Jane Taylor's Beloved Poem
of Wonder and the Stars
A TRUE TALE WITH
A CHERRY ON TOP
Bloomsbury Children's Books
(pub. 2.15.2022) 40 pages
Author: Elizabeth Brown
Illustrator: Becca Stadtlander
Character: Jane Taylor
Overview:
"In the days when most girls were brought up to run a home, Jane Taylor had a different kind of education in the English countryside, where she was inspired by nature and the stars, and dreamed of becoming a writer. But in the late 1700s, it was not considered proper for women to be writers. Jane and other female poets were shunned, unable to use their own names when published. But Jane did write, and she never forgot her love for the beauty of nature and the glow of stars, or her desire to write for children. Her published poetry became universally known for generations to come: Twinkle, twinkle little star."
Tantalizing taste:
" Jane and [her sister] Ann hoped that people reading their poems would feel what they experienced: running in the meadows, gazing at stars, a childhood of poetry.
Children loved how Jane's words sparkled, her verses shined, her poems were bright as stars."
And something more: The section titled, Jane Taylor 1783-1824, explains: "Jane hoped to inspire young children's imaginations through her poetry. Her works were among the first of their kind written for children's enjoyment rather than for purely educational purposes... there is no doubt that women writers of the Romantic era struggled in the shadow of male writers. But the perseverance of women like Jane blazed the path to the acceptance of women as writers in the nineteenth century and beyond."
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