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Enchanted Hunters: The Power Of Stories In Childhood (2009)

by Maria Tatar(Favorite Author)

3.75 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0393066010 (ISBN13: 9780393066012)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

W. W. Norton & Company

review 1: This author teaches folklore and children's literature at Harvard and some of her other books include annotated versions of classic fairy tales, so this is a rather scholarly look at some aspects of children's literature. She begins by connecting stories for children to storytelling for the whole family around the hearth at night. The kids were not off in a bedroom, but right there at their parents' elbows as the adults passed dark winter evenings listening to stories while doing dull chores. Those stories were not meant to make someone sleepy, but rather to grab the attention of the listener. She moves on to the transition from storytelling to print books for children. She contrasts the long, often scary stories told at the hearth to the "five minute bedtime stories" of t... moreoday. Another chapter speaks of the way in which words can create a world and take the reader on a journey "without moving an inch". Some of the books she highlights are "The Cat in the Hat", "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", "The Wizard of Oz", "The Secret Garden" and "Peter Pan". One of the best parts of the book for me was the appendix in which she quotes writers on their memories of reading as a child and their subsequent love affair with books.
review 2: A certain book from my childhood left me with memories I will never forget. It was a moment in childhood when my imagination must have been at its peak, the tale was more alive and real than any story I’ve come across since. In remembrance of the story and the influence it had on me I set out to explore children’s literature. This book achieves in explaining the culture of children’s literature, the charm and lure of bedtime stories, why from a child’s point of view the world makes more sense upside down and most importantly how these other worlds we enter at an early age can quite possibly change our lives forever. One highlight of the book was a collection of short paragraphs by an array of writers describing the influence books had on them as children. less

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