in Children's Literature in the School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Author of The Anti-Jacobin Novel: British Conservatism and the French Revolution (CUP, 2001) and editor, with Julia Briggs and Denis Butts, of A History of Popular Children's Literature (Ashgate Press, 2004).

Reviews

[Grenby] has devised a cunning circuit of discussion which aims to shed light on his subject through seven genres: fables, poetry, moral and instructive tales, the school story, the family story, fantasy, and the adventure story... Above all this though is the wisdom of Dr Grenby's Conclusion where he strikes a grand blow at the all-to-frequent belittlement of children's literature among the world in general. Children's Book History Society A confident kaleidoscope of a book... Grenby is a world-class scholar of earlier children's literature--and it shows in the array of less familiar material on view--but that does not stop him taking on the moderns... We can only hope that copies of it will lodge in libraries everywhere to provide a sourcebook for students. -- Peter Hunt, Cardiff University Modern Language Review [Grenby] has devised a cunning circuit of discussion which aims to shed light on his subject through seven genres: fables, poetry, moral and instructive tales, the school story, the family story, fantasy, and the adventure story... Above all this though is the wisdom of Dr Grenby's Conclusion where he strikes a grand blow at the all-to-frequent belittlement of children's literature among the world in general. A confident kaleidoscope of a book... Grenby is a world-class scholar of earlier children's literature--and it shows in the array of less familiar material on view--but that does not stop him taking on the moderns... We can only hope that copies of it will lodge in libraries everywhere to provide a sourcebook for students.