Details
Perhaps it is just something that comes with age or perhaps with reading the same stories over and over and over again to younger ears, but one starts to notice little things that grow to bother you. Be it unresolved subplots, inexplicable escapes or apparent glaring oversights. This is a book for anyone who has questioned the problem of Time in Tom’s Midnight Garden, the physics involved in stopping the train in The Railway Children, or just how old Great Aunt Maria Turner in Swallows and Amazons really was.
Rather than being a cynical inquisition of our best loved stories, this book answers to the childish curiosity that can grow within the enquiring adult mind. How Did Long John Silver Lose his Leg? is not Peter Rabbit on trial but an adventure through the looking-glass of literary trivia, history and criticism.
Rather than being a cynical inquisition of our best loved stories, this book answers to the childish curiosity that can grow within the enquiring adult mind. How Did Long John Silver Lose his Leg? is not Peter Rabbit on trial but an adventure through the looking-glass of literary trivia, history and criticism.
Table of Contents
1. Difficulties with Dates
Captain F. W. Marryat, The Children of the New Forest (1848) (DB)
2. I Suppose You Have Heard of the Tom Brown Question? Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's Schooldays (1857) (DB)
3. Was Ballantyne Really Bothered About Cocoa-Nuts?
R. M. Ballantyne, The Coral Island (1858) (DB)
4. How often Does Charles Dodgson Appear in the 'Alice' Books?
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1873) (PH)
5. What Did Mr March Do in the War Between the States?
Louisa M. Alcott, Little Women (1868) (DB)
6. How Long John Silver Lost his Leg and Acquired a Parrot
R. L. Stevenson, Treasure Island (1883) (DB)
7. The Moon, the French Chef and the Missionary: Textual Revisions by Rider Haggard
H. Rider Haggard, King Solomon's Mines (1885) and Allan Quatermain (1887) (DB)
8. How did Bevis Grow Ten Years in 58 days?
Richard Jefferies, Bevis (1888) (PH)
9. How Much Gold Was in Pevensey Castle?
Rudyard Kipling, Puck of Pook's Hill (1906), Rewards and Fairies (1908) (PH)
10. Would Bobbie's Train Have Stopped in Time?
E. Nesbit, The Railway Children (1906) (PH)
11. Did Isabel Archer Meet Mr Toad?
Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows (1908) (PH)
12. How Did Mary Get to Misslethwaite Manor?
Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden (1911) (PH)
13. Did Beatrix Potter Really Suffer from 'Flu?
The Tale of Mr Tod (1912) (DB)
14. Why Did Wilfred Owen Change 'The Little Mermaid'?
(1912) (DB)
15. How Many Adults Are There in Winnie-the-Pooh?
Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) and The House at Pooh Corner (1928) (PH)
16. The Strange Disappearance of Europe: Why Didn't Children's Books Notice the Approach of Two World Wars? (PH)
17. How Old was the Great Aunt?
Arthur Ransome, Swallowdale (1931), The Picts and the Martyrs (1943) (PH)
18. Did John Masefield ever Meet Hitler or Stalin?
The Box of Delights (1936) (DB)
19. How Well Did George Orwell Really Know Billy Bunter?
'Boys' Weeklies', Horizon, 1940
20. Some Questions of Authorship
A. L. O. E., Mrs Herbert Strang, Dynely James and others (DB)
21. Exactly How Big Was the Little House in the Big Woods?
Laura Ingalls Wilder, 'Little House' Series (1932-1971) (DB)
22. Did Jennings Ever Grow Up or Learn Anything?
Anthony Buckeridge, Jennings Goes to School (1950) (DB)
23. Skating on Thin Ice: the Problems of Time in Tom's Midnight Garden.
Philippa Pearce (1958) (DB)
24. Does Anyone Really Write for Children? Lewis Carroll, J. M. Barrie, Beatrix Potter, Kenneth Grahame, Arthur Ransome, Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl… (PH)
25. Did the Line Really Hold?
Alan Garner, The Stone Book Quartet (1976-8) (PH)
26. The Mayne Incident: Do Writers for Children Have to be Nicer than Other Writers?
William Mayne (PH)
27. Who is Killing Cock-Robin? The Mysterious Death of the Children's Book (PH)
Captain F. W. Marryat, The Children of the New Forest (1848) (DB)
2. I Suppose You Have Heard of the Tom Brown Question? Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's Schooldays (1857) (DB)
3. Was Ballantyne Really Bothered About Cocoa-Nuts?
R. M. Ballantyne, The Coral Island (1858) (DB)
4. How often Does Charles Dodgson Appear in the 'Alice' Books?
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1873) (PH)
5. What Did Mr March Do in the War Between the States?
Louisa M. Alcott, Little Women (1868) (DB)
6. How Long John Silver Lost his Leg and Acquired a Parrot
R. L. Stevenson, Treasure Island (1883) (DB)
7. The Moon, the French Chef and the Missionary: Textual Revisions by Rider Haggard
H. Rider Haggard, King Solomon's Mines (1885) and Allan Quatermain (1887) (DB)
8. How did Bevis Grow Ten Years in 58 days?
Richard Jefferies, Bevis (1888) (PH)
9. How Much Gold Was in Pevensey Castle?
Rudyard Kipling, Puck of Pook's Hill (1906), Rewards and Fairies (1908) (PH)
10. Would Bobbie's Train Have Stopped in Time?
E. Nesbit, The Railway Children (1906) (PH)
11. Did Isabel Archer Meet Mr Toad?
Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows (1908) (PH)
12. How Did Mary Get to Misslethwaite Manor?
Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden (1911) (PH)
13. Did Beatrix Potter Really Suffer from 'Flu?
The Tale of Mr Tod (1912) (DB)
14. Why Did Wilfred Owen Change 'The Little Mermaid'?
(1912) (DB)
15. How Many Adults Are There in Winnie-the-Pooh?
Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) and The House at Pooh Corner (1928) (PH)
16. The Strange Disappearance of Europe: Why Didn't Children's Books Notice the Approach of Two World Wars? (PH)
17. How Old was the Great Aunt?
Arthur Ransome, Swallowdale (1931), The Picts and the Martyrs (1943) (PH)
18. Did John Masefield ever Meet Hitler or Stalin?
The Box of Delights (1936) (DB)
19. How Well Did George Orwell Really Know Billy Bunter?
'Boys' Weeklies', Horizon, 1940
20. Some Questions of Authorship
A. L. O. E., Mrs Herbert Strang, Dynely James and others (DB)
21. Exactly How Big Was the Little House in the Big Woods?
Laura Ingalls Wilder, 'Little House' Series (1932-1971) (DB)
22. Did Jennings Ever Grow Up or Learn Anything?
Anthony Buckeridge, Jennings Goes to School (1950) (DB)
23. Skating on Thin Ice: the Problems of Time in Tom's Midnight Garden.
Philippa Pearce (1958) (DB)
24. Does Anyone Really Write for Children? Lewis Carroll, J. M. Barrie, Beatrix Potter, Kenneth Grahame, Arthur Ransome, Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl… (PH)
25. Did the Line Really Hold?
Alan Garner, The Stone Book Quartet (1976-8) (PH)
26. The Mayne Incident: Do Writers for Children Have to be Nicer than Other Writers?
William Mayne (PH)
27. Who is Killing Cock-Robin? The Mysterious Death of the Children's Book (PH)