The ABC of It : why children's books matter / Leonard S. Marcus ; foreword by Lisa Von Drasek.
Marcus, Leonard S., 1950- author.; Von Drasek, Lisa, author of foreword.
2019
PN1009.A1 M285 2019 (Mapit)
Available at General Collection

Items

Details

Title The ABC of It : why children's books matter / Leonard S. Marcus ; foreword by Lisa Von Drasek.
Author Marcus, Leonard S., 1950- author.
ISBN 9781517908010 (paperback)
1517908019 (paperback)
Published Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, [2019]
Language English
Description vii, 231 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 25 x 20 cm
Call Number PN1009.A1 M285 2019
Dewey Decimal Classification 398.809
Summary "Original artwork and materials explore children's literature and its impact in society and culture over time. A favorite childhood book can leave a lasting impression, but as adults we tend to shelve such memories. For fourteen months beginning in June 2013, more than half a million visitors to the New York Public Library viewed an exhibition about the role that children's books play in world culture and in our lives. After the exhibition closed, attendees clamored for a catalog of The ABC of It as well as for children's literature historian Leonard S. Marcus's insightful, wry commentary about the objects on display. Now with this book, a collaboration between the University of Minnesota's Kerlan Collection of Children's Literature and Leonard Marcus, the nostalgia and vision of that exhibit can be experienced anywhere. The story of the origins of children's literature is a tale with memorable characters and deeds, from Hans Christian Andersen and Lewis Carroll to E. B. White and Madeleine L'Engle, who safeguarded a place for wonder in a world increasingly dominated by mechanistic styles of thought, to artists like Beatrix Potter and Maurice Sendak who devoted their extraordinary talents to revealing to children not only the exhilarating beauty of life but also its bracing intensity. Philosophers like John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau and educators such as Johann Comenius and John Dewey were path-finding interpreters of the phenomenon of childhood, inspiring major strands of bookmaking and storytelling for the young. Librarians devised rigorous standards for evaluating children's books and effective ways of putting good books into children's hands, and educators proposed radically different ideas about what those books should include. Eventually, publishers came to embrace juvenile publishing as a core activity, and pioneering collectors of children's book art, manuscripts, correspondence, and ephemera appeared--the University of Minnesota's Dr. Irvin Kerlan being a superb example. Without the foresight and persistence of these collectors, much of this story would have been lost forever. Regarding children's literature as both a rich repository of collective memory and a powerful engine of cultural change is more important today than ever" -- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography, etc. Note Includes bibliographical references.
Added Author Von Drasek, Lisa, author of foreword.
Record Appears in On-Campus Resources > Books
All Resources
Visions of childhood : Sinful or pure? the spiritual child
A blank slate: the rational child
A question of class
From rote to rhyme
The work of play: the progressive child
Kerlan features : Goodnight Moon
Building citizens: the patriotic child
Down the rabbit hole
Kerlan features : Alice around the world
In nature's classroom: The romantic child
A great Dane: Hans Christian Andersen
Kerlan features : Tenggren tells-it-again
Off the shelf : giving and getting books: Gift books: Visual splendor
Kerlan features : The poky little puppy
"Write" off the assembly line
No dogs or children allowed
Kerlan features : Meeting Beatrix Potter
Storyteller en la Biblioteca: Pura Belpré
Book week
Lights out: reading under the covers
Censorship: raising a ruckus
The art of the picture book : A master of motion: Randolph Caldecott
A homespun expressionist: Wanga Gág
Kerlan features : Millions of cats
The size and shape of things
The new Leonardo: Bruno Munari
Kerlan features : Virginia Lee Burton's Little House
Pop culture
Humpty Dumpty
Mary Poppins
The secret garden
The Wizard of Oz
The story of Ferdinand
Harry Potter
Comics grow up: Graphic novels
Kerlan features : Baby Mouse: Queen of the World!
Storied city: New York.

Browse Subjects

Show more subjects...

Statistics

from
to
Export