Storytime

Jane Sullivan has selected a list of her favourite children’s books that she enjoyed as a child. These books include: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll, Winnie the Pooh by A A Milne, The Castle of Adventure by Enid Blyton, Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson, The Silent Three by Horace Boyton and Stewart Pride, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham, The Enchanted Castle by E Nesbit, The Magic Pudding by Norman Lindsay, The Warden’s Niece by Gillian Avery, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C S Lewis, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner plus stories from The Myths of Greece and Rome by H A Guerber and The Great Tales of the Supernatural edited by Phyllis Cerf Wagner and Herbert Wise.

In each chapter the author recalls her memory of the book as a child and then, after rereading a copy of the book, provides her view of the story today analysing why the book appealed to her as a child and why the book still appeals or does not appeal to her now. She also provides information about each book’s author. Included in each chapter is a short piece, usually half a page, providing an Australian author’s view of a favourite children’s book (or books). The effect of the illustrations in a book in conveying the story is also discussed.

In the first and last chapters the author discusses her introduction to reading books plus the hypotheses for the young Jane enjoying children’s books that she constructed before taking on this project. She later makes a revised list in this book about the experience and joy of reading. In Storytime the reader is invited to take a step back in time to revisit their experience of reading in childhood which may have impacted on their reading choices today.

See also Why you should read children's books ... by Katherine Rundell.