Collected Stories for Children
Cover of 1957 Faber edition
|
|
| Author | Walter de la Mare |
|---|---|
| Illustrator |
|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's fantasy short stories, fairy tales |
| Publisher | Faber and Faber |
|
Publication date
|
1947 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 437 pp (first edition) |
| OCLC | 53052613 |
| LC Class | PZ7.D3724 Co |
Collected Stories for Children is a collection of 17 fantasy stories or original fairy tales by Walter de la Mare, first published by Faber in 1947 with illustrations by Irene Hawkins. De la Mare won the annual Carnegie Medal recognising the year's best children's book by a British subject. It was the first collection to win the award and the first time that previously published material had been considered.
The collection comprises 17 stories.
Irene Hawkins was the original illustrator. She had illustrated several of the author's early collections and Muriel M. Green said in 1948 review of Collected Stories, "Mr de la Mare is especially fortunate in having found, in Irene Hawkins, an illustrator who can interpret his work so perfectly, and this volume is enhanced by her charming illustrations." For the 1957 edition new illustrations were commissioned from Robin Jacques, a highly regarded illustrator of fairy-tales. Marcus Crouch considers these line-drawings among Jacques' best work, artistically emphasising the homeliness of de la Mare's world.
In the decade after the First World War some of the best work for children was in poetry, fantasy and poetic fantasy, and there was a spate of original stories in the folk-tale manner. Walter de la Mare, primarily a poet, published several short books of such stories for children in the 1920s and 1930s, and the best of his tales were brought together in his Collected Stories for Children. The stories range over a variety of subjects, but all have the touch of tender, dream-like melancholy which is the hallmark of the author's work in general.
Roger Lancelyn Green described Walter de la Mare's stories as having a strong but very particular appeal: "These strange, homely tales of wonder captivate a limited audience – and are frequently foisted on children by adults who have fallen under their very real spell. It is a spell, however, and one of selective magic, catching some readers away into the true lands of enchantment, and boring others to distraction."
The award of the Carnegie Medal was unexpected, as none of the stories were new, but the collection was considered to give an opportunity for assessing and acknowledging "the achievement of the most gifted writer of the century who had dedicated his finest powers to delighting children".
...
Wikipedia