New York Times Book Review (11 May 2008): "I, Chihuahua" [the Skippyjon Jones books]

Parents' Choice (Feb 2008) "Discovering Michael Sowa"

Parents' Choice (June 2008): "The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art"

Conversation about Pollyanna with Lianne Hansen, "Weekend Sunday," National Public Radio (Jan. 27, 2008); for audio file, click here.

 Feeling Like a Kid: Childhood and Children's Literature

(Johns Hopkins University Press, $19.95)  . . . $13.57 from Amazon.com: click here

Do you recall playing under tables when you were young? Why is it that adults no longer do that? This highly original book examines pleasures and sensations important during childhood and their reappearance as frequent themes in children’s literature. Surveying dozens of classic and popular works for the young (from Heidi to The Wizard of Oz, from Beatrix Potter to Harry Potter), Jerry Griswold argues that what makes great writers for children different from other kinds of writers--and what makes their work appealing to the young--is their ability to remember what it feels like to be a kid: playing under tables, shivering in bed on a scary night, arranging miniature worlds with toys, zooming around as caped superheroes, listening to dolls talk.  Lavishly illustrated, written in a lucid style by a prize-winning author and frequent contributor to the Los Angeles Times, this book will be fascinating to both the specialist and general reader who has an interest in childhood and children’s literature--as well as anyone else who ever was a child and wishes to thoughtfully revisit that time.

Kathy Alexander The Johns Hopkins University Press. 2715 N. Charles Street. Baltimore MD 21218 U.S. Phone: (410)-516-6939. Fax: (410)-516-6968. Email: ka@press.jhu.edu

"In this insightful and engaging work of original scholarship, Griswold . . . persuasively argues that "five themes recur in classic and popular works of children's literature." Using examples from classic children's books, he identifies these themes as snugness, scariness, smallness, lightness, and aliveness, and he goes on to demonstrate convincingly, in the same context, that "Children's literature provides a good place for the study of childhood." Though published for an academic readership, this slender work of synthesis is so lively and so engagingly written that it will appeal to and engage the imaginations of all readers who have even a passing interest in the literature of childhood. Indeed, Griswold's invocation of a quote from travel writer Jan Morris on Wales--'It's smallness is not petty; on the contrary, it is profound'--might well be applied to Griswold's own work."

"Feeling Like a Kid is written in the crisp, bright manner of a yet-to-be disillusioned graduate student happening upon an exciting new subject for the first time, combined with the sage irony and impeccable background of a full-fledged academic expert."

A delight both to read and to hold in one's hand, this is a splendid book with beautiful binding, end papers, paper, cover, and typeface, and 30 illustrations reproduced in lavish color . . .Summing Up: Essential. All adult lovers and students of children's literature."

"The other book, I am really loving this one, I read about somewhere and ordered from the US, is called "Feeling Like a Kid - Childhood and Children's Literature" and  its by Jerry Griswold, published by Johns Hopkins University Press. It's a beautiful little hardcover with lovely illustrations that talks about how the best children's lit works because of a writer's ability to remember their own childhoods and evoke that feeling of being a child" (February 15, 2007)

"Feeling Like a Kid: Childhood and Children's Literature" has to be one of the most important books I've read this year. It has given me brand new ways of looking at all of the texts I've been trying to figure out for the last year and a half. None of it is revolutionary in any way, which I feel is fitting. While it's intriguing to engage in complex critiques of children's texts, the idea overlaying things like Freudian analysis on Peter Pan or Alice in Wonderland leaves me feeling like the researcher has missed something vital about Being A Kid, as opposed to Studying One."--("One, Two, Three")

"One of the most beautifully produced books on children’s literature I have ever seen. . . . It is an aesthetic treasure in its own right. . . . Griswold writes felicitously, with an eye for a memorable, witty phrase. A book you must certainly see and probably want to own (you won’t want to put it down!). It certainly raises a number of provocative issues in a delightful way."

"This beautifully illustrated monograph focuses on Children's literature, . . . the ideal object for studying children's worldview as well as the best place for children to learn to grasp the world."

"Jerry Griswold's Feeling Like a Kid: Childhood and Children's Literature is a visually sumptuous book, stunningly appointed and lovely to behold, one that is well-designed for its intended reading audience: the general public. The unannounced goal of the book is to provide a thematic explanation of children's literature to nonspecialists, and the visual appeal of this volume will play no small role with the success the book will undoubtedly have with that audience. . . . The book's greatest strength may well be that it has the potential to reach a far vaster circle than the academic readership of this journal. I applaud any effort that communicates information about the sophistication of our field to general audiences. Griswold's scope is a grand one, and he brings considerable talent to bear on his survey that is at once sweeping and succinct."

"A kid-sized volume discussing children's literature through the lens of 5 recurring themes: snugness, scariness, slimness, lightness, and aliveness. . . quite insightful in its development - he has the teacher's way of starting with the obvious and moving you seamlessly along to the original-thought bits. The illustrations are of the highest quality."