Literature for Young People on War and Peace

This annotated bibliography concentrates on books dealing with an important category of literature for youths, that of war and peace. The number of books for young people on this subject is surprisingly large, yet it is often ignored. Though such books don't form the center of children's literature, they do represent an important portion of it, revealing to children vital truths about the human condition and how nobly humans can act under extreme hardship.

The book includes a number of different types of works dealing with war and peace, e.g., allegories and parables, picture books, poetry, biographies, Revolutionary and Civil War books, tales of the Holocaust and Hiroshima, and stories dealing with pacifism. Each entry includes author, title, publishing data, and age level, as well as an annotation that assesses the entry's pertinence, quality, and value. In addition to this bibliography for youths, there is an annotated bibliography of materials for adults that covers how to discuss the subject of war and peace with young people. The volume is also extensively cross-referenced and indexed, providing access to authors, illustrators, and titles, subject entries such as warriors and pacifists, and categories of material such as parables or poetry. It will be an important reference work for teachers dealing with the subject of conflict and for courses in education and the social sciences, and a worthwhile addition to college, university, and public libraries.

HARRY EDWIN EISS is an Assistant Professor of English at Eastern Michigan Universty. He is the author of Dictionary of Language Games, Puzzles, and Amusements (Greenwood Press, 1986) and Dictionary of Mathematical Games, Puzzles and Amusements (Greenwood Press, 1988). He has also published articles on language arts instruction, and his poems have appeared in several anthologies. His critiques of the works of Janet Lunn and Monica Hughes will appear in Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults (forthcoming). He is currently serving as the humanist for a National Endowment for the Arts seminar entitled Children's Classics: The Victorian Age.