L.H. Johnson's Blog, page 31

Anna At War by Helen Peters

"I only get picky like this when the book is good."

Warrior women and children’s books

A couple of years ago, I attended a conference. As is usual, there was a bookshop there. As is perhaps less usual, there was a remarkable author there. She was – is – elderly. Tiny. Legendary. She arrived at lunch; word ran around the tables that she was here, that she had arrived. Arrived. I […]

Thank you Judith Kerr

Judith Kerr has passed away, and I am a little bit verklempt, so this shall be brief. We celebrate good books here, good stories told by good people, and Kerr was one of the best. She will always be so. This is a candle into the night and it is for her. I light it […]

Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, a modern retelling of Little Women by Rey Terciero and Bre Indigo

Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy: A Graphic Novel: A Modern Retelling of Little Women by Rey Terciero My rating: 5 of 5 stars I loved this. So much. Little Women is one of those iconic texts and retellings of iconic texts can be challenging things. Do you stick with the iconic or do you go […]

The Vicarage Children In Skye by Lorna Hill

The Vicarage Children in Skye by Lorna Hill My rating: 4 of 5 stars I’d like you to imagine a very suppressed scream. That’s the noise I made when spotting this in my library’s book-sale. Now, a library must always have a book-sale because they are not ginormous buildings with elastic sides, and books must […]

Meekoo and the Big Red Potty by Camilla Reid and Nicola Slater

Meekoo and the Big Red Potty by Camilla Reid My rating: 5 of 5 stars God, I love what Nosy Crow do with their early years stuff. It’s not just the fact that they include an on/off switch for the sound effects (actual, unutterable genius), but it’s the fact that they take it so seriously. […]

Three Sisters of Haworth : Girl Annual 5

This is GIRL. It was launched in 1951 as a sister title to EAGLE, and I have a lot of love for it. Comics of this period are endlessly fascinating in how they look outward; the world was there for the taking, and this was a generation that both would – and could – take […]

A Space To Be Herself : Locating Girlhood In Children’s Literature

Originally posted on Big boots and adventures :
If I believe in anything, I believe in making my research publicly accessible when and where I can. Obviously I believe in a lot of things, but I think that’s the one that underpins everything. Share your work. It’s terrifying, but I think, vital. So, on that note,…

The World of Elsie Jeanette Oxenham and her Books by Monica Godfrey

The World of Elsie Jeanette Oxenham and Her Books by Monica Godfrey My rating: 2 of 5 stars This isn’t a subtle biography by any means. It’s written from a very particular standpoint; one that I do accept, occasionally understand, but can’t ever describe as high literature. Godfrey is a fan, this is a fannish […]

The Abbey Girls In Town by Elsie J. Oxenham

The Abbey Girls in Town by Elsie J. Oxenham My rating: 4 of 5 stars Once you do an Abbey reread, you can’t stop. Though I was much more intrigued by the middle-aged spy drama happening in the background of this cover, and disappointed that it did not appear in the actual text itself, this […]