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Study Guide in ECEd 108 Children’s Literature Module No._1_

STUDY GUIDE FOR MODULE NO. 1

INTRODUCTION TO CHILDREN’S LITERATURE

MODULE OVERVIEW

In this course we shall embark on the concepts and perspectives of children’s literature in the early
childhood education. Module 1 of this course is the introductory part. This will take us to an overview of
children’s literature. We shall then discuss the knowledge bases of children’s literature in early education,
including the literacy elements, history of children’s literature, and the importance of building love of reading
and enjoyment of books in the early years.
We will explore how children’s literature has always had a place in the school curriculum. As you will
see later that though the emphasis on the literary experiences of young people at school have changed from
time to time, the basic commitment to literature as a valuable ingredient to their education has remained.

MODULE LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the end of this Module, you should be able to:

1. Explain the knowledge bases of children’s literature in early education.

2. Identify the literary elements.
3. Advocate for the importance of building love of reading and enjoyment of books in the early years.
4. Discuss the history of children’s literature.

LEARNING CONTENT 1: KNOWLEDGE BASE OF CHILDREN’S LITERATURE IN EARLY

EDUCATION: DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE PRACTICES, CONSTRUCTIVIST APPROACH,
HUGE COLLECTION OF QUALITY BOOKS FOR YOUNG CHILDREN

Through literature the child develops his tastes in reading for pleasure. If he experiences satisfaction
in the stories the teacher reads, he will seek out this satisfaction in other stories. Satisfaction, happiness,
contentment, fun, joy, positive release, pleasure: all of these should accompany the literature period in the
classroom.

Literature fulfills a need in the classroom which does not confine it to the language arts alone. It
touches on every aspect of living and should be an integral part of the school program. At least every day or in
some situations or instances more than this, a teacher should read a poem or story or tell a story to the
children regardless of their age range or grade placement. There is a wealth of good literature for every
occasion that the teacher can choose from.

Children need literature to enrich their own language. Literature is a beautiful language, thus freeing
him to expose its meaning and requiring him to use his higher mental processes. The processes of thinking,
perceiving, remembering, forming concepts, generalizing, and abstracting are made possible as the child
acquires his vocabulary.

Literature provides various experiences which enhance the development of children. They can
increase their knowledge, change their outlook, broaden their interest, develop desirable attitudes and values,
refine their tastes, modify their behavior, and stimulate intellectual and emotional growth and on various ways
help to prepare them for more effective participation in social processes and for living life fully.

Children’s literature contributes toward creative development in boys and girls and offers many
opportunities for creative teaching. The creative teaching of literature can contribute to creative development
in many ways:

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1. It can children to write for themselves. Children who write their own literature are always eager to
see what others write.
2. It can help build a vocabulary that will help the child to express himself better.
3. It can help children build skills in expression.
4. It can develop sensitivity to sights, sounds, words, life’s problems and people.

Cognitive constructivism emanates from the work of Jean Piaget. Piaget saw the child as an explorer
or scientist who investigates the world around him to construct his own understandings and to structure his
world intellectually through experience (Edwards, 2005). According to this argument, young children were
viewed as needing to actively explore their learning environments in order to build their own understandings of
the world and its various phenomena” (Edwards, 2005, p. 38). The role of the teacher is therefore to provide
experiences which will promote learning (Palmer, 2005).

In settings based upon cognitive constructivism, guidelines for practice recommended by the National
Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) have long been used to promote Developmentally
Appropriate Practice (DAP) (Edwards, 2005). According to Bredekamp & Copple in NAEYC’s position
statement on DAP (1997): Development and learning are dynamic processes requiring that adults understand
the continuum, observe children closely to match curriculum and teaching to children’s emerging
competencies, needs, and interests, and then help children move forward by targeting educational
experiences to the edge of children’s changing capacities so as to challenge but not frustrate them ...
understanding that children are active constructors of knowledge and that development and learning are the
result of interactive processes, early childhood teachers recognize that children’s play is a highly supportive
context for these developing processes, (in Edwards, 2005).

Appropriateness for children with all its aspects means that the formal, contextual and didactic attributes
of a book should correspond with the child’s nature, interests and needs, linguistic and cognitive capacity and
perspective, and that the book meets literary criteria and that it reflects artist sensitivity as well.

Characteristics comprising the child reality from birth to age 6 are:

• Children’s nature includes curiosity, exploration, adventure, imagination, dynamism, sincerity, playing
and nonexistence of advice and commands.
• Children need love, confidence, and faith, to recognize and to know, to be cared and accepted, to take
responsibility, to have new experiences, autonomy and responsibility, creativity, and art and
aesthetics.
• Children are attracted by unexpected, distinct, new, firstly met, unusual, eye-catching, mysterious,
extraordinary, entertaining, astonishing, ridiculous, weird, interesting, exciting phenomena, facts,
experiences and elements.
• Children’s perspective are reflected by their concrete, imaginary, subjective criteria; evaluations and
explanations for facts, and by their single-minded, clear and plain ideas compared to adults’ social,
abstract, realist, multi-minded and sophisticated ideas, objective criteria and evaluations, reasonability
and rationality.
• Children’s linguistic and cognitive capacities are shaped by their cognitive, linguistic, affective, and
biological competence; by drawn and painted visual texts, verbal texts, intelligence, and by their
vocabulary, social and cultural environment. Hence, it is necessary to take the child’s current level into
consideration.

In brief, in children’s books from 2 to age 4, design attributes consisting of paper quality, cover, binding,
letter character and font size, layout and pictures should have the following criteria:

• Paper:
Cardboard or high quality paper, which is to make visuals and writings clear, legible and
outstanding should be preferred. Papers of books should be made of long-lasting and qualified
material instead of thin and glossy paper.

• Cover:
a) The cover should have a conception which will arouse curiosity and desire for exploration in
children and make him ask the questions “why and how” by exciting him.

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b) The cover should give clues for uncovering of the mystery, too, as parallel to the mystery which
the fiction should have.
c) The cover should prefer visuals, related to the content, created in contrasting and vivid colors
and in plain and dynamic lines.
d) The ground-figure relation on the cover should render the visual noticeable. Visuals on the
cover should be consistent without causing even a slight complexity.
e) Since the item which is supposed to be pointed out should be in the child’s angle of sight, the
item to be pointed out on the cover should be balanced in terms of side, measurement, gap,
pattern, color and line. f) Cardboards should be preferred.

• Binding:
a) The fact that the child turns the pages of the book again and again; returns to the very
beginning; pulls it; looks at the same visual for hours; touches all over the visual etc. mean that
binding must be firm and long-lasting.
b) Since the child takes objects in his mouth, shakes them, and throws them on the ground, it is
not possible to make bindings with wire and glue; it must be stitched.

• Letter character and Size:

Letter size should be clear, plain, and noticeable in 30-24 font size so that it could be recollected in
mind. Intertwined and vague letter characters should not be used just so that the book should be
ostentatious.

• Dimension: Dimensional variety of books increases the child’s desire for exploring the book. Hence,
prototyped books having the same dimension not only affect the child’s perception of dimension
but also may cause his interest to lessen.
• Layout:
a) Using visuals which may negatively affect the child’s comprehension as a background for writings on
the page child reads; drawing visuals too big or too small; irrelevances among visuals or spaces, and
inconsistencies like similar coloring and toning should not exist.
b) The consistency between both elements (color, shape, line, pattern, toning, color, space) forming the
visual and ground-figure relation on the page besides spaces should both be attractive and
contribute to the child’s reception.

• Pictures:
a) Since pictures draw the child’s attention and have significant contributions to the child’s conceptual
development, visuals should be rendered noticeable with plain and dynamic lines and with
contrasting and bright colors.
b) Pictures should be visible in the smallest detail.
c) There should be parallelism between the child’s reception level and elements like color, line,
dimension, shape, and space forming the visual.
d) Pictures should have a conception which meets the child’s needs for knowing, recognizing, and
learning; tries to respond questions with clues within, makes him enthusiastic, happy, astonished, and
laugh.
e) Unity and consistency in illustrated books, which are created by visual elements like color, line, space,
shape, pattern, and dimension should both draw the child’s attention and reflect his nature. For this
reason, it is necessary to organize visuals by smooth, curved, indented and rounded lines;
contrasting, bright, vivid colors; objects and entities in different dimensions; spaces pointing out the
action or the character; tangible surfaces giving the sense of authenticity, and shapes depicting
sentimental situations and actions.
f) Pictures in each page should describe the concepts or the action to the end of the book.
g) There should also be personified characters (animals, plants, objects etc.) in books, along with child
characters.
h) In pictures created in plain lines, sheer colors (in which there is little light and shadow or none)
should be used; specific characteristics of entities which pictures animate should attract children.
ı) Visual content that is presented in full one page or two in aesthetic and fictional sense should provide
easiness of observing for children

Design attributes consisting of paper, cover, binding, letter character and size, dimension, layout and
pictures of books for children from 4 to age 6 should have the following criteria:

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• Paper: It should not be made of matt, thin, bright, glossy, or low-quality paper but of the high qualified
one. When the child looks at the page, it should neither tire his eyes nor should it cause difficulty of reception.
The paper should render the characters in the visual and their relationships clear and explicit.

• Cover: The cover should include unexpected, eye-catching, ridiculous, extraordinary, interesting, and
astonishing elements related to the content. It should not have frightening and worrying visuals just because it
should be extraordinary and supernatural. The cover should respond to children’s nature, cognitive capacities,
interests and needs along with foreshadowing feedbacks for the content. The cover should be rendered
dynamic by visuals created in plain lines and in colors having light-dark contrast.

• Binding: String and glue can be used; however, it is not recommended to use only glue since it may
limit the child’s constant interaction with the book.

• Letter Character and Size: The letter character should be apparently visible and distinguishable, and it
should be in 24-20 font size.

• Dimension: There should be books in different dimensions which can respond to children’s interests,
and which can constantly draw their attention. The dimension of the book should be able to reflect the story
intended to be told in the visual in a way that will cause no difficulty in receiving.

• Layout:
a) The color, line, letter, pattern, toning, shape and spaces reforming the page should firstly be in
coherence.
b) Conflicts and tensions reflected by elements in the page should not be placed on the page
incoherently. These elements should be able to reflect what is conveyed in the page/pages in a
convenient order.
c) Colors on the page should reflect the character’s feelings and thoughts; show the impact of the
story and render this impact more impressive using light-dark contrast.
d) Lines should be able to reveal the depth of feelings and thoughts and display the character’s
actions and kinesis.
e) Shapes should be presented in a sense that will not cause difficulty of reception.
f) Spaces should be created as to be related to the aesthetic and fictional unity of the page.
g) Through pattern, visuals on the page should arouse the sense of touching.
h) Through toning, the fact intended to be told or feelings and thoughts should be rendered explicit
or profound.
• Pictures:
a) They should have attributes appropriate for the child’s nature; reflect his excitement and joy by
offering him to enjoy, imagine and play.
b) Visuals organized in an ordinary pattern, color, line, shape, and dimension style and which
reveal its mystery at once should not be included in books.
c) A visual rendered impressive by contrasting colors and plain lines should also be impressive in
fictional and cognitive sense.
d) The artist should both design the color, line, pattern, space, shape and dimension in an
attractive way and form a dramatic setting appropriately to the child’s level.
e) The dynamic structure of the visuals in illustrated books; their multicolored worlds, their
attractiveness with cute, interesting colors help the child recognize objects and entities around
by letting the child have a warm interaction with visuals themselves.
f) Pictures should discipline the child’s sense of sight and improve aesthetic perception.
g) Pictures should let the child take on responsibility of sensing and thinking in a way that is open
to interpretation.

Contextual attributes consisting of character, plot, theme, language, and narration in children’s books
for 2-4 age range should have the following criteria:

• Character:
a) It should be attractive by appearance. Therefore, the character should be created in sheer and bright
colors and in plain and dynamic lines.

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b) The character should respond to the child’s needs for love and confidence and it should not be
designed by behaviors and facial expressions which may associate negative feelings in physical
sense.
c) The character should make the child sense feelings like fear, concern, and anxiety. So, it should
make the child sense positive feelings by using warm and pastel colors instead of dark, matt, and
pale ones.
d) The character should not act and behave unusually to make the child have difficulty in understanding.
In other words, the actions and behaviors of the character should be consistent, clear, and explicit.
e) The character should be sincere, credible, and dynamic.
f) Personified characters (animals, plants, objects etc.) along with child characters should exist in books.

 Plot:
a) Didactic books should describe entities and objects. It should teach children designations, actions,
behaviors, singular and plural concepts etc. Concepts should be concrete, simple, familiar, and
easy to understand.
b) In books of literary quality, circumstances related to the child’s own life, animals and supernatural
beings etc. should be discerned.

• Language and Narration:

a) The story intended to be narrated should be rendered clear and simple in a way to make the reader
sense a dynamic diction. Therefore, action-based sentences and clauses, recapitulations,
repetitions, assonances, rhymed structures, short statements etc. are needed.
b) It is necessary not to order intertwined, complicated clauses in linguistic and narrative sense or first
names more than one, determiners and pronouns consecutively.
c) Concepts in didactic books should have concrete, obvious, familiar and easy-to-tell characteristics.

• Theme:
Didactic texts should provide visual information and teach; literary texts should make sense of
themes for human love, love of life and nature.

In books for children from 2 to age 4, the content which consists of character, plot, theme, language,
and narration should have the following criteria:

• Character:
a) The actions and behaviors, feelings, and thoughts of the physically developed character
should be rendered clear and explicit.
b) The character should not be superficially created. The artist, in each conflict of the character,
should depict the appropriate details to the conflict apparently.
c) The character should be made to ask questions, examine, set out on an adventure, and
communicate so that it could draw the child’s attention and meet his needs in this period. Both
the personified character and a child character on the same age level can perform these
actions.
d) The character should be rendered attractive with contrasting and bright colors and plain and
dynamic depending on the condition of the conflict.
e) The fact that the child’s emotion and idea world constantly change; his desires differ and
mobilize states that the character should be dynamic as well.
f) A character displayed through pictures in a friendly, astonishing, interesting, supernatural,
ridiculous, and dynamic manner helps the child who wants to have fun, laugh, and question in
this period to intensify his interest.
g) Child’s sincerity and need for confidence show parallelism with the credibility of the character.
Hence, the character, with its emotions and thoughts, actions, and behaviors, should be
credible.

• Plot:
a) In didactic books, there should be concrete, simple, familiar, easy, and understandable
concepts appropriate for the child’s life.
b) In books of literary quality, storylines that will make children imagine, get excited, be happy,
astonish, laugh, and have fun should be preferred.

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c) In books of literary quality, storylines like violence, horror, anxiety, and worry should be by no
means handled because the child is not yet capable of coping with violence, fear, anxiety, and
worry.
d) Books of literary quality should make children sense of the warmth of a family, the beauty of
sharing, the significance of achievement and kindness, the merit of love towards nature, human
being and life, and reality of life with interesting, ridiculous, astonishing and extraordinary
elements.

• Language and Narration:

a) Books should make children sense of the power of the expression, beauty of articulation and
lexicology of their own mother tongue with verb clauses, repetitions, recapitulations, rhymed
structures, synonyms, and antonyms.
b) Prescriptive sentences should be used while describing the story. Simple clauses instead of
complex, intertwined combined sentences should be preferred in books.
c) More verb clauses should exist to provide dynamism along with noun clauses.
d) Too many adjectives, adverbs and pronouns should not be ordered consecutively. e) Simple,
definite, understandable, and easily comprehensible words and sentences should be preferred.
• Theme:
a) Books of didactic quality provide visual information and teach and educate.
b) Besides making children sense of moral and messages towards love of human, life and nature,
books of literary quality for children should also make them discern the meanings of concepts such
as animal, plant, color, vehicle, family, number, work, organ, place, time and object.

In children’s books for 4 – 6 years of age, content attributes consisting of the elements character,
theme, message, language, and narration should have the following criteria:

• Character:
a) Curious, questioning, researching, desiring to know, avoiding advice and command, enthusiastic,
dynamic, imaginative characters developed appropriately to the child’s developmental level should
be preferred for illustrated books for this period.
b) The character should provide feedback for children’s desire for achievement; make them feel the
sincerity for making friends; respond to their will to share; consider their tenacious and persistent
attitudes, and meet their needs for love, confidence, exploration and adventure.
c) The unity between characters created in bright/contrasting colors and plain/dynamic lines
appropriately to children’s nature and their actions and behaviors should reflect the child’s nature.
d) The child needs a natural and sincere character that plays like him and gets excited instantly, and
that cannot hide its astonishment against a supernatural and different phenomenon; that seeks new
things; asks questions about the obscurity. Therefore, characters should have these qualities.
e) Characters should be credible and dynamic.
f) The character should never advise and command.
• Plot:
a) Children should be discerned concepts like love, friendship, achievement, association, solidarity,
favor, helping, taking responsibility, integrity, honesty, sharing, illness, death, separation,
disability through a personified lovely protagonist. Thus, children should be made to feel love of
human being, animal, nature, and consciousness of environment.
b) Children’s curiosity, desire for exploration, sincerity, enthusiasm, imagination and creativity; their
needs for love, confidence, faith, acceptance, recognition, achievement, adventure, responsibility
and autonomy and their interest in supernatural, unusual, interesting, astonishing, ridiculous
phenomena should be met by actions and conflicts reforming the storyline.
c) Adults’ simplified beliefs and thoughts should not be handled as storylines in books.
d) Storylines should be full of action and dynamic.

• Language and Narration:

a) A simple, definite, plain, and understandable expression and narration style should be preferred;
however, the fact that the child can comprehend complex linguistic structures should also be
taken into consideration.
b) The fact that the child may cognitively be on the adult’s level and that he can now figure out
complex linguistic structures have an influence on the style of children’s books. Hence, language
and narration attributes appropriate for this level should be preferred.

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c) A dynamic narration style should be preferred using repetitions, assonances and alliterations,
recapitulations, rhymed structures, synonyms and antonyms, short sentences and verb clauses
created by creative opportunities of the language.

• Themes:
a) Themes of books of literary quality should be based on love of human being, nature and life.
b) Books of literary quality should never carry a statement or a thought around a conception of
dictation and imposition to children.
c) Sensitivity to life and nature should be sensed rather than a didactic and imposing way.
d) The artist should give the moral or the message by exemplification, giving evidence, comparison,
or relation.

Didactic attributes of books for children from birth to age 6 should have the following criteria:

• Teaching and educating:

a) Books of literary quality should not have a teaching conception except for didactic books; they
should let children have responsibilities of hearing, sensing, imagining, and thinking.
b) The artist should help children think in cause and effect relation rather than imposing their own
truths.
c) Children’s books should not regard children as an ideal adult to be educated by thinking of
shaping the child.
d) Children’s books should not tell the action single-sided to force readers to adopt his own view and
criticism.
• Advice and Command:
Children should not be advised and commanded by repressing their feelings and thoughts in
children’s books.

• Fear and Anxiety:

a) Children’s books should not affect children’s mental health with fearful, frightening characters.
b) Children’s books should not lead children to anxiety, rather than excitement, by creating so many
unnecessary sentimental tensions with dramatic elements in the setting.
c) The sense of fear should not be expressed to create sentimental tension. Children’s books can
make children sense how they can overcome the absolute fear.
d) Shame and sin, punishments, threatens, and frightening elements should never exist in children’s
books.
e) Irrational beings should not be used as a frightening element to impose a belief or an idea on
children.

• Ideological Concerns: works of child literature should be shaped neither by adults’ judgments nor by
ethical approaches, and nor by ideological statements.

• Sex Discrimination: Children’s books should approach men and women equally while making child
readers discern the social roles of people.

• A world of Bed of Roses:

a) Works of child literature should be against every kind of hoax and trickery showing the world a
bed of roses.
b) Children’s books should make sense of reality of life.

• Traditional Values: Works of child literature should present traditions in a critical viewpoint of today
rather than preserving them as they were in the past.

• Absolute and Fixed Truths: Children’s books should let children question sole and fixed truths by a
critical viewpoint instead of dictating these truths.

• Excessively sentimental elements:

a) Children’s books should respond to children’s emotional needs yet make histrionics.

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b) Circumstances creating sentimental intensity like compassion, sorrow and fear should not be
allowed in books in order not to cause sentimental torrent in child.

• Violence:
a) Emotional, physical and psychological violence may be included in children’s books; however, the
child should be able to sense how to cope with violence through these books.
b) The character in children’s books should not make itself successful when it faces violence and
use violence, in return, to solve this problem

LEARNING ACTIVITY 1

Given the equation below, write a discussion on the context of developmentally appropriate practices in using
children’s literature:

Knowing children +
Knowing how to teach +
Knowing what to teach +
= EFFECTIVE PRACTICE

LEARNING CONTENT 2: Importance of Children’s Literature and building love of reading

Read the following article taken from https://www.edutopia.org/article/developing-love-reading-students. For

those who have access to the internet, you may open the link.

Developing a Love of Reading in Students

Exposing new readers to a variety of genres can help them find the books they love. Plus, reading
comprehension strategies to deepen their engagement.

By Kathryn Starke
January 31, 2020

Every elementary school teacher is a reading teacher and is essential in helping each child on his or
her reading journey. When we provide the resources to meet the literacy needs of our students beginning as
early as prekindergarten, students and teachers will feel both confident and competent in teaching and
learning to read.

While helping students learn to read, it is also important to create a love of reading. Students who
read voluntarily report less negativity about reading than those who are required to read.

CREATE MOTIVATION

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Motivation is the key in promoting a love of literacy in children. One of the best resources I have found
for creating motivation is a shelf filled with books that match students’ interest level and reading level. They
should be surrounded by titles that reflect the lives of themselves as well as their classmates. When students
find titles with characters that look like them and families that resemble their own or their neighbors, their
interest level increases. Making these connections also increases student comprehension.

Students should be provided with books that represent all genres so that they can determine what
they most enjoy reading. Unless a child is given the opportunity to read poetry, mysteries, historical fiction,
biographies, autobiographies, and science fiction, he or she may not know all of the types of stories that are
created for readers of all ages. Student book choice is the first step in getting children hooked on reading.
When students have ownership of their reading, successful, independent readers begin to bloom.

Teachers can be the best book matchmakers for their students. While teachers are building
relationships with their students in the beginning of the year, they can also conduct one-on-one interviews or
give interest surveys to each child. This practice will help teachers learn the strengths, challenges, likes, and
dislikes of their students. This information helps teachers select the best book to spark a child’s interest in
reading.

Peers can be a great resource for helping students find what books they will love to read. Encourage
classmates to be book matchmakers by creating personalized book recommendations for their peers. It's easy
to create a recommendation template that can be stacked in the class book nook. When students find a book
they think would match the interests and hobbies of classmates, they can fill out the personalized book
recommendation form and give it to their classmate.

Literacy diagnostic tools such as running records or anecdotal notes can also be used to understand
the instructional and independent reading levels of students. During one-on-one or small-group reading
instruction, teachers can note the reading behaviors they observe, including any errors made during reading,
students’ responses to comprehension questions, or details about their expression, tone, or reading rate.

READ TOGETHER

Through daily guided reading, teachers can introduce students to high-interest instructional text
across genres. Daily individualized reading practice gives students the opportunity to read books of choice on
their independent reading level and grow as readers. Introduce children to multiple genres of books during
small-group reading instruction. When children find a book of interest, they can turn the book into their choice
book for independent reading time.

Background knowledge about a topic or subject matter can help students engage in the reading. For
example, if a child has never been to a farm, he or she may not understand how the setting of the barn is
crucial to the plot of a story that takes place on a farm. If a student has no prior knowledge about the roaring
twenties, he or she will not fully comprehend an article about the Great Depression. Making stories and
articles relevant to everyday life and current events is one more way to increase background knowledge. In
order to build background knowledge before reading, teachers should consider taking students on virtual or
live field trips or giving them access to real objects.

Assume that students have no understanding of the vocabulary words or content of the text. Allow
them to make predictions, make connections, and ask questions before every reading experience to gauge
their knowledge. These three comprehension strategies inform a teacher of the students’ proficiency about a
particular topic. Encourage readers to use the title and pictures to make a prediction about what the book is
about before reading it. During reading, students confirm their prediction and make a connection. Ask
questions such as, “What does this text remind you of?” or “What is going to happen next?” to build
comprehension.

Give students daily experiences in instructional guided reading, independent reading, and choice.
Exposure them to culturally relevant and diverse genres and guide them with comprehension strategies to
enhance a love of reading.

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LEARNING ACTIVITY 2

Preparing an advocacy poster on the importance of Children’s Literature and building love for reading.

The advocacy posters will be rated according to the following criteria:

creativity and presentation (40%)
originality (30%)
relevance to the theme (30%)

LEARNING CONTENT 3: HISTORY OF CHILDREN’S LITERATURE

A knowledge of the historical background of children’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 reflects the spirit and interests of the period.

Before the intervention in the fifteenth century of the printing press, which made the 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

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 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 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
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 Ages 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 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.

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 ½ inches long and 2
inches wide. Capital letters followed by vowels 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.

Chapbooks
In the sixteenth century, printed became cheaper. Single sheets of paper printed on one side only
called broadsides were issued. These broadsides contained ballads of Robin Hood. In 1697 Charles Perault,
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.

Puritan Period

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In England and America, books for children were influenced by Puritan ideas. The books stressed
fear of 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.
Between 1683 and 1691, the New England Primer, a book made especially for the children of the
American colonies appeared. It was a small book, about 3 by 4 ½ 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 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.

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 “The cradle Hymn” as the first children’s poem.
The battledore (1746-1770) succeeded the hornbook. It was a 4 by 6 ½ three-leaved cardboard that
folded like a pocketbook. It had the alphabet and easy-reading matter that made it popular until 1840.

John Newberry Era

John Newberry (1713-1767) was a writer and publisher who first thought of publishing of books solely
for children. He 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 Pocketbook, 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 be given freedom to develop
their natural interest 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 the
science and historical figures.

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 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”. Edward Lear’s Book of Nonsense mark 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 for boys and girls and simple home situations,
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 stories of

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the four little girls, their pretty quarrels, their courage and their affection of one another. This was followed by
Little Men.

Children’s Literature in the Philippines

Children’s literature in the Philippines had been in existence as far back as the primitive era. Even
before colonizers came to the Philippines, the Filipinos already had their own language, their own alphabet,
knew to read and write and had a system of communication. Due to the dearth of writing materials, oral
means prevailed in the transmissions and preservation of ideas.
Early literature for children was in the form of lullabies that mothers hummed or chanted to their
children, songs for different occasions like planting the songs verses, riddles, proverbs, ditties, nonsense
rhymes and fairy tales. Baliwayway, in Ilongot lullaby, shows how a father expresses his hope, fears, and
doubts about his growing boy’s future. Diwaya, an Ilocano lullaby, and Panghehele of the Tagalogs, express
the mother’s wishes to share the child’s glory pride. There were tales of beasts, legends of strange events
phenomena, origin of the first man and woman stories about strange creatures like the Pugot, the kapre and
other fantastic tales. There were also stories about mythical heroes and heroines like Bernardo Carpio, Lam-
ang, Mariang Makiling and others. The early Filipinos were fond of proverbs and riddles which embodied their
own philosophy and unwritten code of morality which they passed on to their children. Riddles were also
forming of entertainment. Sometimes the children rhymes while at play. An example is an Igorot ditty “ Bag-
bagto, bag-to lambik…” a rhythmic singing game.
When the Spanish colonizers came to the ilands, they not only brought Christianity in their culture but
also religious literature and instruction for children.
In 1593, the first book for children in the Philippines, Doctrina Christiana en Lengua Tagala y
Espanola by father Domingo Nieva was published. The book was used by the elders for religious instruction
and prayers. Children never had the opportunity to handle the book themselves. Next came the Caton or
Cartilla which contained the Roman alphabet and syllables. These were the Filipino child’s first and only
books for over 3 centuries. Children of the very few elite families had the opportunity to attend schools in had
some textbooks in the grammar, arithmetic and logic.
In 1606, Memorias de la Vida en Lengua China was published. Pamphlets containing the lives of
saints, novenarios, prayers and sermons of the missionaries and parish priest were circulated among the
converts they were written in the principal dialects. The Pasion,the story of the life and suffering of Jesus, had
the widest popular appeal because of the verses in which it was written. The religious peoms and hymns
became popular to children. Later, the children were exposed to metrical tales known as corridos, in which the
characters were kings and queens, knights, monsters, etc. Some of the corridos were Florante at
Laura,Pitong Infantes de Lara, ect. European heroes like El Cid of Spain, Roland and Charlemagne of
France, and etc. Were included in the corridors.
Jose Rizal wrote some children’s stories like “The Monkey and the Turtle” and translated some fairy
tales of Hans Christian Andersen from Danish to Tagalog.
When the Americans came to the Philippines in the 1990’s, they introduced books in English like Pilgrim’s
Progress, Mother Goose Rhymes, Alice in Wonderland, Aesop’s Fables, Rip Van Winkle which were originally
written for American children. These stories were read by children who have learned the English language in
schools. The Filipino children, imbibed the attitudes, values and philosophies that American children’s
literature embodied. Thus American’s literature became a part of the Literature of the Filipino Children and
American Culture easily became our culture, too.
Literature books written by American authors, but prepared in the Philippines were published by Ginn
and Company. One of these was Hugo Miller’s Philippine Folklore Stories (1904). In 1916, a representative of
Ginn and Company, Mr. Hugo Miller, came to the Philippine to encourage the writing of the books. Camilo
Osias was the first Filipino to write textbooks. In the 1920’s, he published Philippine Readers, Books 1 to 7,
known as the Osias Readers. No Filipino child went through seven years of elementary education without
having read the series from Grade 1 to Grade 7. The Philippine Readers contained native folktales, myths and
legends, stories of animals familiar to the Filipino child written in English. Another literature series published
by Ginn and Company was the Philippine High School Readers by Mendez, Mendez, and Potts in 1932.
Maximo Ramos one of those writers who recognize the importance of preserving the literary
heritage, specially for children, wrote Tales of Long Ago and Philippine Myths and tales. There were other
writers who wrote folk literature in English and Tagalog like Manuel and Lyd Arguilla, I. V. Mallari and others.
In 1940, the Philippine Book Company was founded. It began publishing children’s books like All
Time Favorite, Fairy Tales in English and in Fliipino, the Voyages in Reading Series for elementary levels. In
1962, Bookmark Incorporated published the work of a group Maryknoll students. These were mostly picture
books. Some of them are Pulanito by M. V. Pamintuan, the Star That was Not by L. Enriquez, and Tobie and
the Christmas Bell by M. Yokoto.

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In 1945, Bookman Incorporated encouraged writers to translate some foreign children’s book like The
Little Lame Prince and Rubaiyat of Omar Kayyam. Bookman also published children’s book like When I was a
little Boy by I. V. Mallari; Banca Moon by Amparo Asuncion and Philippine Myths and tales for the Young by
Maximo Ramos.
In 1946, National bookstore engaged in reprinting foreign books and in translating fairy tales in
Filipino like the Ladybird Series. The publishing firm also published comics in Filipino and English like Rizal’s
Classic Illustrated, Filipino Heroes Stories, Legends of the Philippines Series, World Fairy Tales Series, Bible
Illustrated Series and many others.
Alemar-Phoenix Publishing House published children’s books like: Myths and Legends of the Early Filipnos by
F. L. Jocano, Philipine Fokltales by Aquino, etc. al., The Old House, The Ginger Gorl and other Stories by C.
V. Pedroche.
In 1962, Panama Incorprated started producing children’s books. Among these are: Makisig: The
Little Hero of Mactan by Gemma Cruz, Horgle and the King’s Soup by Gilda C. Fernando, Once Upon a
Hilltop by Isabel T. Escoda, Anak Datu by Abdulmari Imao, The Wind Whispered to the Grass by A. Lo, Ang
Kaharian sa Tuktok ng Kawayan, etc.
New Day Publishers owned by the Christian Literature of the Philippines published My Friends and the
Haunted Cave by Thelma Zuniega and A Gift by Rosario Ratorta.

LEARNING ACTIVITY 3

Develop a timeline for the history of the children’s literature in the Philippines.

LEARNING CONTENT 3: LITERARY ELEMENTS

These are the basic elements of a story that you learn about in elementary school and these are still in place
for discussion in college:

1. Setting: Where and when is the story set? Setting represents both the physical location but also the time
(i.e. past, present, future) and the social and cultural conditions in which the characters exist.

2. Character: A person or animal or really anything personified. There can be one main character or many,
and often there are secondary characters, but not always.

3. Plot: The plot consists of the events that happen in the story. In a plot you typically find an introduction,
rising action, a climax, the falling action, and a resolution. Plot is often represented as an arc. To learn about
plot in detail, read the article: “What is a Plot.”

4. Conflict: Every story must have a conflict, i.e. a challenge or problem around which the plot is based.
Without conflict, the story will have no purpose or trajectory.

5. Theme: Idea, belief, moral, lesson or insight. It’s the central argument that the author is trying to make the
reader understand. The theme is the “why” of the story.

In high school, you start learning the advanced elements of a story and these are still in place for discussion in
college:

6. Point-of-view: “Who” is telling the story? First person (“I”) or third person (“he/she/it”). Limited (one
character’s perspective), multiple (many characters’ perspectives) or omniscient (all knowing narrator).
Second person (“you”) is not often used for writing stories.

7. Tone: The overall emotional “tone” or meaning of the story. Is it happy, funny, sad, depressed? Tone can
be portrayed in multiple ways, through word and grammar choices, choice of theme, imagery and description,
symbolism, and the sounds of the words in combination (i.e. rhyme, rhythm, musicality).

8. Style: This is how things are said. Word choices, sentence structure, dialogue, metaphor, simile, hyperbole.
Style contributes significantly to tone.

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SUMMARY

In this module you are introduced with the basics of children’s literature. We have discussed four topics:

1. Knowledge base of Children’s Literature in early education: Developmentally Appropriate Practices,

constructivist approach, Huge collection of quality books for young children
2. Importance of Children’s Literature and building love of reading
3. History of Children’s Literature
4. Literary Elements (plot, theme, characterization,)

It hoped that you have understood each topic and ready for the next module.

REFERENCES

Almario, V., Paterno, M.E., Sunico, R., & Villanueva, R. (Eds). 1994. Bumasa at Lumaya: A Sourcebook on
Children's Literature in the Philippines. Pasig, M.M.: Anvil

Edwards, S. (2005). Children’s learning and developmental potential: Examining the theoretical informants of
early childhood curricula from the educator’s perspective. Early Years, 25(1), 67-80.

Palmer, D. (2005). A motivational view of constructivist-informed teaching. International Journal of Science

Education, 27(15), 1853-1881.

Piaget, J. (1964). Development and learning. From Piaget Rediscovered, a Report on the Conference on
Cognitive Studies and Curriculum Development, 228-237.

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1092457.pdf

https://www.edutopia.org/article/developing-love-reading-students

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273452128_Introduction_to_children's_literature

http://www2.nkfust.edu.tw/~emchen/CLit/History.htm

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