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.
