SOURCE: Townsend, Juliet. “The Pure Pleasure of Being Naughty.” Spectator 264, no. 8449 (16 June 1990): 30-1.

In the following review, Townsend argues that Lurie's linking theme of “subversive children's literature” in Don't Tell the Grown-Ups is neither coherent nor convincing.

It is E. Nesbit who points out that, in order to succeed as a writer for children it is not necessary to have children of one's own, nor even to know any children. The one essential is to retain a clear memory, unclouded by sentiment or nostalgia, of one's childhood; not just of events, but of feelings and thoughts and attitudes. Very few people have this power of recall, which is one reason why very few people write good children's books. Alison Lurie, in her study of what she calls ‘subversive children's literature’ [Don't Tell the Grown-Ups] makes a clear distinction between subjects which adults have traditionally thought suitable for the...