Lesson 1 What is Children’s Literature?

How does children’s literature

differ from adult literature?

Children’s Literature Introduction

Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems
that are enjoyed by children.
It is tricky to define what constitutes children’s literature because not all books that
children read were intended to be for children. Books about children might not necessarily be
written for them. However, the content of children’s literature is limited by children’s experience
and understanding. Its uniqueness lies in the audience that it addresses, and authors of children’s
books are circumscribed by the experiences of childhood which are vast and complex. (Kiefer,
2010)

What are its characteristics?

1. Simple and straightforward. Not simplistic or choppy or flat without flow and intrigue.

2. Depends on action to maintain interest. Can there be action without action? Are thoughts
action? Are other character's inactions actions? Are external events included in the narration,
comments and other writing techniques action?

3. Has characters that are children. Includes childhood events, actions, happenings. Can it
be children's literature if there aren't children? Or if the main character isn't a child?

4. Expresses a child’s point of view.

5. Is optimistic. There is always hope, foreshadowing and other elements to raise spirits
periodically.

6. Tends toward fantasy and accepts fanciful ideas without major concern of reality.
Wishful thinking is common.

7. There is a tone of joy and innocence associated with children, agricultural life, closeness
to nature and unquestionably reliable friends.

8. Can have it both ways. Your cake and eat it too. Dangerous world yet nieve innocence
children can roam through it. Dangerous world out there and yet the comforts of home. Grow up
and remain young. Complex yet simple.

9. Is it or does it always have to be didactic and teach a lesson or have redeaming social
qualities that have a positive theme. A universal theme of home is boring, but it is a better
place to be than the dangerous world outside.

10. Includes repetition. Often emphasizes what is important, repetition is a common element of
traditional tales, folk tales, and fairy tales as well as for literary purposes by repeating words,
phrases, situations, and patterns.

11. Contrasts extremes. The good and the bad. The ideal and the practical, ideal family and the
orphan, home and wilderness or deep dark forest with all kinds of evil. Group and family
responsibility and concern for yourself.

Values of Children’s Literature

1. Personal Values
2. Educational Values

Personal Values
• Enjoyment
• Imagination
• Vicarious Experience
• Insight Into Human Behavior
• Universality of Experience

 Educational Values
• Literature in the Home (oral language,
vocabulary development)
• Literature in the School
• reading aloud and learning to read
• developing a sense of book language
• developing fluency and understanding
• literature and writing
• literature across the curriculum

Genres of Children’s Literature

1. Picture Books
2. Books to Begin On
3. Traditional Literature
4. Modern Fantasy
5. Poetry
6. Contemporary Realistic Fiction
7. Historical Fiction
8. Nonfiction
9. Biography

What makes a good children’s book?

Evaluation Criteria based on the following elements:

• Plot
• Setting
• Theme
• Characterization
• Style
• Point of View

A Brief History of Children's

Literature
Topics: Children's Books

Since the beginning of time, adults

have entertained children with stories
and fables. From these folktales
developed an elaborate tapestry of
children's literature. Today children's
literature encompasses multiple
genres and appeals to readers of every age. Let's take a look at a brief history of children's
literature.

Emerging from Oral Tradition

Just as other forms of literature, children's literature grew from stories passed down orally
from generation to generation. Irish folk tales can be traced back as early as 400 BCE, while the
earliest written folk tales are arguably the Pachatantra, from India, which were written around
200 AD. The earliest version of Aesop's Fables appeared on papyrus scrolls around 400 AD.

In Imperial China, story telling reached its peak during the Song Dynasty (960-1279
AD). Many stories from this epoch are still used to instruct students in China today. No such
equivalent exists in Greek and Roman literature. However, the stories of Homer and other
storytellers of the era would certainly have appealed to children.

As Europe became a cultural center of the world, instructive texts became increasingly
common. These books were mostly written in Latin, with the purpose of instructing children.
During the Middle Ages, very little literature was written for the sole purpose of entertaining
children. Hornbooks, textbooks containing basic texts like the Lord's Prayer and the alphabet,
would not appear until the 1400s. Alphabet books began popping up around Russia, Italy,
Denmark, and other European countries roughly a century later.

The Advent of Illustration

Chapbooks, pocket-sized books often folded

rather than stitched together, were the fir st books to
be illustrated for children. They usually contained simple
woodcut pictures to go along with their contents--often
popular ballads, folk tales, or religious passages.

Meanwhile, during the 1600s, the concept

of childhood was evolving. Rather than being seen as
miniature adults, children were seen as separate entities with their own needs and limitations.
Thus, publishers throughout Europe began printing books specifically intended for children. The
purposes of these texts were still frequently didactic, although several collections of fairy tales
were published with varying success.

The trend of illustrating children's books prevailed, and children's literature grew in

popularity throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In 1744, John
Newbery published A Little Pretty Pocket-Book. The volume was heralded as the true first book
intended for children's pleasure reading. As paper and printing became
more economical, the children's book industry veritably boomed during
the 1800s.

Modern Children's Picture Books

It was in the 1920s that books could be mass produced in color,

and literacy became sufficiently widespread to make children's picture
books a true industry unto its own. Wanda Gag's Millions of Cats (1928) was one of the most
successful of this era, selling more than a million copies. Other classic children's picture books
were published soon after: The Little Engine that
Could (1930); Babar (1931); Madeline (1933);and CuriousGeorge (1941).

Today, the variety and quality of illustrated children's books has made them an interesting and
desirable focus for rare book collectors. It's easy to build a collection around a single illustrator
like Charles Van Sandwyk or to focus on children's Christmas books. 

Whatever the focus of the collection, condition is always key. Some collectors allow a bit more
latitude for condition; after all, children are hard on their books, making copies in exceptional
condition even more scarce. In this regard, collecting children's books takes a fair amount of
patience. Rather than settling for a book in less than pristine condition, keep shopping until you
find the book you want in the best condition possible. The right children's book bibliography is
also an invaluable tool for collectors. You'll find bibliographies dedicated to specific authors,
illustrators, and eras.
 TIMELINE OF CHILDREN’S LITERATURE 1485-2013

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more
places you'll go." — Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut! "I have always imagined
that paradise will be a kind of library." — Jorge Luis Borges

Late 15th century – 17th century

 1484 William Caxton prints Subtyl Historyes and

Fables of Esop
 1485 Sir Thomas Malory Le Morte D’arthur
 1563 John Foxe Actes and Monumentes,
popularly known as the Book of Martyrs. Used
for over three centuries as a source in many
books for Protestant children, including the New-
England Primer.
 1601 John Weever An Agnus Dei (A Lamb of
God), an abridged New Testament in rhymed
couplets; a very early example of the miniature
books known as Thumb Bibles.
 1659 Visible World, the first English translation
of Johann Amos Comenius's Orbis Sensualium
Pictus, an educational compendium with a
pictorial alphabet arranged according to sounds.
 1660 Thomas White A Little Book for Little
Children. Set out Puritan ideals for children; published as part of his Manual for
Parents.
 1668 Jean de La Fontaine's Fables choisies, mises en vers (Selected Fables, Set in
Verse); first translated into English in 1734. Original and Modern versions of the
collection
 1678 John Bunyan The Pilgrim's Progress
  1697 Charles Perrault Histoires ou contes du temps passé (Stories or Tales of Past
Times). Often considered the first major collection of fairy tales for children. The
book was first published in English in 1729; many of the tales were separately
published as chapbooks and later as picture books for children. The collection was
sometimes given the title "Tales of Mother Goose."

18th century

 1719 Daniel Defoe Robinson Crusoe

 1726 Jonathan Swift Gulliver's Travels
 1744 John Newbery A Little Pretty Pocket-Book
 1749 Sarah Fielding The Governess; or, The Little
Female Academy. One of the first books published
specifically for girls; it contains two didactic fairy tales.

19th century (1800-1849)

 1805 William Godwin Fables Ancient and Modern, an
adaptation for young children.
 1819 Washington Irving "Rip Van Winkle" and "The
Legend of Sleepy Hollow“
 1823 Edgar Taylor German Popular Stories, a
translation of selected tales from Jacob and Wilhelm
Grimm's Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1812- 15, Childr
en's and Household Tales)
 1823 “A Visit from St. Nicholas” aka “The Night
Before Christmas” was published anonymously;
authorship later attributed to Clement Clarke Moore.
 1843 Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol
 1846 Mary Howitt's translation of Wonderful Stories
for Children by Hans Christian Andersen; one of the
first English translations of Andersen's fairy tales,
which began appearing in Danish in 1835.
 1863 Jules Verne Cinq semaines en ballon, voyage de
découvertes en Afrique (Five Weeks in a Balloon), the
first major science fiction novel.
 1865 Lewis Carroll Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
 1868 Louisa May Alcott Little Women
 1877 Anna Sewell Black Beauty
 1881 Robert Louis Stevenson Treasure Island
 1884 Mark Twain The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
 1892 First U.S. comic strip, "Little Bears and Tykes," San Francisco Examiner
 1894-95 Rudyard Kipling The Jungle Book

20th century (1900-1910)

 1900 L. Frank Baum The Wizard of Oz

  1902 Beatrix Potter The Tale of Peter Rabbit
 1903 Jack London The Call of the Wild; Howard Pyle's The Story of King Arthur
and His Knights.
 1904 J. M. Barrie Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up premiers in
London (1929 First definitive publication of J. M. Barrie's play Peter Pan; or The
Boy Who Would Not Grow Up)
 1905 Frances Hodgson Burnett A Little Princess
 1906 Jack London White Fang
 1908 L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables
 1908 Kenneth Grahame The Wind in the Willows

20th century (1911-1920)

 1911 Frances Hodgson Burnett The Secret Garden

 1922 Margery Williams The Velveteen Rabbit
 1926 A. A. Milne Winnie-the- Pooh


20th century (1921-1940)

 1930 Carolyn Keene Nancy Drew Mystery Stories (Original series published
between 1930-2003) Carolyn Keene is a pseudonym for the various ghostwriters
used to create the series.
 1932 Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House in the Big Woods
 1933 Marjorie Flack The Story about Ping


20th century (1921-1940)

 1936 Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson The Story of

Ferdinand
 1937 J.R.R. Tolkien The Hobbit
 1939 Ludwig Bemelmans Madeline
 1939 Robert L. May Rudolph the Red-Nosed
Reindeer

20th century (1941-1950)

 1941 H.A. Rey Curious George
 1942 Margaret Wise Brown Runaway Bunny
 1947 Margaret Wise Brown Goodnight Moon
 1950 C. S. Lewis The Lion, the Witch, and the
Wardrobe, the first of the seven Narnia chronicles
(1950-56)

20th century (1951-1960)

  1951 J. D. Salinger The Catcher in the Rye
 1952 Anne Frank Diary of a Young Girl
 1952 E. B. White Charlotte's Web
 1955 Beverly Cleary Beezus and Ramona (the Ramona Quimby series continued
until the final installment, Ramona’s World was published in 1999)

20th century (1951-1960)

 1955 Kay Thompson Eloise
 1957 Dr. Seuss The Cat in the Hat
 1960 Scott O’Dell Island of the Blue Dolphins
 1960 P.D. Eastman Are You My Mother?

20th century (1961-1970)

 1961 Eastman Go Dog Go
 1961Roald Dahl James and the Giant Peach
 1963 Madeleine L'Engle A Wrinkle in Time
 1963 Maurice Sendak Where the Wild Things Are
 1964 Shel Silverstein The Giving Tree
 1964 Ronald Dahl Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

20th century (1961-1970)

 1967 Bill Martin Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
 1967 S.E. Hinton The Outsiders
 1968 Eric Carle The Very Hungry Caterpillar
 1968 Don Freeman Corduroy
 1970 Judy Blume Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret

20th century (1971-1980)

 1972 Judith Viorst Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
 1974 Shel Silverstein Where the Sidewalk Ends
 1975 Natalie Babbitt Tuck Everlasting
 1977 Katherine Paterson Bridge to Terabithia
 1978 Judi Barrett Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

20th century (1981-1990)

 1981 Chris Van Allsburg Jumanji
 1981 Shel Silverstein A Light in the Attic
 1983 Francine Pascal Sweet Valley High series
 1985 Chris Van Allsburg The Polar Express
 1985 Laura Numeroff If You Give A Mouse A Cookie
 1986 Graeme Base Animalia
 1986 Robert Munsch Love You Forever
 1989 Jon Scieszka The True Story of the Three Little Pigs
 20th century (1991-1999)

 1992 Jon Scieszka The Stinky Cheese Man

 1992 Marc Pfister The Rainbow Fish
 1993 Janell Cannon Stellaluna
 1993 Lois Lowry's The Giver
 1994 Sam McBratney Guess How Much I Love You
 1995-2000 Philip Pullman His Dark Materials trilogy
 1997 J. K. Rowling Harry Potter and the Philosopher's
Stone (U.S. title: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone)

21st century (2000-2013)

 2000- Ian Falconer Olivia

 2000 -Doreen Cronin Click, Clack, Moo Cows
That Type
 2003- Kate DiCamillo The Tale of Desperaux
 2005- Stephenie Meyer Twilight
 2005-Rick Riordan The Lightning Thief (Percy
Jackson and the Olympians)
 2005- O’Connor Fancy Nancy
 2007-Jeff Kinney Diary of a Wimpy Kid

21st century (2000-2013)

 2007-Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games

 2008- Grace Lin Where the Mountain Meets the
Moon
 2010- Clare Vanderpool Moon Over Manifest
 2011-Jack Gantos Dead End in Norvelt
 2012- K.A. Applegate The One and Only Ivan
 2012- Susan Cooper Ghost Hawk