Boundary Books

• Kate Crackernuts by Katharine Briggs
  Kestrel, 224 pp, £2.95, September 1980, ISBN 0 7226 5557 6
• Socialisation through Children’s Literature: The Soviet Example by Felicity Ann O’Dell
  Cambridge, 278 pp, £14.00, January 1979, ISBN 0 521 21968 X
• Divide and Rule by Jan Mark
  Kestrel, 248 pp, £3.50, October 1980, ISBN 0 7226 5620 3

The boundary between books said to be ‘for children’ and the undoubted literary province of adults is a debatable land. Unless their pursuits are historical, psychological, sociological or educational, most grown-ups make only occasional nostalgic excursions into the country of Peter Rabbit, and then only as part of the ritual induction of their children into reading. In contrast, the young have always been efficient rievers of stories from all sources, and have carried off such literary booty as pleased them. Now that children have distinguished authors of their own, the marches of these kingdoms have become an interesting middle ground.