Boys and Girls Forever: Children's Classics from Cinderella to Harry Potter

Are some of the world's most talented children's book authors essentially children themselves? In this engaging series of essays, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alison Lurie considers this theory, exploring children's classics from many eras and relating them to the authors who wrote them, including author Louisa May Alcott and author Frank Baum, as well as Dr. Seuss and Salman Rushdie. Analyzing these and many others, Lurie shows how these gifted writers have used children's literature to transfigure sorrow, nostalgia, and the struggles of their own experiences.

CONTENTS

Foreword

THE UNDERDUCKLING:

HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN

LITTLE WOMEN AND BIG GIRLS:

LOUISA MAY ALCOTT

THE ODDNESS OF OZ

IS THERE ANYBODY THERE?

WALTER DE LA MARE’S SOLITARY CHILD

JOHN MASEFIELD’S BOXES OF DELIGHT

MOOMINTROLL AND HIS FRIENDS

DR. SEUSS COMES BACK

HAROUN AND THE SEA OF STORIES

THE PERILS OF HARRY POTTER

WHAT FAIRY TALES TELL US

BOYS AND GIRLS COME OUT TO PLAY:

CHILDREN’S GAMES

POETRY BY AND FOR CHILDREN

LOUDER THAN WORDS:

CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS

ENCHANTED FORESTS AND SECRET GARDENS:

NATURE IN CHILDREN’S LITERATURE

THE GOOD BAD BOY

Notes

Bibliography