Books with author Roderick McGillis

Practical criticism of three "classic" or soon-to-be-classic children's books - Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, E. B. White's Charlotte's Web, and Chris Van Allsburgh's The Mysteries of Harris Burdick - provides the substance of the Nimble Reader. McGillis employs these texts as well as others to explain the basic tenets and processes of criticism and to discuss criticism's usefulness in enhancing our understanding of children's literature. He skillfully balances theoretical discussions of various types of criticism - archetypal, psycho-analytical, political, structuralist, poststructuralist, reader response, and the New Criticism - with practical analysis of his primary texts and other works.With his engaging choice of texts, emphasis on practical criticism, and inclusion of bibliographies of both children's literature and works on literary theory and criticism, McGillis has succeeded in producing a dual-purpose volume: The Nimble Reader not only demonstrates a new approach to children's literature as a serious object of study but also represents one of the clearest presentations of literary theory published to date.

George MacDonald (1824-1905) is one of the great Victorians, friend to John Ruskin, Lewis Carroll, and Arthur Hughes, among others. He wrote in virtually all the genres--fiction, drama, sermons, poetry, criticism, fantasy--but is perhaps best remembered as one of the greatest and most enduringly influential of the Victorian writers for children. Sixteen essays--five reprints and eleven original--analyze MacDonald's work for children. All the full-length fantasies--At the Back of the North Wind, The Princess and the Goblin, The Princess and Curdie, The Lost Princess--and the major short pieces--"The Light Princess," "The Golden Key," "Cross Purposes," "The Giant's Heart" receive extended commentary.Contributors: Celia Anderson, Melba Battin, A. Waller Hastings, Cynthia Marshall, Rod McGillis, Michael Mendelson, Nancy-Lou Patterson, Stephen Prickett, William Raeper, Frank Riga, Cordelia Sherman, Joseph Sigman, Lesley Smith, and Nancy Willard.