Author Description

Left Out Presents An Alternative And Corrective History Of Writing For Children In The First Half Of The Twentieth Century. Between 1910 And 1949 A Number Of British Publishers, Writers, And Illustrators Included Children's Literature In Their Efforts To Make Britain A Progressive, Egalitarian, And Modern Society. Some Came From Privileged Backgrounds, Others From The Poorest Parts Of The Poorest Cities In The Land; Some Belonged To The Metropolitan Intelligentsia Or Bohemia, Others Were Working-class Autodidacts, But All Sought To Use Writing For Children And Young People To Create Activists, Visionaries, And Leaders Among The Rising Generation.together They Produced A Significant Number Of Both Politically And Aesthetically Radical Publications For Children And Young People. This 'radical Children's Literature' Was Designed To Ignite And Underpin The Work Of Making A New Britain For A New Kind Of Briton. While There Are Many Dedicated Studies Of Children's Literature And Childrens' Writers Working In Other Periods, The Years 1910-1949 Have Previous Received Little Critical Attention. In This Study, Kimberley Reynolds Shows That The Accepted Characterisation Of Inter-war Children's Literature As Retreatist, Anti-modernist, And Apolitical Is Too Sweeping And That The Relationship Between Children's Literature And Modernism, Left-wing Politics, And Progressive Education Has Been Neglected.