Product Description

Children now make up forty per cent of the world's population. The bestseller charts would suggest that we savour stories of unhappy upbringings - are in fact greedy for them, the worse the better - but in today's ASBO-afflicted Britain, it is clear that there is much we don't understand about contemporary childhood. Children today are the focus of much of society's anxieties: about behaviour, nutrition, sexuality, consumerism, achievement, responsibility, about what exactly is the proper shape of a life. But, how does it really feel to be growing up today, from the inside? This extraordinary book tracks ten very different children between the ages of two and sixteen, each chosen for how they illuminate a particular archetype of childhood experience, or an especial locus of adult anxiety. Woven through each chapter are trips into more discursive territory, but essentially, this is childhood told from the inside: a travel book about a state of being, telling the story of contemporary childhood with the help of those who still reside there. "Childhood" is a truly remarkable piece of writing that unearths many unusual truths about adulthood too.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24934 in Books
• Published on: 2006-07-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Review
'This is one of the best pictures of childhood that I've read, and certainly it's an important account of the confused and anxiety-ridden state we're in today' Phillip Pullman, author of the His Dark Materials trilogy 'Read this book - Libby Brooks brings childhood's present alive in its historical context, and puts modern supernannies in their historical place' Oliver James, author of They F*** You Up 'A thoroughly enjoyable read' Claire Rayner 'This is a wonderful book. It is a remarkable and important polemic on the state of contemorary childhood This book tells us some very disturbing things about ourselves. I hope the policymakers read it' Helena Kennedy QC

About the Author
Libby Brooks was born in Glasgow and studied law at Oxford University. She joined the Guardian newspaper in 1997, and worked as Women's Editor between 1999 and 2001. She won the Catherine Packenham Award for young women writers in 1996, and was named Young Journalist of the Year by the British Press Awards in 1998. She lives in East London and likes murder mysteries.

Customer Reviews

interesting and enjoyable
I picked this book up in a secondhand hand shop thinking it might be worth a browse, but once I started reading it I was hooked. The basic framework is interviews with 9 children - perhaps "interviews" is not really the right word, rather the author spends a lot of time with each child and describes their life and views, often using their own words, but she also has a great gift for capturing different children's speech patterns in her own writing without it seeming self-conscious or patronising. I found it interesting to read about the lives of a diverse group of British children and also quite heartwarming. Each chapter/child is also used to illuminate various issues around childhood - theories from the history of childhood or child psychology as well as looking at popular perceptions of modern childhood. Overall a very readable, warm-hearted and intelligent book.

A unique take on what it means to be a modern child
A fantastic collection of nine case studies of modern youth in all its forms, from a teenage mother to a public schoolboy. Brooks spends several months with each child, aged between 4 and 16 years old, reporting honestly and candidly on their day-to-day lives, friendships, education, family dynamics and interests. Entwined within each of these case studies are explorations of issues affecting children today, from school dinners to street safety, sex education to consumerism, based on historical, sociological and psychological investigation. Compelling and thought provoking.

The ever changing face of childhood
I'd been considering studying Childhood and Youth Studies with the Open University and decided to give this book a go as a brief insight into the concept of childhood. I found this book gripping, insightful and was often amazed at some of the facts presented in this book. The author brings together a range of ideas outlined in the likes of other books such as Neil Postman's 'The Disappearance of Childhood' and ultimately it is left to the reader to draw their own conclusions. A fantastic look at the changing face of childhood.