appropriate reading for children, which appeared in his periodical Fors Claviger (1871–
1884) and elsewhere, were particularly influential (Thwaite 1963:226).
The first systematic reviews of children’s books are in Mrs Sarah Trimmer’s magazine
The Guardian of Education (1802–1806), in which she hoped ‘to counteract the
pernicious influence of immoral books’ such as Robinson Crusoe and Perrault’s tales
(Thwaite 1963:102–103; Darton 1932/1982:96–97). Although Mrs Gatty in her
introduction to the first issue of Aunt Judy’s Magazine (1866– 1873) said it was
‘intended for the use and amusement of children’ (Haviland 1974: 19), it is clear from its
contents that it included adults in its audience, and Mrs Gatty’s book reviews of
children’s books were intended for the whole family. Under Charlotte Yonge’s editorship
(1851–1893), The Monthly Packet, an Anglican magazine for girls, also gave advice on
choosing books (Haviland 1974: 20).
As in Britain, reviews of children’s books appeared in literary periodicals in the USA in
the nineteenth century. In New York, The Literary World: A Gazette for Authors, Readers
and Publishers (1847–1853) includes juveniles in its ‘Recent publications’, and early
issues contain reviews with extensive quotations of works by authors like Jane Taylor
and Isaac Watts. (Detailed information on the period from 1865–1881 is available in
Richard Darling’s book on children’s book reviewing in literary, scholarly, religious,
pedagogical, children’s, and book trade periodicals (Darling 1968).) Horace E. Scudder’s
Riverside Magazine for Young People (1867–1870) published reviews and critical articles,
as well as a column, ‘Books for young people’, ‘a series of informal notes, intended for
children’s elders’ (Haviland 1974:21). Scudder’s interest in literature for children
continued when he became editor of the Atlantic Monthly, which under his editorship
also published articles about children’s books. Journals with an extensive circulation
like The Nation, The New Statesman, Scribner’s Monthly, and The Catholic World, also
reviewed children’s books (see Pellowski 1968:401–484).
Although lists of the best books, sometimes accompanied by discussion of selected
titles and the general state of children’s literature and publishing, had appeared in
publications for children such as St.Nicholas, The Academy, and for adults, such as the
Book Buyer, Bookman, Dial, Education, Independent, Littell’s Living Age, North American
Review, Spectator, and Woman’s Home Companion, 1882 is the first year in the USA
when material on the reviewing of children’s books was routinely gathered in one place.
In that year Carolyn M.Hewins put out her first book list in Publisher’s Weekly. ‘Books
for the young: a guide for parents and children’ (Haviland 1974:30; Darling 1968:11).
Since that time Publisher’s Weekly has continued to publish one-paragraph reviews of
about five to fifteen children’s books, most of them fiction, in every issue. It is most
useful for its articles about authors (usually based on an interview) and about national
and international children’s book publishing; it publishes special children’s books
issued twice a year. H.W.Wilson published in 1909, as a supplement to its regular
catalogue, The Children’s Catalogue, still extant today. Other useful book trade
publications are CBC Features, Kirkus Reviews, and A.B.Bookman’s Weekly. CBC
Features, put out by the Children’s Book Council in New York, contains about four
articles, often by well-known children’s authors. Kirkus Reviews, a prepublication
service widely used by bookstores, has an entire section devoted to children’s and young
adult books in each issue. Reviews, running to a sometimes lengthy paragraph and
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