William Mayne? "Sticks and Stones" by Jack Zipes?

Hi, I just got this book out of the library:

Sticks and Stones: The Troublesome Success of Children's Literature from
Slovenly Peter to Harry Potter

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0415938805/qid

Some interesting user reviews. Zipes, as you may know, is the author of "Don't
Bet on the Prince" and the translator of (my favorite) the 1970s "Political
Plays for Children" by the German GRIPS Theatre.

So anyway, at one point he tells a tale of how a young British children's book
editor didn't even recognize the name William Mayne when someone said he was
very fond of his work. I have to admit that I never heard of him or his titles
either, even when I looked them up. Maybe it has to do with my being merely
American - but so is Zipes. Canadian Michele Landsberg hailed Mayne as one of
the greatest writers for middle-school kids in her 1980s book "Reading for the
Love of It." Can anyone tell me which novel of his is considered best and why?
(I MAY have heard of "The Changeling" - but there's more than one famous book
by that name, I think.)

BTW, Zipes doesn't like Harry Potter - mainly because of the alleged sexism. I
can sympathize, but when you're a struggling single mother writing in Scotland,
a place not known for being especially egalitarian, I'd say you can't afford to
defy the publishers' rule that "girls will read about boys, but boys won't read
about girls." Besides, she hasn't proven that she can write characters with
real depth yet - something clearly needed to hold readers' interest if she ever
writes any fiction that's not HP or fantasy-related.

Lenona.

lenona321.TakeThisOut@aol.com wrote:

 >Canadian Michele Landsberg hailed Mayne as one of
 >the greatest writers for middle-school kids in her 1980s book "Reading for
 >the
 >Love of It." Can anyone tell me which novel of his is considered best and
 >why?
 >(I MAY have heard of "The Changeling" - but there's more than one famous book
 >by that name, I think.)

You're probably remembering Zilpha Keatley Snyder's book of that name. Offhand
I'd say my favorite Mayne is the first of his choir school books, _A Swarm in
May_. _A Grass Rope_ is also very good (won the Carnegie, by the way). He's
written *hundreds* of books (well, that might be a slight exaggeration).
_Earthfasts_ is widely admired (I didn't care much for the sequels, written
much later).

His style is sometimes very elliptical and I found I really had to concentrate
at first to get into it. He's often cited as a children's author whom adults
like better than children do.

--Helen<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->