The Norton Anthology of Children's Literature: The Traditions in English: I wasn't even aware of this anthology. Now I'm aware of it, and I don't want it. Link to unfavorable review. Excerpt:
The editors of the anthology acknowledge in passing their debt to Locke and Rousseau–who in a sense created our modern understanding of childhood, permanently influencing all subsequent children's literature. The editors, however, wish to promote a revolution of their own: a new, more candid, and frankly, more nihilistic corpus. Despite heralding children's literature as "life-enhancing" and "life-changing," the Norton editors aim in fact to dampen children's enchantment with the world, forcing them to acquiesce to the grim realities and multicultural obsessions of contemporary adults.
