Every librarian has a literary
bucket list: places they wish to visit because they are connected to a favorite
book or author. My list is nowhere near
complete, though I did manage to make headway this past summer. British children’s literature has a special
significance for me; they are the pioneering classics that serve as touchstones
for the genre as a whole today. I was fortunate to spend two weeks examining
the origins of the stories so many of us have grown to love. The experience was a balance of structured
didactic and self-directed exploration.
The first week was spent as a
participant of the Oxford Teacher Seminar, in a course entitled “Literature and
the Fantastic.” It was an analysis of
the forefathers of fantasy fiction--Lewis Carroll, C. S. Lewis, and J. R. R.
Tolkien, as well as two of their modern successors, Philip Pullman and J. K.
Rowling. The course itself was
relatively rigorous and informative, but the in vivo experience of walking down
the streets and through the halls that these authors used to weave their
stories added a new dimension to understanding their novels. Indeed, to see the landmarks that figured
imaginatively into their tales gave historical and contextually creative
meaning to their works. The second week was spent in London experiencing
various aspects of the cultural birthplace of notables such as J. M. Barrie,
Michael Bond and Beatrix Potter, as well as sampling icons of British history
relevant in children’s literature.
Upon applying and being approved
for a travel grant to undertake this study I quickly realized that, while I
have read all of these stories, I was little prepared to optimize the
opportunity before me. In preparation I
reread the titles I had not read in a long time including Alice In Wonderland and Through
The Looking Glass, the Chronicles of
Narnia, both Lord of the Rings
and His Dark Materials trilogies, selected
titles from J. K. Rowling, Roald Dahl and Beatrix Potter. I was fortunate to find Mark J. West’s book A Children’s Literature Tour of Great
Britain, which helped me to establish realistic goals for my two weeks from
what could be an exhaustive exploration if one had unlimited time. Another
serendipitous finding was Charlie Lovett’s NY
Times article "Finding Alice's Wonderland in Oxford," which essentially
provided me with a step-by-step guide for the Lewis Carroll portion of my
trip. Finally, in my prep work I
discovered the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre. This was an invaluable resource for locating information
about Dahl’s life as well as his writing process, which prepared me for my day
trip to the author’s hometown, Great Missenden. I left the museum with a treasure trove of
ideas to share with my students for celebrating Dahl’s centennial anniversary.
Even though my luggage has long
been unpacked, I continue my self-study of British children’s literature, by exploring
women writers of fantasy, particularly E. Nesbit and Philippa Pearce. My
long-term goal is to be able to add to my reader’s advisory repertoire of authors
of different ethnicities and cultures dedicated to writing fantasy for children. On a more personal note, I continue to
indulge my childhood love for Dahl, the author that inspired my literary bucket
list, as I read the latest biography,
Love From Boy: Roald Dahl’s Letters to His Mother.
Angela Perna
Librarian, St. Hilda's & St. Hugh's
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