This engagingly written compendium is packed with humorous, dramatic, surprising, and inspiring facts about the past, present, and future of children and childhood. This extensively indexed reference work covers childhood from ancient times to the present day, including child development, family life, child rearing in different cultures, and children in mythology, folklore, and religion. Contemporary issues such as child abuse, poverty, and crime are also covered.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
This is the first reference source devoted exclusively to all aspects of childhood. The author, a writer who worked for UNICEF for 25 years, has created a compendium of quotations, trivia, history, folklore, mythology, religion, biographical sketches, and social theory as they relate to children and childhood. Following a brief introduction, each chapter offers a list of dates, famous people, quotations, historical data, and myths on subjects such as play and toys, education, health, games and sports, and peace and war. The tone is upbeat, and the emphasis is on prodigies. The lists, while interesting, are arbitrary?why include Peggy Fleming and Katrina Witt on the figure skating list but not Kristi Yamaguchi??and occasionally incorrect, e.g., Itzhak Perlman has five children, not four. Although this is an entertaining introduction to childhood as a subject area, with an extensive list of sources and a good index, it lacks the necessary depth to be a reference source. An optional purchase.?Barbara M. Bibel, Oakland P.L., Cal.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
The aim of this work is to fill the gaps in the coverage of childhood in standard history and reference books. The author, former head of UNICEF's Editorial and Publications Services, presents information in 16 chapters, including "History," "Child Development," "Child Rearing and Education," "Games and Sports," and "Poverty and Violence." Each chapter has a table of contents. There are chapter bibliographies, a general bibliography, and an extensive index.
Information is presented in a variety of ways, such as essays, thumbnail sketches, chronologies, biographies, quotes, and case studies. Representative of contents is the chapter "Children and Family Life." There are sections on types of families (clans, polygamy, same sex, etc.), European families in 1000, marriage and family life today, failed marriages and children, quotes (about mothers, fathers, boys and sons, girls and daughters, happiness brought by children), prolific mothers and fathers, famous people with many siblings, adoption, and special days enjoyed by families.
Information is extensive but superficial. Contents appear to be information the author has collected over the years, rather than a handbook intended to provide a systematic overview. Reference use seems limited, though the browser may find much of interest and even value. Adequate for those larger public libraries and academic and special libraries with an interest in childhood.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Delicious Factual Grab Bag,
By A Customer
This review is from: Childhood and Children: A Compendium of Customs, Superstitions, Theories, Profiles, and Facts (Hardcover)
This is a book out of which almost anyone will get a kick. It'sfilled with facts you never knew about children who, of course, becomeadults. There's all sorts of interesting information about famous people (Stevie Wonder etc. etc.) when they were children. There's fascinating stuff about multiple births (the most births to one woman, highest number of surviving births and the like). One of the best aspects is that you can open it at any page and read something interesting, which makes it great to leave lying around for picking up any time. It's obviously a great gift for expectant mothers, graduations (moving on to new phases in life) and other special occasions. This is the kind of book that makes you feel good about life altogether. It's fascinating.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very amusing unusual information anyone would find enjoyable,
By A Customer
This review is from: Childhood and Children: A Compendium of Customs, Superstitions, Theories, Profiles, and Facts (Hardcover)
This book has a lot of funny, surprising information you wouldn't expect as well as facts. Great tidbits include statistics on the most births to one woman, information about twins, triplets, quintuplets, even sextuplets. It sparks your imagination. It makes a great gift. You can dip in at any point and have fun. It's jam-packed with interesting minutiae and you can learn about many famous people when they were kids. It's easy to read but filled with useful info. You can't not like it.
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