CHILDREN’S

LITERATURE
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Some people mistakenly believe, writes
children’s author Jill Paton Walsh, “that
something written for children is necessarily
inferior, could not be a serious work of art.” As
award-winning Katherine Peterson argues, many
intelligent, well-meaning people think that
”while adult literature may aim to be art, the
object of children’s books is to whip the little
rascals into shape. ”
But great children’s stories are powerful,
imaginative, and memorable; they resonate
with readers of all ages and have a lasting and
profound impact. This site will examine a
selection of classic children’s novels as
distinguished works of art. It will look at what
makes these novels notable and why they
have such universal appeal.
Stories teach children how to cope with life’s
challenges. They provide a trial run of life’s
possibilities. They also transmit the
accumulated wisdom and values of our
culture. Children learn through models and
heroes.
 Key themes and concerns in children’s
literature

Home School Parents

Siblings Grandparents Friendship
Toys, dolls, play Pets and animals Birthdays
Holidays Magic Imagination
Children thrive on patterns that provide order and
meaning to their lives. As Jon Stott points out, the
best children’s authors choose details that are
significant and arrange them into meaningful
pattern. People’s lives are like a series of random
event; an effective author shows the connections
between events, thereby creating meaning and
significance.
 Patterns in Children’s Literature
Home-away-home
Movement from a protected environment to a new,
adverse, or challenging environment
City-country-city(sometimes reverse)
Real world-fantasy world-real world
Life-death-rebirth
Separation from and reunion with parents (many classic
adult novels end with marriage; many children’s stories
end with a reunion with parents)
 Patterns in Children’s Literature

Help others less fortunate and they will help you

Movement from innocence to experience, often
patterned after the biblical fall
Coming age, rite of passage
Journey symbolizing development
Seasonal cycle
A knowledge of the historical background
of young people’s literature through the
ages helps us understand the forces
affecting the development of children’s
literature and their characteristics at
different periods. The development of
children’s literature reflect the spirit and
interests of the period.
Before the invention in the fifteenth
century of the printing press, which made
books more widely available, children
listened to stories told by their elders. The
stories were about the adventures of the
older people about animals and imaginary
characters.
These stories were passed on by word
of mouth from generation to
generation before they were collected
for printing.
Early Beginnings: Anglo Saxon Period
EARLY BEGINNINGS: ANGLO SAXON
PERIOD
As far back as the Anglo-Saxon Period, monks and other
learned men wrote "lesson books" for children. These lesson
books were designed for teaching. The first man to write lesson
books for children was Aldhelm (640-709), abbot of
Malmesbury and bishop of Shernorne. His De Septenario, de
Metris, Enigmatibus, ac Pedum Regulis contained the meaning
and use of the number seven in the bible, riddles, and puzzles
in Latin which children were asked to solve.
 THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD
By the fifteenth century, books on manners and
morals began to appear in England by 1430. One of
The Medieval Period

these was William Caxton's Boke of Curtayse

published about 1477. Another was The Babies Boke
which had the subtitle Manners and Meals in the
Olden Times. This book contained rules of behavior
for boys who trained to become knights during the
Age of Chivalry.
 ABC BOOKS
In the sixteenth century, ABC books or primers
appeared. They were so called because they were
used at the hour of prime as a book of private
ABC Books

devotions in the Angelican Church. Henry VIII had

ordered the printing of both Catholic and Protestant
primers that contained the alphabet and Christian
principles. Thus, the term primer came to be applied
to all the first books for children in school.
ABC Books
 HORNBOOK
The hornbooks, which were not really books, appeared
toward the end of the sixteenth century. These were the first
books designed for children to handle. They were about 3 by 4 1/2
inches long and 2 inches wide. Capital letters followed by vowels
Hornbook

and their combinations with consonants were printed across the

top. The Lord's Prayer was printed at the bottom. The paper used
for this was covered with a transparent horn - hence the name
"hornbook" - and was held in place by metals like silver, brass and
copper. These books could be hung around the necks of children.
The hornbooks were used to teach the alphabet and combinations
of letters and to continue religious instruction.
Hornbooks
 CHAPBOOKS
In the sixteenth century, printing became cheaper.
Single sheets of paper printed on one side only called
broadsides were issued. These broadsides contained
Chapbooks

ballads of Robin Hood. In 1697 Charles Perrault, a

Frenchman, published his collection of tales entitled
Comtes de Ma Mere L' Oye or Tales of My Mother Goose.
Translations of these tales were published separately as
chapbooks in England. These books were called chapbooks
because they were sold by itinerant peddlers called
chapmen.
Chapbooks
 PURITAN PERIOD
In England and America, books for children were
influenced by Puritan ideas. The books stressed fear of
Puritan Period

God, religious instruction and preparation for death

which the children did not enjoy. Children read books
that interested them although the books were for
adults like John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress (1678),
Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1714), Jonathan
Swift's Gulliver's Travels (1726), Mallory's Death of King
Arthur, Reynard the Fox, and Aesop's Fables.
 PURITAN PERIOD
Between 1683 and 1691, the New England
Primer, a book made especially for the children of the
Puritan Period

American colonies, appeared. It was a small book,

about 3 by 4 1/2 inches and had about 100 pages. It
contained the alphabet, words and syllables for
spelling lessons, the Lord's Prayer, catechism, hymns
and verses, rhymes for each letter of the alphabet.
 FIRST PICTURE BOOK
In 1658, the first illustrated school book
appeared. It was known as Orbis Sensualum or Orbis
First Picture Book

Pictus (The World in Pictures). It was invented by

Johann Amos Comenius, Bishop of Moravia and an
educator who believed in teaching children by letting
them see things with their own eyes. The book was
originally written in Latin and German, but was later
translated by Charles Hooke in England in 1664.
Frist picture
book
17th century and 18th century books
17TH CENTURY AND 18TH CENTURY BOOKS
Books in the seventeenth century stressed religion and
morals due to the rise of Protestantism. In 1715, Dr. Isaac
Watts published Divine and Moral Songs for Children, a
companion volume to The New England Primer. Some writers
consider Isaac Watts as the starting point of the history of
children's literature, and "The Cradle Hymn" as the first
children's poem.
The battledore (1746-1770) succeeded the hornbook. It was a
4 by 6 1/2 three-leaved cardboard that folded like a
pocketbook. It had the alphabet and easy-reading matter that
made it popular until 1840.
Battledore
 JOHN NEWBERRY ERA
John Newberry (1713-1767) was a writer and publisher
who first thought of publishing books solely for children. He
John Newberry Era

was called the "father of children's literature" for he

conceived the idea of publishing books for the enjoyment and
entertainment of children. In 1744, he published his Little
Pretty Pocket Book, the first book that can be truly called a
child's book. He also published a collection of nursery rhymes
and called it Mother Goose Melody. An award for the most
distinguished children's book - The Newberry Award - was
named after him in 1922.
 THE DIDACTIC PERIOD
Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712- 1778) was a French
philosopher who started a new philosophy in the education of
children. His book Emile embodied the philosophy that children
Didactic Period

be given freedom to develop their natural interests and learn

from actual experience. He advocated that children be taught
about the real things and the world in which they live. Another
writer of this period was Thomas Day who published his History
of Sanford and Merton, a story about a good little boy and his
teacher and both tried to reform a bad boy. The Peter Parley
books were informational books about countries of the world,
about the wonders of science and about historical figures.
The Return of Fairy Tales Old and New
THE RETURN OF FAIRY TALES OLD AND NEW
The influence of didacticism was unable to control
permanently children's love for fairy tales. The publication of
Grimm's Fairytales revived the interest for the imaginative
stories. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm collected the old German
stories not for the entertainment of children but to record
them scientifically for posterity. These stories were translated
into English in 1823 and were called Grimm's Popular Stories.
Hans Christian Andersen published his Fairy Tales in 1846. He
was regarded as the great master of the literary fairy tale.
Among his tales were "Thumbelina", "The Emperor's New
Clothes", and "The Nightingale".
The Return of Fairy Tales Old and New
The Return of Fairy Tales Old and New
Edward Lear's Book of Nonsense marked the need
for laughter in the normal development of children.
Lewis Carroll was a mathematics professor at the
Oxford University who made up stories for a little girl
named Alice Lidell whom Lewis became very fond. Alice
was so delighted with the stories and she asked Lewis to
write them down for her. He called his collection of stories
Alice in Wonderland. It was followed by Through the
Looking Glass.
 REALISTIC LITERATURE
This period was marked with the appearance of
stories of boys and girls in simple home situations,
Realistic Literature

stories of adventure, of brave men and women,

history and growth of countries, the wonders of
nature and science. The best example of realistic story
was Louisa M. Alcott's Little Women in 1868. This is
the story of four little girls, their petty quarrels, their
courage and their affection for one another. This was
followed by Little Men
 Recent Trends in Children’s Literature
Recent decades have brought additional changes in the
publishing of children’s literature. The market for children’s
literature has been influenced by demand from parents,
children with increased buying power, and a proliferation
of serial writing to boost sales. In addition, there have
been changes in the content of children’s books related to
gender, diversity, and social class (Ching, 2005; Englehardt,
1991; Gangi, 2004; Hunt, 1995; Larrick, 1965; Taxel, 1997; Zipes,
2001).
 Recent Trends in Children’s Literature
While the impact on children’s literature due to cultural
influences has been apparent throughout the decades,
current trends center mostly on digital and technological
advances in our society. Technological advances have
exerted huge effects on printing and publishing
capabilities. Beyond printing capabilities, authors and
illustrators are writing to maintain the attention of children
accustomed to the fast-paced sensory input of digital
resources.
 Recent Trends in Children’s Literature
As Anstey and Bull (2006) explained, contemporary books are
products of changing times that require new understandings about
text and are well suited for teaching and preparing students to be
multiliterate individuals. Multiliterate individuals are socially
responsible, informed citizens who are flexible and strategic as they
engage in literacy practices with a variety of text types in a diverse
world
Changes in contemporary children’s books are not only related
to digital and technological influences but also the influence of a
cultural movement of the late 20th century known as postmodernism.
 Recent Trends in Children’s Literature

Postmodernism is largely a reaction to the assumed

certainty of scientific, or objective, efforts to explain
reality. In essence, it stems from a recognition that
reality is not simply mirrored in human
understanding of it, but rather, is constructed as the
mind tries to understand its own particular and
personal reality.
 Recent Trends in Children’s Literature

For this reason, postmodernism is highly skeptical of

explanations which claim to be valid for all groups,
cultures, traditions, or races, and instead focuses on the
relative truths of each person. In the postmodern
understanding, interpretation is everything; reality only
comes into being through our interpretations of what the
world means to us individually.
 Recent Trends in Children’s Literature

Noting the changes in children’s literature related to

digital and postmodern influences, teachers are
tasked with determining how and when texts should
be used in today’s classrooms.
Certain Basic Needs for Children as well as Adults

1. Material Security – It embraces everything that

gives him comfort and well-being. The old fairy tales
were told by people who seldom had enough to eat
or to keep them comfortable. So the tales were full
of splendid palaces, rich clothes, and sumptuous
food.
Certain Basic Needs for Children as well as Adults

2. Emotional Security – the need to love and to be

loved. Stories of home life are popular with children
of all ages.
Certain Basic Needs for Children as well as Adults

3. Intellectual Security - the need to know things more

accurately. One must realize that the keener a child’s
intelligence, the wider his intellectual curiosities. Books
full of information on various subjects – birds, plants,
domestic and wild animals, other land, airplanes, jets,
rockets, are available in readable, accurate, and well-
illustrated books. Dictionaries and Encyclopedias.
Certain Basic Needs for Children as well as Adults

4 The Need to Achieve, to Do or be Someone Worthy

of Respect - children, as well as adults, have a strong
desire to achieve, to do something for which they will
be respected and loved.
Certain Basic Needs for Children as well as Adults

5. Need for Recreation and Diversion – fairy tales,

stories of adventure and romance are examples. Books
of laughter help dissolve fear and tensions.
Certain Basic Needs for Children as well as Adults
6. Need to Belong – to be a part of a group. Stories about
family life, the school, his community, his country and later
about the world about him. Children not only need to
belong to their own group but, to identify themselves
warmly and sympathetically with other groups and people.
Children should read books about people of other races,
creeds or nations which are honestly and appealingly
presented.
Certain Basic Needs for Children as well as Adults

7. The Need to Love and be Loved - every human

being wants to love and be loved. It is in his family
that the child learns his first lessons in the loves of
affectionate relationships. His sense of security
develops from these family patterns.
END