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The Child that Books Built Paperback – 17 Mar 2003

by
Francis Spufford (Author)
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Francis Spufford (Author)
3.8 out of 5 stars 22 customer reviews
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Product details

  • Paperback: 224 pages
  • Publisher: Faber & Faber; Main edition (17 Mar. 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0571214673
  • ISBN-13: 978-0571214679
  • Product Dimensions: 12.8 x 1.3 x 19.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 102,306 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Review

A genre-busting text. -- Michael Rosen

Short, dense, allusive and ferociously bright. -- Nick Hornby

Book Description

The Child that Books Built is Francis Spufford's celebrated memoir and investigation into childhood and reading.

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsGreat.
By Jennifer Colgan on 26 Mar. 2002
Format: Hardcover
There are few more solitary occupations than being a child bookworm, so it is absolutely wonderful to find something on the shelves which remembers us.
Here's a simple test to see if you'll like this book- does this: "It was as if Puffin were part of the administration of the world. They were the department of the welfare state responsible for the distribution of narrative." give you a shiver of recognition? If so, you'll find much to enjoy here.
It's full of little things that strike chords: the feel of old libraries, the terror of horror stories that imaginative children have; the phrase 'stepping lightly from C.S. Lewis to Jane Eyre'.
My complaint would be that it is a little academic in parts- if we wanted the philosophy and analysis of our childhood reading, we've probably done it already. What I wanted more of were the small joys; the little nostalgias. Where children hide to read books; what pleases and what annoys, and I'd have liked more of Spufford's home life. There are also disappointingly few books covered- more than just a skimming of Leon Garfield, Ian Serrallier or Peter Dickinson would have been nice, and perhaps a little less of the visiting the 'Little House on the Prairie' jaunt. Also, I suppose as a girl I missed the feminine side- Anne of Green Gables, Katy, the Chalet school et al.
But these are small grumbles set against what a lovely thing this is- it was suggested to me after I read 'Stet', which I would also recommend wholeheartedly- for all of us who, as an erstwhile friend of mine said, 'don't so much like books as suffer from an obsessive-compulsive illness'.
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4.0 out of 5 starsFascinating, nostalgic and thought-provoking
By A Customer on 20 April 2003
Format: Paperback
Ignore all the mediocre reviews of this book which other people have posted. If you love books and recall with fondness your childhood reading, then you will enjoy Spufford's elegant and wide-ranging exploration of the ways reading helps a child to create his or her sense of self.
Spufford was a voracious reader as a child, finding an escape from his family's heartrending and guilt-inducing medical problems behind the printed lines on a page. While writing this memoir of childhood reading, he reread all the books he had loved--from Where The Wild Things Are to Narnia and Little House on the Prairie, and attempted to find out just why he had read so catatonically, and how it had shaped him.
There's a great deal of pleasure to be found in reminiscing along with Spufford about your own first reading of The Hobbit, but he offers far more than a simple nostalgia-fest. He also discusses the theories of child psychologists on the importance of reading and the ways in which it can teach a child about language and the patterns in the world. Some people seem to have found this too dry and academic--and it isn't as interesting as the sections dealing with his own life--but stick with it! Spufford is discussing something very important: WHY is it better for your child to spend 3 hours reading than 3 hours on the Playstation?--and believe me, this proves that it is!
The rest of the book discusses Spufford's adolescence; the years when Narnia had lost its magic, but the world of adult books hadn't yet opened its doors. There are some great insights into sci-fi--The Left Hand of Darkness gets special mention and praise.Read more ›
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3.0 out of 5 starsDon't buy it expecting bookish charm and whimsy
By Miss E. Potten on 18 Jan. 2009
Format: Paperback
This certainly wasn't what I expected - just proving the old adage that `You can't judge a book by its cover.' Where I expected charm and books and childhood pleasures, instead I found an intense, philosophical analysis of the way children respond to books, with a heavy emphasis on psychoanalytic ideas.

I had to skip over some of the first chapter (unheard of for me) because it was unintelligible, but it did improve after a while. Once the books became more familiar it was more enjoyable and easier to follow - for example, there was an interesting section on Laura Ingalls Wilder's `Little House' books, and the place of the prairie and the town in her novels. There was also a good section later on concerning the shift from children's books to adult reading, and the role of the classics in bridging the gap. Knowing more about these novels again made this part easier to understand and appreciate.

Despite the better areas, the overly abstract academic analysis made this a much heavier book than it needed to be. There was also a decidedly self-obsessed air about it, and the familiar self-consciousness that is noticeable in many memoirs. An average read - and certainly not an easy one.
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5.0 out of 5 starssuperb study, highly recommended
By A Customer on 22 Oct. 2003
Format: Paperback
I am surprised to learn that anyone who enjoys reading has failed to enjoy this book. Both as a memoir and as a study of how children's literature affects us it is strikingly original.The author's passion for reading began as an escape from a childhood skewed by his sister's illness, but once he read The Hobbit he embarked on the life of a bookworm. His descriptions of what it feels like to read are spot-on, and his studies of particular children's authors illuminating. Highly recommended.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Self indulgent and far too long

Published 7 months ago by ros tulloch
3.0 out of 5 starsA touch overwritten, and crying out for a sharper ...

A touch overwritten, and crying out for a sharper edge to the humour. You get the impression that Spufford has padded this, somewhat, cramming in pages on Piaget, for example, when... Read more

Published 15 months ago by A. J. McGowan
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Fantastic resource.

Published 17 months ago by Angela Borland
3.0 out of 5 starsThree Stars

ok

Published 21 months ago by LYNNB
5.0 out of 5 starsamazing book. loved his other (totally different) red plenty ...

amazing book. loved his other (totally different) red plenty too. Still giving this one as presents though many years on after reading it.

Published 21 months ago by rosw
3.0 out of 5 starsThree Stars

not as good as other Spuffords titles lost its way in the middle a bit

Published on 11 Oct. 2014 by John G
5.0 out of 5 starsAnd what a child the books built

Excellent foray into what influences what a child reads and why and how what he read shaped the man. Read more

Published on 25 Nov. 2013 by Elspeth Turner
4.0 out of 5 starsThe books that built the child

There is a thread of autobiography running through this book. It's an interesting story, but it's peripheral. Read more

Published on 6 Oct. 2013 by Ian Brawn
4.0 out of 5 starsThis book is ideal for avid readers

I loved this book because it built, for mew, an instant connection with the author. I too was an avid reader, in fact, it was wonderful to read about someone else who is as... Read more

Published on 7 Jan. 2013 by Kathy Pemberton
3.0 out of 5 starsNot at all what I expected

well... What I had expected was a memoir that would draw upon books that had influenced him, and what I got was a basic review of childrens books as a whole. Read more

Published on 7 Jan. 2012 by Amazon Customer

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