Austen-Inspired Children’s Book Suggestions

I have a number of children’s books which are Austen-inspired, but as they are so much shorter than the books I usually blog about I thought I’d put a post together featuring a few. If you’re interested in ones I’ve looked at previously you can see posts about a version of Pride & Prejudice for younger readers here, and a biography of Austen here. 

Firstly, Cozy Classics Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice by Jack & Holman Wang– this is a board book for babies featuring pictures of needle-felted characters with single words on each page. The characters are really SO cute – mostly inspired by Pride & Prejudice 2005 by the looks of them, although I’d say Elizabeth looks more like the 1995 or maybe even based on Jane Austen. I would recommend this as part of a baby gift to a parent who is a P&P fan. Five Stars

Young Jane Austen: Becoming a Writer by Lisa Pliscou

There are many biographies of Jane Austen, most of which focus on her writing years. We know that Jane wrote plays and stories from around the age of 12 but this biography instead focuses more on her life before she started writing, to look at what formed her up until that point. Not much is known of Austen’s childhood, but Pliscou has pulled together what was known of general life at the time, and of the Austens’ lives in particular. The first section of the biography is in a speculative style, i.e. third person, but giving an insight on what may have been Jane Austen’s point of view at the time in question:

Guest Post and Giveaway - Young Jane Austen: On Being “Farmed Out” As a Baby by Lisa Pliscou

Today I'm pleased to welcome author Lisa Pliscou, who has written a book called 'Young Jane Austen: Becoming a Writer', focusing particularly on Austen's early life, which is due out this month, on the 20 April. When I looked at Lisa's website to find out more about the book I was particularly struck by a snippet on there which mentioned that Jane Austen had been sent to live with a family in the village as an infant. I know this wasn't particularly unusual for the times but as a mother myself, it seems a completely unnatural situation!

Lisa has written us a blog post on the 'farming out' of babies, and there's an opportunity for one of you to win a copy of the book too. So without further ado, I'll pass over to Lisa.