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A Taste of Blackberries
''A Taste of Blackberries'' (HarperCollins, 1973) is an award-winning children's book by Doris Buchanan Smith (June 1, 1934 - August 8, 2002).
==Background and reception==
When Doris Buchanan Smith set out to find a publisher for ''A Taste of Blackberries'' what she found was rejection. Publishers considered the theme of her book better suited to adults than to children. Yet it is the theme, and ground-breaking approach, for which ''A Taste of Blackberries'' is remembered. If death was once a common theme in children's books, think ''Oliver Twist'', it had become taboo and remained so until 1952, when E. B. White acquainted modern young readers with the theme in ''Charlotte's Web''.
''Charlotte's Web'' had for many years been accepted as the template for addressing mortality in children's books. And then Smith’s story appeared, a story in which animals do not stand-in for humans. In the 1970s, literary realism had taken hold, and Smith was at the vanguard of the movement, acquainting young readers with "the darker, harsher side of life." According to author and blogger Pauline Dewan; "Many writers believe that authors do not help children by sheltering them from the problems of the real world." Indeed, most of the young readers with whom the author spoke told her they liked ''A Taste of Blackberries'' "because it was sad." In an interview in the ''Dictionary of Literary Biography'', Smith recalled that ''A Taste of Blackberries'' had started out as an adventure story, before it took an unexpected and tragic turn in her imagination. So upset was Smith with this notion that she quit writing the book. Smith however returned to complete it, by focusing on the differences in the ways children and adults respond to mortality, and by telling the story from the point of view of the young narrator.
Rejected by as many as three publishers, ''A Taste of Blackberries'' was accepted by Thomas Y. Crowell Co., now HarperCollins, and released to wide acclaim in May, 1973. "Smith deals honestly and emphatically with the range of emotions," wrote Cynthia Westway in ''The Atlanta Journal'', "the story is not, however, an elegy; but a celebration of the continuity of the life-death cycle." In the ''Times Literary Supplement'', David Rees wrote, "It will be difficult to find a children's book this autumn by a new author as good as Doris Buchanan Smith's ''A Taste of Blackberries'' . . . Smith's success lies in knowing how to handle the theme with exactly the right balance of sensitivity, humour and open emotion." Scholastic, Inc. praised Charles Robinsons' illustrations, saying they "capture the loneliness and confusion expressed by the narrator with haunting precision."
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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