“All grown ups were once children… but only few of them remember it.”
This quote from The Little Prince, one of the many stories featured in the Princeton University Press’ newly released Worlds of Wonder: Celebrating the Great Classics of Children’s Literature, edtited by Daniel Hahn, perfectly encapsulates the collection’s aim to bring whimsy into the lives of all.
The foreword by Julia Eccleshare sets the reader up wonderfully to the marvels of the children’s genre, inviting us into the minds of our younger selves. With each turn of a page, and each story read, we become more curious, and more joyous.
When you first open this book, a lot of its content may already seem familiar to you. It certainly did to me, its characters having painted my recent childhood. Selections such as Charlotte’s Web and Pig-Heart Boy brought me back to my primary school classroom, whereas the figures of The Wizard of Oz and Winnie the Pooh remain core influences to how I live my life. In my eyes, this only stands as a testament to the cultural significance of the featured stories to this day.
Yet, so much of it was new to me. Treasures from both throughout history and into the modern day that I had never encountered, and so got to experience for the first time through this wondrous volume. The collection goes out of its way to include stories from varying cultures, especially when the western world is rather close-minded when it comes to literature.
Perhaps most importantly, the writers of the book do well in letting readers understand the endless importance of its respective stories without ridding them of their mystique. By the end of each page, you feel that it is necessary for you to pick up a physical copy to experience it for yourself.
The collection is split into four ages, following the historical evolution of children’s literature. At first glance, the volume’s first selection of The Little Mermaid, published in 1837, and its last selection of Wonder, published in 2012, share very little in common. But, as all that grows on this earth, their roots are very much the same – they both appreciate the minds of their young readers above everything.
The book’s design also deserves appreciation, playing a part in the collection’s great charm. It is gorgeous enough to make even the youngest of readers nostalgic, with the use of the stories’ original illustrations allowing for the best possible immersion in their contents. Such attention to detail helps make the book an essential.
So, with this book as my guide, I am off to the library, yearning to return to a sense of wonder that previously only seemed to exist in the depths of my memory. First, I think I will pick up a copy of Wynne-Jones’ Howl’s Moving Castle, and then perhaps one of Malot’s Nobody’s Boy. With luck, I will spend my time becoming intimately familiar with worlds beyond our own – seventy five of them, to be exact.
No matter who you are, or how little you’ve read, picking up this book will doubtlessly inspire you to make the same journey. We are all children at heart, after all.
Words by Elise Gavin
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