The Oxford Handbook of Children's Literature ed. by Julia Mickenberg and Lynn Vallone (review)

The merit of this volume is made obvious by Oxford University Press's decision to publish a second edition in paperback.¹ Since the hardcover version has been favorably reviewed by several children's literature journals, the impressive quality of this edition is self-evident as well. Accordingly, in our review process we have approached the task in a somewhat different way, examining the critical apparatus of the volume—such as chapter abstracts, reference lists, and the index—in addition to its content. We read the essays in light of our different positions in the academy, Laura as an emerging scholar and Jacqui as a more established one in the field of children's literature and culture.

In the Handbook's introduction, the editors state their aim of providing a new resource among the growing number of encyclopedias, companions, and other research volumes in children's literature. As a handbook, it is intended to be a course companion for different levels of students; at the same time, it seeks to push the boundaries of what is considered children's literature, including "film, children's writing, comics, and musical recordings" (5), so that children's culture may be examined more fully. While the organizing principles are canons, contexts, and classrooms, the editors state that the rubrics and four-part organization of the volume emerged organically from the contributors' interests, resulting in divisions that contain critical interrogation at the core. The first division is "adults and children's literature," in which fundamental questions about children, childhood, and children's literature are examined; the second section, "pictures and poetics," challenges the traditional idea of children's literature by including media texts; the third, "reading history/learning race and class," intertwines child development theories with developmental discourse from the nineteenth century onward; and the fourth, "innocence and agency," is organized chronologically beginning with the Puritans and ending with Philip Pullman.

The editors propose that their aims are to raise questions more than provide answers, and indeed, in each section key questions are presented in such a way that an instructor could organize a course around these four groups at both undergraduate and graduate levels. The introduction is, moreover, a substantial essay in itself, briefly outlining the history of children's book publishing, book reviewing, literature courses, and awards.

The organization of each essay is a useful device for the different constituents of the intended readership. The chapter abstracts preview each essay and would appeal to a neophyte in the field or as an introduction to a particular text or author. Also, reading through these by themselves could inspire readers to dip into essays they might otherwise overlook. Bookending the chapter abstracts, suggestions for further reading introduce material of use to readers at different stages in their careers as children's literature scholars.

The index is a fine supplement to the aims of the book and is superbly structured. The cross-references include not just the usual titles, authors, and keywords, but contemporary themes and theories relevant to both the novice and the expert researcher. In some respects, the index is a valuable text by itself, prompting connections through subreferences which otherwise might have gone unnoticed. For example, Maurice Sendak is addressed as an author, but also as having commented on Dr. Seuss and Randall Jarrell. A reader unfamiliar with children's literature and literary criticism would be able to determine what issues and theories are being discussed in those fields simply by perusing the index: for example, what it means to label something as "children's literature" ("adult literature, children's literature v."), or the concept of innocence and its evolution throughout history ("innocence, challenges to, revised myth of, Romantic ideal of," and so on).

The individual essays are thorough and thoughtful pieces covering their various topics in insightful ways. Some provide fresh ways of seeing a well-known or canonical text, such as the first one, Peter...