A Sounding of Storytellers

by John Rowe Townsend

Biographical information, bibliographies, and critical examinations are presented for fourteen American, British, and Australian writers including Nina Bawden, Peter Dickinson, Penelope Lively, and Bill Cleaver

218 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

John Rowe Townsend (born 1922) is a British children's author and academic. His best-known children's novel is The Intruder, which won a 1971 Edgar Award, and his best-known academic work is Written for Children: An Outline of English Language Children's Literature (1965), the definitive work of its time on the subject.

He was born in Leeds, and studied at Leeds Grammar School and Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Among his popular works are Gumble's Yard (his debut novel, published in 1961), Widdershins Crescent (1965), and The Intruder (1969), which won a 1971 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Juvenile Mystery. In Britain, The Intruder was made into a children's TV series starring Milton Johns as the stranger. Noah's Castle was filmed by Southern television and transmitted in seven 25-minute episodes in 1980.

Reviews

[Gordon MacLellan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a 'mid-read" set of thoughts rather than a formal review
I am finding this book fascinating...this 1977 edition is, I understand, an update of an earlier edition which might be a reason for the absence of authors I would love to read about. Townsend's essays on the authors make for a very interetsing reading: a critical but understanding eye being cast over the work of individual authors....lots to be intrigued by and possibly to disagree with!

I would have liked to see Rosemary Sutcliffe in here and Ursula le Guin. His take on Enid Blyton would be interesting and maybe prolific children's writers like Malcolm Saville and Phlippa pearce would have been rewarding subjects.....can't have everything,I suppose!