Sheila Egoff (1918–2005)

This is awfully dated (I didn't finish it), but some essays hold up. I particularly liked "Children's Reading and Adults' Values" by Rosenehim because the author emphatically asks adults to treat young readers with respect ("...'great' children's literature...is simply great literature").

"Thoughts Concerning Children's Books" by Penelope Mortimer is good, too. It's pretty funny and she's arguing that "a good book cannot possibly be written for a particular age." I don't 100% agree with that show more statement (I think she wasn't considering books for babies), but I agree with the underlying principle that quality is quality. show less

Extremely knowledgeable editors, Sheila Egoff et al. have collected and solicited essays by the likes of the great Roy Stokes, Monica Hughes, Jane Yolen, Tim Wynne-Jones, and Natalie Babbit to create a monsterpiece in the history and criticism of children's literature.

A goldmine of suggestions of what to read, authors to pursue and ideas to consider while reading.

See 1996 ed. comments. Essays by J.R.R. Tolkien, Rosemary Sutcliff, Nat Hentoff, many more.