Are some of the world's most talented children's book authors essentially children themselves? In this engaging series of essays, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alison Lurie considers this theory, exploring children's classics from many eras and relating them to the authors who wrote them, including Little Women author Louisa May Alcott and Wizard of Oz author Frank Baum, as well as Dr. Seuss and Salman Rushdie. Analyzing these and many others, Lurie shows how these gifted writers have used children's literature to transfigure sorrow, nostalgia, and the struggles of their own experiences. CONTENTS Foreword THE UNDERDUCKLING: HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN LITTLE WOMEN AND BIG GIRLS: LOUISA MAY ALCOTT THE ODDNESS OF OZ IS THERE ANYBODY THERE? WALTER DE LA MARE’S SOLITARY CHILD JOHN MASEFIELD’S BOXES OF DELIGHT MOOMINTROLL AND HIS FRIENDS DR. SEUSS COMES BACK HAROUN AND THE SEA OF STORIES THE PERILS OF HARRY POTTER WHAT FAIRY TALES TELL US BOYS AND GIRLS COME OUT TO PLAY: CHILDREN’S GAMES POETRY BY AND FOR CHILDREN LOUDER THAN WORDS: CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS ENCHANTED FORESTS AND SECRET GARDENS: NATURE IN CHILDREN’S LITERATURE THE GOOD BAD BOY Notes Bibliography