Voracious Children Book

If I never have to read another single thing about Bettelheim when I'm trying to enjoy my passion of children's literature that would be a great thing. However, I can put up with it here because it seems Daniel appreciates that misogynistic fool as little as I do.

This is a feminist book about food in children's literature, so what's not to love?

When I first picked it up I wondered how one could write an entire tome on this topic, but now that I've finished it I realise it's just touching the surface, which is a sure sign it opened my mind.

For example, I'm interested in the 'stock yuck' in children's literature -- the way in which children are assumed to hate broccoli and Brussels sprouts and therefore learn to.

I'm interested in how food is represented in children's film (Pixar/Dreamworks etc) compared to how it is represented in children's literature.

It's great that this author lives (or at least seems to live) in Australia, because Australasian readers get some homegrown works as examples for a change (Possum Magic, 7 Little Australians, The Changeover by Margaret Mahy), though it would have been even more interesting if there had been more about food in children's literature from all around the world instead of the heavy focus on Britain and America.

I shouldn't have been at all surprised that this book was full of psychoanalytic stuff -- I have already read Nikolajeva so I'm familiar with the 'sex = food in kidlit' idea. We have quite a lot about phallic symbols and vagina dentata and honestly a lot of the deepest psychoanalysis of fairytales and whatnot is pretty heavy. I don't think I'll be reading Hansel and Gretel the same way again, though I now have an even deeper appreciation for Anthony Browne's 'postmodern' version, which ironically harkens back to the original, darkest versions.

I thought I hated Roald Dahl as an adult, even though I counted him as my favourite author as a kid, but now I'm sure I do.

Coincidentally my daughter came home from school raving about the book Bob the Builder by Emily Rodda (nothing to do with the TV show). I went to buy it for her because she loves it so much only to find it out of print. That very same day I read the feminist critique of that exact book in Voracious Children and decided that I was glad it's out of print and also, what is the teacher doing, reading shit like that to modern kids? Okay, so I am going to judge that book without having read it, because I've read a lot of the other books mentioned here and happen to agree with all of it.

Not many people do read children's literature like I do, hating things that most people seem to love, feeling like throwing something at the Ice Age franchise, sighing at the ridiculousness of Peppa Pig, annoyed at the fat phobia and sexism issues in that Harry Potter series everyone else seems to love so much. So it's nice to read someone who's on the same wavelength occasionally.