Why Was Billy Bunter Never Really Expelled?: and another Twenty-Five Mysteries of Children's Literature

by Dennis Butts, Peter Hunt

Overview

After the success of How Did Long John Silver Lose His Leg?, Dennis Butts and Peter Hunt take their forensic lenses to more mysteries that have troubled readers of children's books over the centuries. Their questions range from the historical to the philosophical, some of which are puzzling, some of which are controversial: Why does it seem there are no Nursery Rhymes before 1744? Why did God start to die in children's books long before Nietzsche noticed it? Why are the schoolgirls at Enid Blyton's St Clare's so horrible? Why are there so many dead parents littering children's books? Why does C.S. Lewis annoy so many people? Why Was Billy Bunter Never Really Expelled? also reveals how an elephant captures Adolph Hitler, who was Biggles's great love, and whose side G.A. Henty was on in the American Civil War, and delivers a plethora of erudite, entertaining answers to questions that you may not have thought of asking. And notably, of course, it explains why William George Bunter, the Fat Owl of the Remove, was never permanently removed from Greyfriars School.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780718895440
Publisher:	The Lutterworth Press
Publication date:	09/28/2019
Pages:	180
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Dennis Butts taught children's literature at Reading University and is a former Chairman of the Children's Books History Society. He has written widely about children's books, including From the Dairyman's Daughter to Worrals of the WAAF (Lutterworth Press, 2006) and How Did Long John Silver Lose His Leg? (Lutterworth Press, 2013). Peter Hunt was the first Professor of Children's Literature in a British university (Cardiff), has produced nearly forty books on the subject, and has lectured on it at well over 100 universities in twenty-two countries. His most recent books are The Making of The Wind in the Willows (The Bodleian Library, 2018) and The Fabulous Journeys of Alice and Pinocchio with Laura Tosi (Mc Farland, 2018).

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Introduction xi

1 Should Children Read Fairy Tales? Dennis Butts 1

2 What Makes a Children's Classic? Peter Hunt 6

3 Why Were there no Nursery Rhymes before 1744? Tom Thumb's Pretty Song Book, Vol. II Dennis Butts 12

4 Who Wrote Little Goody Two-Shoes? Little Goody Two-Shoes (1765) Dennis Butts 18

5 What (and Where) Are the Secret, Lost Books of Childhood - and Why Do They Matter? Peter Hunt 23

6 The Curious History of Three Bears … and a Lamb 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears' and 'Mary had a Little Lamb' Dennis Butts 31

7 Charles Kingsley: Christian Socialist, Evangelical Storyteller, or Sexual Sadist? The Water-Babies (1863) Dennis Butts 35

8 Who Was the Real William Brighty Rands? Lilliput Levee (1864) Dennis Butts 40

9 Why Are there so many Dead Parents in Children's Books? Peter Hunt 46

10 Was Lorna Doone really Married? R.D. Blackmore, Lorna Doone (1869) Dennis Butts 52

11 Whatever Happened to God in Children's Books? From The History of the Fairchild Family to Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone Peter Hunt 56

12 Whose Side Was Henty really on in the American Civil War? G.A. Henty, With Lee in Virginia: A Story of the American Civil War (1895) Dennis Butts 63

13 What Do Children's Books Do about Christmas? Peter Hunt 68

14 Is Little Lord Fauntleroy a Children's Story - and Does the Subplot Work? Frances Hodgson Burnett, Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886) Dennis Butts 74

15 Why Was Billy Bunter never really Expelled from Greyfriars School? The Magnet (1908-40) Dennis Butts 79

16 Why on Earth Are there Children's Books about War? Peter Hunt 84

17 Biggies: Tough Guy or Romantic Hero? W.E. Johns, The Camels Are Coming (1932), Biggies Buries a Hatchet (1958), and Biggies Looks Back (1965) Dennis Butts 91

18 Why Is there Nobody Nice at St Clare's? Enid Blyton, The O'Sullivan Twins (1947) Peter Hunt 94

19 Were there Two Flutes? Time Present and Time Past at Green Knowe L.M. Boston, The Children of Green Knowe (1954) Dennis Butts 101

20 Why Does C.S. Lewis Annoy so many People? The Chronicles of Narnia (1950-6) Peter Hunt 106

21 What Happened Next? The Problem of Sequels Dennis Butts 114

22 To See Ourselves … What Image of the British Do Children's Books Give the World? Peter Hunt 120

23 Why Is there no such Thing as Children's Poetry? Ted Hughes and Michael Rosen Peter Hunt 128

24 Which Are the Best 100 Children's Books? Dennis Butts 135

25 And Which Is the Best? The Carnegie Medal and other Awards Peter Hunt 140

26 A Mystery Solved: How Adults Read Children's Books Peter Hunt 146

Notes 157

Index 163

Editorial Reviews

"Once again Dennis and Peter take us on an often unexpected but entertaining journey through the world of children's authors, books, stories, and rhymes that we all know and love, but with their unique line of questioning and analysis. This long-awaited sequel is an essential gem of a publication for anyone with an interest in children's literature or who, like me, had a bookish childhood."Nigel Gossop, founder of The Westerman Yarns There is much to enjoy in this varied and stimulating little book, much to ponder, and much to argue about.-Robert Kirkpatrick,Childrens books History Society, Newsletter N1235 December2019This Book is a provocative and fun way to think about children's books: Dennis Butts and Peter Hunt's new book, "Why Was Billy Bunter Never Really Expelled" Published by #lutterworthbooks-@Michael Rosen Yes Michael Rosen Twitter Butts and Hunt provide succint and entertaining responses to a series of questions related to children's literature.Mark I. West, Children's Literature Association, pp80-81, 2020

From the Publisher