Chaucer as Children’s Literature

Although Geoffrey Chaucer is the major author for Middle English studies, he often receives little notice in studies of children’s literature. However, there is a fascinating relationship between Chaucer and children’s interests.
This book examines in detail Chaucer stories retold for children—both the texts and the illustrations, which are excellent examples of the verbal and visual storytelling that are very important in children’s literature. The popularity of certain Chaucer stories, their adjustment for children, and the historical, political, educational, and social contexts of the retellings reveal Victorian and Edwardian attitudes. The author also considers how retellings of Chaucer stories contributed to the traditional view of Chaucer as the Father of English and how this view of him was developed at the turn of the twentieth century as part of an expansion of general education and English studies.

Velma Bourgeois Richmond, a recipient of the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award, is a professor emerita of English at Holy Names University, Oakland, California. She lives in Berkeley, California.

Velma Bourgeois Richmond
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 265
Bibliographic Info: photos, tables, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2004
pISBN: 978-0-7864-1740-7
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8151-4
Imprint: McFarland

“richness of detail…outstanding scholarship”—Children’s Literature Association Quarterly; “generously illustrated…valuable”—Archiv; “groundbreaking”—Christianity & Literature; “informative”—The Year’s Work in English Studies.