TALENT IS NOT ENOUGH: Writing for Children

Five essays based on a 1975 series of lectures in America and ranging from the moral obligations of a writer for children to the opportunities for language enrichment afforded a Scottish writer with access to English, Gaelic, and Doric dialects. Admirers of Hunter's fiction will be impressed by the depth of her research and by her thoughts on the sources of fairy lore; would-be practitioners of the junior fantasy or historical novel would do well to consider her technical analyses of these genres; and her thoughtful remarks on what is suitable and unsuitable in children's literature (she draws a tentative line between the normal and the aberrant)--though retaining some of the rhetoric of the platform--transcend the usual level of professional conference pleasantries. Mollie Hunter's talent has always been evident; so too, here, is her commitment.