interesting children’s books. One of the themes of Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s Scots Quair
trilogy (especially Sunset Song, 1932) is the sexual growth from girlhood to maturity of
the heroine, Chris Guthrie, portrayed with Hardyesque intensity.
Scottish children’s literature in the twentieth century has a number of distinctive
features and personalities. Joan Lingard’s Maggie series (1974–1977) moves between
Glasgow and Edinburgh and the Highlands. The Clearance shows powerful relationships
and the effect of history; The Resettling the world of the Glasgow tenement, The
Pilgrimage is about teenage choices in the Highlands, and The Reunion follows Maggie as
she moves to womanhood. Her Kevin and Sadie quintet (from The Twelfth Day of July
(1970) to Hostages to Fortune (1976)) about Northern Ireland and love in the midst of
religious division, is deservedly famous, not least for school curricula.
Mollie Hunter is another internationally known writer, especially for her
semiautobiographical A Sound of Chariots (1975) and well-researched historical fiction.
Others include the Edinburgh writer Iona McGregor, picture book story-teller Mairi
Hedderwick, illustrator of joke-books Scoular Anderson, Aileen Paterson for her Maisie
series (published by Musselburgh publisher The Amaising Publishing House Limited),
adventure writer Allan Campbell McLean, and Lavinia Derwent (for Tammy Troot). There
is also the fertile tradition of comics from D. c.Thomson of Dundee, for example, The
Beano and The Dandy.
Kathleen Fidler (1899–1980) has a special place, not only for impressive stories like
The Boy with the Bronze Axe (1968) but also for the award named after her for a first
novel for children between 8 and 12. Blackie Books, co-founder of the award, publish
the winning entry, and Book Trust Scotland administers the award. A second important
initiative has been the Canongate/BBC Radio Scotland ‘Quest for a Kelpie’ prize,
christened from the first winning entry by Frances Mary Hendry. Canongate of
Edinburgh publish a series called ‘Kelpies’ which includes original works and reprints for
children of works by writers like Eric Linklater, Lavinia Derwent, Kathleen Fidler, and
Mollie Hunter. There are also many works from other sources with Scottish settings.
Scotland is a rich culture drawing on several linguistic traditions, and one of these is
Gaelic. Early literature draws on the oral and ballad tradition, while later works like
those of Bunyan and Watts appeared in Gaelic (the Church and bodies like the Scottish
SPCK have been major disseminators). More dominant were grammars and primers and
religious works. Today, 90 per cent of the sale of children’s books in Gaelic occurs in the
Western Isles and the Highlands of Scotland. A major influence on Gaelic speakers has
been the integration of Gaelic into the school curriculum for its literature and as a
teaching medium. Gaelic publishing has had a renaissance with the work of An Comunn
Gaidhealach (The Highland Association, 1891–)) and the Gaelic Books Council (1968—)
at the University of Glasgow, which advises on the spending of Scottish Arts Council
funding to support Gaelic publishing. The largest Gaelic publisher today is Gairm
Publications (1958–), whose backlist includes children’s books like Iain
Mac a’Ghobhainn’s version of Little Red Riding Hood. A short-lived Gaelic comic,
Sradag, was published in Glasgow in the early 1960s. The Stornoway publisher Acair
(Gaelic for ‘anchor’) started in 1977 and publishes mainly for the Western Isles school
market. Some works are translations from other publishers. There is an active Gaelic
children’s books culture with writer story-tellers like Anne Lorne Gillies, Mairead Hulse
682 SCOTLAND