Of particular interest to specialists in children's literature, this book, which is not without interest, really, hasn't much hope of gaining an audience beyond that small market. Its twelve chapters were first published serially as "My School Days" in The Girls' Own magazine. They are the recollections of an early Victorian childhood by the author of such eternal juvenile favorites as The Bastables and The Treasure Seekers. Uninhibited by the post-Freudian fears which cripple so many of today's would-be autobiographers, E. Nesbit reached back and shared the major personal traumas and minor universal miseries of a childhood tried by the schooling then in vogue and by her own thermodynamic imagination. That she was a close observer of herself and her own reactions, that she hung onto the feel of being a child better than most, and that she used her memories in writing for children will be obvious to those who know her work well. Neither bitter nor sentimental, her own memories illuminate her early years better than Anthea Bell's Walck monograph, the most recent of the studies of Nesbit.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1966
ISBN: 0356080544
Page Count: 127
Publisher: Franklin Watts
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1966
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
