The Encyclopaedia Of Girls School Stories

Girls' school stories are still dismissed by adult critics as less significant than boys' school stories, despite recent academic recognition of the importance of children's literature generally. This encyclopaedia helps to redress the balance with over 400 entries on girls' school story writers. There is an entry for every British, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand author known to the editorial team who had published at least one full-length story between 1876 and 1999. In the introduction, Sue Sims provides an overview of the development of the girls' school story and the influence on the genre of key authors, works and publishers. Rosemary Auchmuty's analysis of the critical response which these works have received highlights the different reactions of those who work in the book world, feminist critics and fans of the stories. A huge amount of original research is evident in the detailed entries by Sue Sims, Hilary Clare and a number of invited contributors, all experts in their field. Readers will agree that this encyclopaedia demonstrates that as a body of work, girls' school stories have played an enormous part in women's history and the evolution of children's literature in general.

This encyclopaedia covers the history, critical reception, authors, topics and critical analyses of girls' school stories from 1876-1999. An overview of the development of the stories is covered along with their influence on authors and publishers.

In his introduction to this important reference work, Robert Fitzpatrick traces the origins of the boys' school story back to the 18th-century and its development and reception over the last 200 years. The contribution of women writers to the boys' school story is examined and popular topics explored. With over 500 entries, this encyclopaedia is the most comprehensive survey to date of this popular and highly collectable genre.

This book examines school and college fiction for girls in Britain and the United States, written in the first half of the twentieth century, to explore the formation and ideologies of feminine identity. Nancy G. Rosoff and Stephanie Spencer develop a transnational framework that recognises how both constructed and essential femininities transcend national boundaries. The book discusses the significance and performance of female friendship across time and place, which is central to the development of the genre, and how it functioned as an important means of informal education. Stories by Jessie Graham Flower, Pauline Lester, Alice Ross Colver, Elinor Brent-Dyer, and Dorita Fairlie Bruce are set within their historical context and then used to explore aspects of sociability, authority, responsibility, domesticity, and possibility. The distinctiveness of this book stems from the historical analysis of these sources, which have so far primarily been treated by literary scholars within their national context. Winner of the History of Education Society Anne Bloomfield Prize for the best book on history of education published in English 2017-19