The Case of Peter Pan, or the Impossibility of Children's Fiction

"Rose's searching arguments are complex and concentrated. This is the book children's literature has needed for some time. It combines scholarly examination of primary sources with historical commentary, the social history of childhood and critical theory derived from psychoanalysis. . . . It is a challenge to critics to examine the whole range of cultural practices attached to stories for children."—London Review of Books

"Everyone interested in the way in which the balance of power between adult and child in our society is expressed in the books offered by the former to the latter should read Rose's study of Peter Pan."—Times Education Supplement