Many adults would consider children’s literature with a little bit of cynicism – aren’t children’s stories really didactic aphorisms cloaked in fanciful wordplays and fairytale sceneries? As soon as reality sinks in that everything isn’t exactly what is said in the storybooks, we move on into ‘matters of consequence’ (as Exupery would put it). This is because the unreal-world lessons of storybooks have lost its charm, and it’s too late to go back once you’ve tasted the bitter fruit of reality. This is what the Norton’s Anthology of Children’s Literature aims to expose, at least in part. Its primary aim is noble: it shows how children’s literature has evolved from the didactic to the liberating, through excerpts and expositions. And what an impressive collection of excerpts it has – 2,200 pages of 350 years of literature, covering works of 170 writers and illustration artists. It’ll take some time before you chew your way through this.
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