Criticism > Contemporary Literary Criticism > Coles, Robert - A. J. S. (review date 1993)

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A. J. S. (review date 1993)

SOURCE: Review of The Spiritual Life of Children, in Harvard Educational Review, Vol. 63, No. 1, 1993, pp. 121-22.

[The following review looks at the successes of The Spiritual Life of Children at presenting its subject.]

In the beginning of The Spiritual Life of Children, Robert Coles shares with us the difficulty he had in talking to Hopi children about matters of Hopi spirituality and theology. He attempted to interview the children during school hours, but was continually frustrated by their reluctance to discuss the subject at hand. Coles was about to give up and pack his bags when he happened to meet a Hopi mother who took the time to "educate" this renowned Harvard professor of child psychiatry and Pulitzer Prize winning author on the reasons behind the almost-mute reactions of the children to his questions. She informed Coles that the Hopi children "won't ever want to talk with you...

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1. Introduction
2. Principal Works
3. Criticism
   1. Melvin J. Friedman (review date Fall 1982)
   2. Neil Postman (review date 19 January 1986)
   3. Katherine Paterson (review date 2 February 1986)
   4. Jonathan Kellerman (review date 9 February 1986)
   5. New Yorker (review date 10 February 1986)
   6. John Leo (review date 17 March 1986)
   7. Kenneth L. Woodward (review date 6 September 1987)
   8. Jeff Dietrich (review date 13 September 1987)
   9. Fitzhugh Mullan (review date 8 May 1988)
   10. Helen Bevington (review date 26 February 1989)
   11. Francis X. Rocca (review date March 1989)
   12. Iain Bamforth (review date 7-13 July 1989)
   13. Sanford Pinsker (essay date Summer 1989)
   14. Herbert Mitgang (review date 21 November 1990)
   15. Laura Sessions Stepp (review date 23 December 1990)
   16. The New Yorker (review date 7 January 1991)
   17. Virginia C. Hoch (review date 26 August-2 September 1992)
   18. A. J. S. (review date 1993)
   19. Michelle Huneven (essay date 3 October 1993)
   20. Robert A. Sirico (review date 15 November 1993)
   21. Gail Russell Chaddock (review date 9 December 1993)
   22. Ed Walraven (essay date 1994)
   23. Paulina F. Kernberg (review date October 1994)
   24. Richard Bernstein (review date 27 January 1997)
4. Further Reading
5. Copyright