Selected Book & Film Reviews by Jan Susina
John Tenniel's Alice with pig
Note: Many of these book reviews are available through Project Muse, which provides online access to numerous academic journals. Many academic, public, school, and specialty libraries provide patrons access to Project Muse. If you have access, then you can read entire documents that are linked and cited below. Some reviews are available below in .pdf format. Also check out Jan Susina on ResearchGate: researchgate.net/profile/Jan_Susina
The title of the books that are reviewed are usually at the beginning of each entry.
Keedle, the Great and All You've Ever Wanted to Know About Fascism. By Deirdre and William Conselman, Jr. Illustrated by Fred L. Fox. Afterword by Jack Zipes. Little Mole and Honey Bear, 2020.
The Routledge Companion to Picturebooks. Edited by Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer. Children's Literature 48 (2020) 251-4.
Kiera Vaclavik. Fashioning Alice: The Career of Lewis Carroll’s Icon, 1860-1901. Children’ Literature Association Quarterly. 45.1 (Spring 2020): 84-87.
Laura Tosi and Peter Hunt. The Fabulous Journeys of Alice and Pinocchio: Exploring Their Parallel Worlds. Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 45.2 (Summer 2020): 192-195.
Richard Snow. Disney’s Land: Walt Disney and the Invention of the Amusement Park That Changed the World. Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 45.3 (Summer 2020): 288-291.
Bruce Handy. Wild Things: The Joy of Reading Children’s Literature as an Adult. Simon & Schuster, 2017 and Betsy Bird, Julie Danielson, Peter D. Sieruta. and Wild Things! Acts of Mischief in Children’s Literature. Candlewick Press, 2014. Children’s Literature Association Quarterly. 44.1 (Spring 2019): 111-115.
Christian Bormann The Giant Ohl and Tiny Tim. Translated by Jack Zipes. Wayne State University Press and Fearless Ivan and His Faithful Horse Double-Hump: A Russian Folk Tale. Translated by Jack Zipes. Children’s Literature Association Quarterly. 44.4 (Winter 2019): 456-458.
Rachel Cole. Mousie, I Will Read to You. Schwartz & Wade Books and Megan Wagner Lloyd. Building Books. Knopf. Rise: A Children’s Literacy Journal. Spring 2019. 14.
David Barclay Moore. The Stars Beneath Our Feet. Knopf. 2017. Rise: A Children’s Literacy Journal. Winter 2019. 37.
The Illustrated Letters of Richard Doyle to His Father, 1842-1843. Grant F. Scott, ed. Ohio U Press, 2016 in Nineteenth-Century Prose 44:1 (Spring 2017).
Graphic Novels for Children and Young Adults: A Collection of Critical Essays. Eds. Michelle Ann Abate and Gwen Athene Tarbox. Inks: The Journal of the Comic Studies Society 2.3 (Fall 2018): 392-4.
“Peter Sis’s Robinson: Playing Explorer: Review of Peter Sis’s Robinson.” Rise: A Children’s Literacy Journal Fall 2018: 32.
Conversations with Maurice Sendak. Ed. Peter Kunze. Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 43.1 (Spring 2018): 113-5.
The Amazing Collection of Joey Cornell by Candace Fleming. Rise: A Children’s Literacy Journal Summer 2018: 16.
Martin Gardner, editor. The Annotated Alice: 150th Anniversary Deluxe Edution; Martin Gardner, Undiluted Hocus-Pocus: The Autobiography of Martin Gardner; Lewis Carroll with illustrations to Salvador Dali and introduction by Mark Burstein. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: 150th Anniversary Edition (.pdf document) from Children's Literature Association Quarterly 41.2 (Summer 2016): 217-220. Link to review in ChLAQ on Project Muse
Alice in a World of Wonderlands: The Translations of Lewis Carroll's Masterpiece Eds. Jon A. Lindseth and Alan Tannenbaum.from The Knight Letter: Lewis Carroll Society of North America. 96 (Spring 2016): 34-37.
Alice in a World of Wonderlands: The Translations of Lewis Carroll's Masterpiece. Eds. Jon A. Lindseth and Alan Tannenbaum. in Bibliographical Society of America. Sept. 2016: 375-9.
The Story of Alice: Lewis Carroll and the Secret History of Wonderland by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst; Lewis Carroll: The Man and His Circle by Edward Wakeling. Children’s Literature Association Quarterly. 41.4 (2016): 452-5.
Jack Zipes. Grimm Legacies: The Magic Spell of the Grimms' Folk and Fairy Tales and Jack Zipes, translator. The Complete First Edition: The Original Folk & Fary Tales of the Brothers Grimm from Children's Literature. (2016) 44: 238-243. (link is to .pdf)
Alice in a World of Wonderlands: The Translations of Lewis Carroll’s Masterpiece. Eds. Jon A. Lindseth and Alan Tannebaum. The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America. 110.3 (2016): 375-9.
Fairy Tales, Natural History and Victorian Culture. By Laurence Talairach-Vielmas. Modern Language Review 111.1 (2016): 241-2.
Blancanieves. Dir. Pablo Berger. Cohen Media Group. 2013. In Marvels & Tales: Journal of Fairy-Tale Studies 29.1 (2015): 165-7.
Leonard Marcus's Randolph Caldecott: The Man who Could Not Stop Drawing, Leonard Marcus's Maurice Sendak: A Celebration of the Artist and His Work, and Gregory Maguire's Making Mischief: A Maurice Sendak Appreciation from Children's Literature 42 (2014): 299-304.
The Alice Behind Wonderland. By Simon Winchester. New York: Oxford UP, 2011. Children’s Literature Association Quarterly. 37.1 (Spring 2012): 121-124.
“Lewis Carroll By the Numbers” Lewis Carroll in Numberland: His Fantastical Mathematical Logical Life. An Agony in Eight Fits. By Robin Wilson. New York: Norton. 2008. from Children’s Literature. 40 (2012): 256-259.
Michelle Ann Abate. Raising Your Kids Right: Children’s Literature and American Political Conservatism. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 2010. In Teachers College Record. 29 June 2011. www.tcrecord.com.
Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland
Alice in Wonderland. Dir. Tim Burton. Walt Disney Studios. 2010. In Marvels & Tales: Journal of Fairy-Tale Studies. 25.1 (2011): 181-3.
Marilyn Pemberton. Enchanted Ideologies: A Collection of Rediscovered Nineteenth-Century Moral Fairy Tales. Lambertville, NJ: True Bill Press, 2010. In Children’s Literature Association Quarterly. 36.3 (Fall 2011) 346-8.
John Cech. Imagination and Innovation: The Story of Weston Woods. In Children’s Literature Association Quarterly. 36 (1): 115-117.
Jenny Woolf. The Mystery of Lewis Carroll: Discovering the Whimsical, Thoughtful, and Sometimes Lonely Man Who Created Alice in Wonderland. Children's Literature Association Quarterly. 35:4 (Winter 2010): 471-4. Link to preview
"Much Ado About Alice: Thoughts on the New Wonderland." Tim Burton, dir. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Burton in Underland: Carrollian Reviews. Clare Imholtz and Byron Sewell, eds. Hurricane, WV: Force 5 Press, 2010: 24-5.
Jack Zipes. Relentless Progress: The Reconfiguration of Children’s Literature, Fairy Tales, and Storytelling. Children's Literature Association Quarterly 34.3 (Fall 2009): 304-307. link to first page under Project Muse
Kate Bernheimer, ed. Brothers & Beasts: An Anthology of Men on Fairy Tales. Children's Literature Association Quarterly 33.2 (Summer 2008): 216-219. link to abstract
Todd Hignite. In the Studio: Visits with Contemporary Cartoonists. Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 32.3 (Fall 2007): 278-81. link to .pdf
Kate Di Camillo. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. Five Owls 19.1 (2007): 22-5.
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature. Jack Zipes, ed. Marvles & Tales 22.2 (Dec. 2007: 331-5.
Wynton Marsalis. Jazz ABZ: An A to Z Collection of Jazz Portraits. Five Owls 19.2 (2007): 15.
Frankie Morris. Artist of Wonderland. The Life, Political Cartoons and Illustrations of Tenniel. Charlottesville: U of Virginia P, 2005. In Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 31.2 (Summer 2006): 202-5. link to abstract
Doreen Rappaport. Free At Last! Stories and Songs of Emancipation. New York: Candlewick, 2004. In Five Owls March 2005: 52-3.
Carole Lexa Schaefer. Someone Says. New York: Viking 2003. In Five Owls Sept. 2005: 9.
Marvels & Tales
Frankie Morris. Artist of Wonderland: The Life, Political Cartoons and Illustrations of Tenniel. Charlottesville: U of Virginia, 2005. in Children's Literature Association Quarterly 31.2 : 202-5.
Allison Lurie. Boys and Girls Forever: Children’s Classics from Cinderella to Harry Potter. New York: Penguin, 2003. In Marvels & Tales 18:1 (2004): 124-6. link to .pdf
Frederick Crews. Postmodern Pooh. New York. North Point Press, 2001. In The Lion and the Unicorn 26.2 (2002) 274-8.
Walter Hogan. The Agony and the Eggplant: Daniel Pinkwater’s Heroic Struggles in the Name of YA Literature. Lanham, MD. Scarecrow P 2001. In The Lion and the Unicorn 26.3 (Sept. 2002): 404-7. Link to .pdf
The Lion & the Unicorn journal.
Marc Simont. The Stray Dog. New York: HarperCollins, 2001. In Five Owls Summer 2001: 113-4.
Bjorn Sundmark. Alice in the Oral-Literary Continuum. Lund, Sweden: Lund University Press, 1999. In Marvels & Tales: Journal of Fairy-Tale Studies. 15.1 (2001) 113-6.
Francesca Lia Block. The Rose and the Beast: Fairy Tales Retold. New York: Harper Collins. 2000. In Marvels & Tales. 15.2 (2001) 232-3.
“An Austrian Alice Artfully Arrayed.” Knight Letter: Newsletter of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America 62 (2000): 18-19.
Jack Zipes. Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales, Children and the Culture Industry. New York: Routledge, 1997. In Marvels & Tales. 14.1 (2000): 192-5.
"Dealing with Victorian Fairies." Review of Jane Martineau’s Victorian Fairy Painting. London: Merrell Holberton, 1997, and Carol G. Silver’s Strange and Secret Peoples: Fairies and Victorian Consciousness. New York: OUP, 1999. In Children’s Literature 28 (2000): 230-7.
“Recent Illustrators of Alice in Wonderland.” Review of Abelardo Morrell’s Alice in Wonderland. New York: Dutton, 1998, and Lisbeth Zwerger’s Alice in Wonderland. New York: North-South Books, 1999. In Five Owls (Jan./Feb. 2000) 14.3: 63.
“Fairy Tale Politics.” Review of U.C. Knoepflmacher’s Ventures into Childland: Victorians, Fairy Tales and Femininity. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1998. In Novel 32:2 (Spring 1999): 292-4.
Ronald Reichertz. The Making of the Alice Books. Montreal: Mcgill-Queen’s UP, 1997, and August Imholtz and Charlie Lovett’s In Memoriam: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, 1832-1898. New York: Lewis Carroll Society of North America, 1998. In The Lion and Unicorn. 23.1 (Jan. 1999):149-53. Link to .pdf
“Three Ways of Looking at Victorian Fantasies.” Review of Glenn Edward Sadler’s An Expression of Character:
Children's Literature, the journal The Letters of George MacDonald, John Docherty’s The Literary Products of Lewis Carroll-George MacDonald Friendship, and Jackie Wullschlager’s Inventing Wonderland. In Children’s Literature 27 (1999): 205-11.
Toy Wars: The Epic Struggle Between G.I. Joe, Barbie, and the Companies That Make Them by G. Wayne Miller. In The Lion and the Unicorn. 23.2 (April 1999).
“Alice in Context.” Review of Ronald Reichertz’s The Making of the Alice Books: Lewis Carroll’s Uses of Earlier Children’s Literature. In Knight Letter 58 (1998): 18-9.
Nicholas A. Basbanes’s A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomania and the Eternal Passion for Books. In The Lion and the Unicorn 22.3 (1998): 376-9.
“Carroll and Cohen: On a First-Name Basis with Charles Lutwidge Dodgson.” Review of Morton Cohen’s Lewis Carroll: A Biography. In Children’s Literature 26 (1998): 221-8.
“Girls Becoming Goddesses: Review of Francesca Lia Block’s Girl Goddess #9: Nine Stories and Lauren Greenfield’s Fast Forward: Growing Up in the Shadow of Hollywood.” In American Book Review 19.1 (1997): 7.
“Dramatic Victorians.” Book reviews of Nina Auberbach’s Private Theatricals and Charles Lovett’s Alice on Stage. In Children’s Literature 21 (1993): 197-201. Link to first page under Project Muse
“A Feast of Fairy Tales.” Reviews of Michael Patrick Hearn’s The Victorian Fairy Tale Book, Mark I. West’s Before Oz, and Jack Zipes’s Victorian Fairy Tales. In Children’s Literature 20 (1992): 225-9.
“Dream Children.” Review of Edward D. Nodelman’s Jessie Willcox Smith: A Bibliography. In Children’s Literature 19 (1991): 206-7.
Book reviews of Michael Hancher’s Tenniel Illustrations to the ‘Alice’ Books and Zohar Shavit’s Poetics of Children’s Literature. In Victorian Studies 31 (1988): 289-91.
Book Reviews on the Radio. WGLT 89.1 FM.
Vivian Gussin Paley. The Girl with the Brown Crayon. 24 March 1999.
Jon Scieszka’s Summer Reading is Killing Me. 16 December 1998.
G. Wayne Miller’s Toy Wars. 30 September 1998.
Dr. Suess’s Hooray for Diffendoofer Day! 22 July 1998.
David Levinthal’s Small Wonder: Worlds in a Box. 24 June 1998.
Daniel Pinkwater’s Five Novels. 24 March 1998.