This is the first full-length study of South African English youth literature to cover the entire period of its publication, from the late nineteenth century to the early twenty-first century. Jenkins' book focuses on what made the subsequent literature essentially South African and what aspects of the country and its society authors concentrated on. What gives this book particular strength is its coverage of literature up to the 1960s, which has until now received almost no scholarly attention. Not only is this earlier literature a rewarding subject for study in itself, but it also throws light on subsequent literary developments. Another exceptional feature is that the book follows the author’s previous work in placing children’s literature in the context of adult South African literature and South African cultural history (e.g. cinema). He also makes enlightening comparisons with American, Canadian and Australian children’s literature.

While such countries as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand have long had full attention paid to their children's English-language bibliographical heritage, South Africa has not, until now. This is a book about children's literature that was written in English and (a) was written by a South African or (b) had noteworthy South African content or (c) was published in South Africa. Chapter One covers the authors and their books, providing brief biographical sketches of important authors and descriptions of some of their works. Chapter Two discusses the readers of such literature and how the authors came to write for their particular audiences. Chapters Three through Nine discuss multiple heroes and action, gender issues, piety, humor, South Africa's natural history, language, names, indigenous inhabitants, English-speaking colonials and the British, and politics and war as they relate to South Africa in children's literature.