In this chapter you will:

Early Beginnings

• Identify the purpose of storytelling throughout history.
• Determine the purpose and form of early lesson books and note some examples.
• Determine the contribution William Caxton made to children's books.
• Be able to differentiate among hornbooks, ABCs, and primers.
• Learn why Orbis Pictus is a landmark among children's books.

Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

• Determine the effect Puritanism had on children's books
• Learn what chapbooks were and why they were popular.
• Read about theories regarding the origin of the Mother Goose rhymes.
• Find the major French connection in early fairy tales.
• Find out why John Newbery's publication of A Little Pretty Pocket-Book is generally accepted as the beginning of children's literature.
• Determine the purpose of the didactic writers.
• Characterize the poetry of the eighteenth century.

Nineteenth Century

• Learn about the contributions of Noah Webster and William H. McGuffey to children's literature.
• Note some of the leading collectors of folktales in the nineteenth century.
• Read about the family stories of the nineteenth century.
• Define the term Robinsonades.
• Identify the trend-setting animal stories.
• Identify some of the fantasies and humorous books of the second half of the nineteenth century.
• Find out how the nature of poetry changed in the nineteenth century.
• Describe the literary features that magazines offered in the last half of the nineteenth century.
• Identify the best-known illustrators of the nineteenth century and their contributions.

Twentieth Century

• Identify peripheral events that occurred in the twentieth century that were indicative of the fact that children's literature was established as a field.
• Learn about developments in informational books.
• Read how biographies changed in the twentieth century.
• Identify the key folklorists of children's collections in the twentieth century.
• Learn how fantasy changed in the latter quarter of the twentieth century.
• Learn about developments in children's poetry in the 20th century.
• Identify changes in books of realism in the twentieth century.
• Read about increased internationalism in children's literature.

Recent Trends

• Identify reasons why there is a steady increase in the number of books published yearly.
• Read about several shifts in publishing emphases.
• Learn about increased use of trade books in schools.
• Read about increased censorship of children's books.
• Note the changes in multicultural and international publishing.
• Speculate about the effect of a multiliterate society on children.