In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

  • Books Received
  • Mark I. West

From Cover to Cover: Evaluating and Reviewing Children's Books. 2nd ed. By Kathleen T. Horning. New York: Collins, 2010.

Although From Cover to Cover is intended primarily for readers who are about to take up the challenge of reviewing children's books, Kathleen Horning's insights and suggestions are useful to anyone who is interested in critically evaluating works of children's literature. She focuses each chapter on a particular genre, and she discusses some of the traits that contribute to a book's success within that genre. In each chapter, she refers to exemplary children's books within the genre under consideration. For example, she begins her chapter on picture books with a detailed analysis of Wanda Gág's Millions of Cats.

Lighting out for the Territory: How Samuel Clemens Headed West and Became Mark Twain. By Roy Morris, Jr. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2010.

Roy Morris focuses this biography on Twain's life during the 1860s, when Twain left his native Missouri and headed west. In addition to recounting Twain's adventures in the Nevada Territory and California, Morris discusses how Twain's experiences in the American West influenced his later writings. Although Morris does not dwell on Twain's writings for children, he often refers to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Manga: An Anthology of Global and Cultural Perspectives. Edited by Toni Johnson-Woods. New York: Continuum, 2010.

The contributors to this volume discuss how manga has evolved and grown in popularity, not just in Japan but also throughout much of the world. The volume begins with an historical overview of manga and then goes on to cover some of the major types of manga. There are also essays devoted to particular manga series or manga artists. The volume concludes with a cluster of essays that deal with the global appeal of manga.

Maps and Legends: Reading and Writing along the Borderlands. By Michael Chabon. New York: Harper Perennial, 2009.

This collection of sixteen essays by Pulitzer Prize–winning author Michael [End Page 459] Chabon includes several essays that deal with children's or young adult books, including D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths and Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy. Another essay in the collection focuses on comic books.

The Newbery and Caldecott Awards: A Guide to Medal and Honor Books, 2010 Edition. Edited by Diane Foote. Chicago: ALA Editions, 2010.

The American Library Association regularly publishes updated editions of this handy reference work. This latest edition not only includes thumbnail descriptions of all of the past winners of the Newbery and Caldecott Awards, but it also features a useful essay by Diane Foote in which she discusses recent developments in the history of these awards.

The Wind in the Willows. By Kenneth Grahame. Edited by Peter Hunt. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.

Published as part of the Oxford World Classics Series, this new critical edition of Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows features a scholarly introduction by Peter Hunt in which he discusses the history of Grahame's classic novel. Hunt also provides numerous "explanatory notes" that function as annotations to Grahame's text. [End Page 460]

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