'This is a book about childhood, but it is not a mere literary essay, it is a work of the widest learning, exploring the whole field of the subject ... a book rich in ideas, rich in information, rich in wisdom ...indeed, a kind of Anatomy of Childhood.' The Listener

'An enchanting book, and one that is certain of deepening affection in every house into which it finds its way.'
Observer

'Only Walter de la Mare could have devised these ceremonies and been the master of them. In this conjuration of childhood he has amassed its evidence as displayed in many autobiographies, and has set against this the letters, diaries, stories and verses of these children ... His company ranges from mill hands and chimney sweeps to two queens of England; it embraces the whole gamut of the English poets; mathematicians and philosophers, though not so plentiful, are discovered to have been children once.' New Statesman