Don't Tell the Grown-Ups: The Subversive Power of Children's Literature

Don't Tell the Grown-Ups: The Subversive Power of Children's Literature

by Alison Lurie
Don't Tell the Grown-Ups: The Subversive Power of Children's Literature

Don't Tell the Grown-Ups: The Subversive Power of Children's Literature

by Alison Lurie

Paperback(Reprint)

$19.99 
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Overview

In sixteen spirited essays, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Alison Lurie, who is also one of our wittiest and most astute cultural commentators, explores the world of children's literature—from Lewis Carroll to Dr. Seuss, Mark Twain to Beatrix Potter—and shows that the best-loved children's books tend to challenge rather than uphold respectable adult values.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780316246255
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Publication date: 07/20/1998
Edition description: Reprint
Pages: 256
Product dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Hometown:

Ithaca, New York; London, England; Key West, Florida

Date of Birth:

September 3, 1926

Place of Birth:

Chicago, Illinois

Education:

A.B., Radcliffe College, 1947

Read an Excerpt

From Don't Tell the Grown-Ups by Alison Lurie: Should books for children be morally improving?

Consider, for example, a classic work beloved by generations of young readers, Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer:

Tom lies, steals, swears, smokes tobacco, plays hooky, and wins a Sunday school prize by fraud. He sneaks out of his house at night and runs away for days, driving his aunt Polly almost to despair. He ends up with a small fortune in gold, the admiration of the whole town, and the love of Becky Thatcher -- while his goody-goody brother Sid is last seen being literally kicked and cuffed out the door.

What People are Saying About This

Rosellen Brown

[A] thoroughly absorbing collection . . .by an unillusioned and cheerfully clearheaded guide. -- The New York Times Book Review

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