History of Children’s

Literature in the
Philippine Shores

Prepared by: Helen F. Fungo

 Intended Learning Outcomes
● Trace the historical timeline children's literature locally; and
● Identify the various turning points in the history of children’s
literature that impacted literacy in the Philippines.
 Name Guessing

Severino
Camilo Osias Reyes Jose Aruego Francisco Balagtas
 Historical Timeline
Before Spanish After the World
Colonization War II
Rich in culture and Tradition Many regional anthologies
emerged.

16th
1898-1910 1950s 1970s
Century
Rise of Phil.
Literature for
American Regime Children
Filipino was used in
Filipino literature written in
children’s literature.
English emerged.
 Early Sixteenth Century
Before the Spanish colonization

● Songs and Verses, Incantations (burials, health, prayers of prosperity and happiness,
courtship, marriage, labor, industry, children and riddles) told by the Babaylan (elders of the
tribe, priest or priestess)
● Bayabyin is the old way of writing the alphabet.
● Lullaby the most common song, sung by mothers as they rocked their children to sleep.
(Bisayan: Ili-Ili Tulog Anay, or in Tagalog: Paghehele or Oyayi)
● Juan Tamad a folktale about a boy known for laziness.
● Penpen de Saparen nonsense verses sung by children.
● Biag ni Lam-ang epic poems of Ilocanos manifested people’s social lives.
● Stories of Mythical Creature : Tikbalang, kapre, multo, duwende, nuno, aswang,
manananggal, Sirena.
Early Sixteenth Century
In 1593: Doctrina Cristiana was
considered the first printed book in the
Philippines
by Fr. Domingo Nieva, O. P.

● Doctrina Cristiana: written in

Spanish and Tagalog, contained
prayers, the Commandments of the
Church, Catechism and other
religious teachings. The book was
only made available to children of
the Philippines only in mid-1860s
 Early Sixteenth Century
● Carton Carroll’s or Cartilla: The first and only Filipino children’s book. It contained the Roman
alphabet and syllables, which was used for over three centuries.
● 1606 Memorias de la Vida en Lengua China, pamphlets containing lives of saints, novenarios,
prayers and sermons of the missionaries and parish priests were published.
● Pasion or Pabasa: written in verse form, read by devoted Roman Catholics during the lent season,
recited in solo or duet at home or in chapels.
● Florante at Laura: famous epic based on the life of Francisco Balagtas or Francisco Baltazar.
He was dubbed as the William Shakespeare of the Philippines. It was written in Filipino to show
his resistance to Spanish regime. In 1838 he published his work upon his release from prison.
● Ibong Adarna and Bernanrdo Carpio: by Jose de la Cruz known as Huseng Sisiw
● Jose P. Rizal (Dimas-Alang: translated the Grimm’s Folktales into Tagalog for his nieces and
nephews. He also wrote poem (Sa aking mga kababata) legend, (Marinag Makiling) stories about
animal (The Monkey and the Turtle, Suan’s Animals, The kite and the Hen). The stories for
children were published in Trubner’s Oriental Record in England in 1889.
 American Regime
From 1898 to 1910
American-operated Public Schools

American introduced Filipino children to American books such as Mother Goose

Ryhmes, Alice in Wonderland, Grimm Brothers’ Fairy Tales, Little Women,
Adventures of Tom Sawyer and the Swiss Family Robinson. Since these stories were
American in culture, the Filipino children adapted the foreign values and attitudes that
they learned.

1920’s Camilo Osias
published the first Filipino
textbooks called
Philippine Readers also
known as Osias Readers.
Consisted of books 1 to 7,
published during the
Commonwealth Period.
American Regime
1925 Severino Reyes “Lola Basyang” founder and editor of
tagalog magazine, Liwayway, the first story was entitled Ang
Plawtin ni Periking, boys adventure with a magical flute and
flying carpet. He wrote more than 400 Lola Basyang stories.
Lola Basyang was based on an old woma named Gervasia de
Guzman Zamora making the image of an elderly grandmother
in a rocking chair gathering children or apos around her for a
bedtime stories. All stories contained moral lessons.
 After the World War II

Regional Anthologies
Juan C. Laya Juan T. Gatbonton
Maximo Ramos
Manuel and Lyddia Aguilla The first receipient of the Palanca
IV Mallari award for his short story Clay

The Carlos Palanca 1976

Memorial Awards The first set of Anthologies in
English and Filipino was printed.

Loreto Paras-Sulit 1980

Creative writer for Children. 3 separate anthologies of
She was Best known for her one-act plays, short stories
English short Stories and poetry won.
 The Rise of Philippine Literature for Children
Nicomedes
Virgilio S.
Ceres S.C. Alabado Jose Aruego Marquez
Joaquin Almario

Godmother of
Phillipine Wrote 82
Chldren’s Children’s Books Nick Joaquin Rio Alma
Literature
• Whose Mouse are You? Most distinguished He revived and
She can be credited for
• Leo the Late Bloomer Filipino writer in reinvented
having single-handedly
saved the genre from and Gregory were English writing. Traditional Filipino
imoending literary death Terrible Eater poetic forms.
 Activity: Create an info Graphic
showing the history of Children’s
Literature in the Philippine Shores

Quiz Time!