Robert J. Kirkpatrick facts for kids

Robert J. Kirkpatrick is a British writer and researcher. He is well-known for his work on boys' fiction, which means stories written for young boys. He was born in Stourbridge, England, on November 2, 1953.

Before becoming a full-time writer, he worked for a group called the Notting Hill Housing Trust starting in 1990. There, he helped write guides on how housing associations could work better.

Exploring Boys' Stories

Robert J. Kirkpatrick has written many books and articles about stories for boys. He is also the Secretary of the Children's Books History Society. This society is a British group connected to special collections of children's books in the Toronto Public Library in Canada. He has written several short books for this society.

Looking at G.A. Henty's School Tales

One of Kirkpatrick's interesting works is called Henty Goes to School: School Life in the Novels of G.A. Henty. In this book, he looks at how school life was shown in the stories of G.A. Henty. Henty was a very famous writer of adventure stories for boys.

Kirkpatrick started by talking about Henty's own school days. Then, he shared parts from Henty's books that described school life. He added his own thoughts and comments on these parts. It's interesting to know that G.A. Henty never wrote a whole book that was only about school.

Focusing on Book Pictures

More recently, Robert J. Kirkpatrick has been very interested in the pictures found in children's books. He has written two books specifically about these illustrations. He has also written many detailed life stories of illustrators (the artists who draw pictures for books) on a website called the Bear Alley blog. These illustrators worked on children's books between 1844 and 1970.

Robert J. Kirkpatrick's Books

Robert J. Kirkpatrick has written many books and guides. Here are some of his notable works:

• Bullies, Beaks and Flannelled Fools: This book is a guide to boys' school stories written between 1742 and 2000.
• The Encyclopedia of Boys' School Stories: He wrote this with Rosemary Auchmuty and Joy Wotton.
• From the Penny Dreadful to the Ha'penny Dreadfuller: This book explores the history of boys' magazines and comics in Britain from 1762 to 1950.
• Henty Goes to School: This book looks at school life in the novels of G.A. Henty.
• Picturing Tom Brown: This book shows how artists have drawn pictures for the famous book "Tom Brown's Schooldays."
• The Men Who Drew for Boys (and Girls): This book shares information about 101 forgotten artists who illustrated children's books.