SOURCE: Blyth, Catherine. “A Child's-Eye View.” Times Literary Supplement, no. 4894 (27 January 1997): 20.

In the following review, Blyth lauds the selection of stories chosen by Moore in the anthology The Faber Book of Contemporary Stories about Childhood.

Roald Dahl did much to dispel cosy notions of the story for children. Lorrie Moore's anthology, The Faber Book of Contemporary Stories about Childhood, takes a similar line with adult tales of childhood. This collection shows that the construction of childhood innocence is a myth propagated by adults for adults. Moore distinguishes between stories about childhood and stories for children with her opening choice, “Lies” by Glenda Adams, in which Josephine watches her family disintegrate amid adultery and child abuse. Returning to school at the end of her vacation, “the teacher told us to write the story of our family”. When presented with Josephine's stark account, the teacher makes it clear what a...