Children's Fiction 1900–1950

John Cooper

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781138338067
• eBook ISBN: 9780429807534
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

First published in 1998, this volume explores how the genre of school stories had become firmly established by the turn of the twentieth century, having been built on the foundations laid by writers such as Thomas Hughes and F.W. Farrar. Stories for girls were also taking on a more exciting complexion, inspired by the 'Katy' books of Susan Coolidge.

The first five decades of the twentieth century saw further developments in children's fiction. In this comprehensive volume, John and Jonathan Cooper examine each decade in turn, with alphabetically arranged entries on popular children's writers that published works in English during that period. 206 different authors are covered, many from the United States and Canada. Each entry provides information on the author's pseudonyms, date of birth, nationality, titles of works, place and date of publication and the publisher's name. The artist responsible for a book's illustrations is also identified where possible.

With over 200 illustrations of cover designs and dustwrappers, many of which are now rare and have never before been published, this book will delight collectors, dealers, scholars, librarians, parents and all those who simply enjoy reading children's fiction.

1940–1950

AUTHORS INCLUDED FROM 1940 TO 1950

Ruth Ainsworth

C.W. Anderson

Edward Ardizzone

Richard Armstrong

Ruth Arthur

M.E. Atkinson

Harold Avery

The Rev. W. Awdry

‘BB’

Margaret J. Baker

Cicely Mary Barker

S.G. Hulme Beaman

Alfred Bestall

Val Biro

Enid Blyton/Mary Pollock

Helen Dore Boylston

Christianna Brand

Angela Brazil

Elinor M. Brent-Dyer/ E.M. Brent-Dyer

Capt. F.S. Brereton/ Lt. Col. F.S. Brereton/Lt. Col. F.S. Brereton, CBE

Molly Brett

Joyce Lankester Brisley

Dorita Fairlie Bruce

Anthony Buckeridge

Virginia Lee Burton

Arthur Catherall/A.R. Channel

Christine Chaundler

Joseph E. Chipperfield

Catherine Christian/Catherine Mary Christian

Richard Church

Mavis Thorpe Clark

Beverly Cleary

Dorothy Clewes

Elizabeth Coatsworth

Padraic Colum

Mrs H. C. Cradock

Richmal Crompton

Primrose Cumming

Roald Dahl

Maureen Daly

Peter Dawlish/Lennox Kerr

C. Day Lewis

Marguerite de Angeli

Jean de Brunhoff

Olive Dehn

Meindert De Jong

Elizabeth Borton de Trevino

V.H. Drummond

William Pêne du Bois

Monica Edwards

Elizabeth Enright

Walter Farley

Kathleen Fidler

Charles J. Finger

Dorothy Canfield Fisher/Dorothy Canfield

Marjorie Flack

Esther Forbes

Antonia Forest

Roy Fuller

Rose Fyleman

Wanda Gag

Eve Garnett

Doris Gates

Charles Gilson/C.L. Gilson/Captain Charles Gilson/Major Charles Gilson

Rumer Godden

Elizabeth Goudge

Eleanor Graham

Kenneth Grahame

Hardie Gramatky

Graham Greene

Roderick Haig-Brown/R.L. Haig-Brown

Kathleen Hale

Cynthia Harnett

Mary K. Harris

Robert A. Heinlein

Racey Helps

Marguerite Henry

Constance Heward

Lorna Hill

C. Walter Hodges

Edith Howes

Richard Hughes

Katharine Hull & Pamela Whitlock

Tove Jansson

W.E Johns/William Earle/Captain W.E. Johns

Erich Kästner

James W. Kenyon

Eric Knight

Frank Knight

Elizabeth Kyle

Robert Lawson

Munro Leaf/John Calvert/Mun

C.S. Lewis

Elizabeth Foreman Lewis

Eric Linklater

Hugh Lofting

Patricia Lynch

Robert McCloskey

Angus Mac Vicar

Ruth Manning-Sanders

Bessie Marchant

Stephen W. Meader

Florence Crannell Means

Cornelia Meigs/Adair Aldon

Annette Mills

Naomi Mitchison

Rutherford Montgomery/Al Avery/Everitt Proctor

Ursula Moray Williams

Bill Naughton

Violet Needham

Mary Norton

Mary O’Hara

Elsie J. Oxenham/Elsie Oxenham/Elsie Jeanette Oxenham

M. Pardoe

Richard Parker

Mervyn Peake

Beatrix Potter/Beatrix Heelis

Rhoda Power

Evadne Price

Willard Price

Christine Pullein-Thompson

Diana Pullein-Thompson

Josephine Pullein-Thompson

Virginia Pye

Gwynedd Rae

Arthur Ransome

Frank Richards/Hilda Richards/Martin Clifford

Charles G.D. Roberts

Diana Ross

Philip Rush

Malcolm Saville

Ruth Sawyer

Ian Serraillier

David Severn

Helen Sewell

C. Fox Smith

Caroline Dale Snedeker

Phil Stong

Noel Streatfeild

L.A.G Strong

Donald Suddaby/Alan Griff

Ethel Talbot

Barbara Euphan Todd/Euphan

H.E. Todd

J.R.R. Tolkien

Mary Tourtel

Katharine Tozer

P.L. Travers

Geoffrey Trease

Alison Uttley

Elfrida Vipont/Charles Vipont

Percy F. Westerman/P.F. Westerman/P. Westerman

E.B. White

T.H. White

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Henry Williamson

May Wynne

Ruth Ainsworth (b. 1908). British.

Richard’s First Term, illustrated by Winifred M. Ackroyd. London, Epworth Press, 1940.

Five and a Dog, illustrated by Winifred M. Ackroyd and Peggy Rushton. London, Epworth Press, 1949.

C(larence) W(illiam) Anderson

(1891–1971). American.

Illustrated by the author.

Salute. New York, Macmillan, 1940.

High Courage. New York, Macmillan, 1941.

Bobcat. New York, Macmillan, 1949.

Blaze Finds the Trail. New York, Macmillan, 1950.

Edward Ardizzone (1900–79). British.

The first edition of Edward Ardizzone’s Nicholas and the Fast Moving Diesel (1947) is a large-sized book. It is dedicated ‘To Nicholas from his father’. The dust-wrapper design in Edward Ardizzone’s distinctive style, is of Nicholas and his dog Jock stopping the diesel express to prevent it crashing into another train.

Nicholas jumped out of the cab, ran to the end of the train, stood between the lines, pulled off his red coat and waved and waved while Jock stood beside him and barked as loudly as he could.

The diesel came rushing towards them ...

Tim to the Rescue (1949) continues the nautical adventures of Ardizzone’s young hero who first appeared in 1936 but was issued in a slightly smaller format. Tim is presented on the wrapper, clinging to the rigging of a boat in the teeth of as howling a gale as ever swept the Atlantic. He looked around: ‘there was no boat, no Ginger, and no cat.’

Ilustrated by the author.

Nicholas and the Fast-Moving Diesel. London, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1947; New York, Walck, 1959.

Paul, The Hero of the Fire. London, Penguin, 1948; Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1949; revised edition, London, Constable, 1962; New York, Walck, 1963.

Tim to the Rescue. London and New York, Oxford University Press, 1949.

Richard Armstrong (1903–86). British.

It was his own great experience in engineering and the Merchant Navy that provided Richard Armstrong with the material for his rousing stories. Armstrong’s view of life in the factory and at sea is in no way touched by romanticism. His young heroes require real grit, skill and good fortune to survive. Sometimes, and this is truly rare in children’s fiction, they are lacking in luck, and perish. The Mystery of Obadiah (1943) is his earliest work, and less harrowing than later adventures, but it does contain the recurrent theme of the real danger overtly inquisitive little boys can place themselves in. Marjorie Sankey’s wrapper has Mathias Stringer, Norman Robson and Dick Musgrove hiding behind a bush in the Northumbrian fells. They watch the mysterious Obadiah, whom they suspect is a burglar, make his way up the hill.

The Mystery of Obadiah, illustrated by Marjorie Sankey. London, Dent, 1943.

Sabotage at the Forge, illustrated by L.P. Lupton. London, Dent, 1946.

Sea Change, illustrated by M. Leszczynski. London, Dent, 1948.

Ruth Arthur (1905–79). British.

The Crooked Brownie at the Seaside, illustrated by R.M. Turvey. London, Harrap, 1942.

Cowslip Mollie, illustrated by Helen Haywood. London, Hutchinson, 1949.

M(ary) E(velyn) Atkinson (1899–1974). British.

Going Gangster, illustrated by Harold Jones. London, Lane, 1940.

Crusoe Island, illustrated by Harold Jones. London, Lane, 1941.

Challenge to Adventure, illustrated by Stuart Tresilian. London, Lane, 1942.

The Monster of Widgeon Weir, illustrated by Stuart Tresilian. London, Lane, 1943.

The Nest of the Scarecrow, illustrated by Stuart Tresilian. London, Lane, 1944.

Problem Party, illustrated by Stuart Tresilian. London, Lane, 1945.

Chimney Cottage, illustrated by Dorothy Craigie. London, Lane, 1947.

The House on the Moor, illustrated by Charlotte Hough. London, Lane, 1948.

The Thirteenth Adventure...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Dedication
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1900–1909
• 1910–1919
• 1920–1929
• 1930–1939
• 1940–1950