“A Famous Writer Comes to Our Pages”: James Cowan’s Children’s Writing for the Enzed Junior

Abstract

The Enzed Junior, the children’s pages of the Auckland Star, included 255 articles written by James Cowan between 1936 and 1941. Drawing widely on his lifetime’s research, Cowan took his younger readers on journeys over frontiers, onto battle sites and on New Zealand “history trails,” revealing the enthusiasms and fascinations which had characterised his career. This paper surveys the content and themes of his writing for the Enzed Junior.