Butts (professor and former chairman of The Children's Books History Society, England) offers a collection of essays that discuss and track the changing face of British children's literature from the late 18th-century to the mid 1990s. The text focuses on the theme of social change, and whether children's literature is changed by social shifts or vice versa. The children's literature or early childhood education student will find this a scholarly yet accessible read. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Dennis Butts, a former Chairman of The Children's Books History Society, taught children's literature at Reading University, UK. He has a lifelong interest in the relationship between politics, society and literature, and has written on many aspects of children's books and nineteenth-century literature. He co-edited From the Dairyman's Daughter to Worrals of the WAAF, also published by The Lutterworth Press.