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LONG AGO WHEN I WAS YOUNG

Name: LONG AGO WHEN I WAS YOUNG
Author: E. Nesbit
ISBN: 0356080544

by E. Nesbit ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1966

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Of particular interest to specialists in children's literature, this book, which is not without interest, really, hasn't much hope of gaining an audience beyond that small market. Its twelve chapters were first published serially as "My School Days" in The Girls' Own magazine. They are the recollections of an early Victorian childhood by the author of such eternal juvenile favorites as The Bastables and The Treasure Seekers. Uninhibited by the post-Freudian fears which cripple so many of today's would-be autobiographers, E. Nesbit reached back and shared the major personal traumas and minor universal miseries of a childhood tried by the schooling then in vogue and by her own thermodynamic imagination. That she was a close observer of herself and her own reactions, that she hung onto the feel of being a child better than most, and that she used her memories in writing for children will be obvious to those who know her work well. Neither bitter nor sentimental, her own memories illuminate her early years better than Anthea Bell's Walck monograph, the most recent of the studies of Nesbit.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1966

ISBN: 0356080544

Page Count: 127

Publisher: Franklin Watts

Review Posted Online: May 3, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1966

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
LIONEL AND THE BOOK OF BEASTS
by E. Nesbit & illustrated by Michael Hague

- BOOK REVIEW
THE ENCHANTED CASTLE
by E. Nesbit & illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky

- BOOK REVIEW
MELISANDE
by E. Nesbit & illustrated by P.J. Lynch

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.