Overview

Children's literature, like many things, is constantly evolving. During the Victorian era (1800s), a lot of children's literature continued the traditions of moral stories and lessons (Roderick McGillis, Children's Literature). 

Children's literature began in the Victorian Period, in the 1880s and 1890s.

• They were treated as an accessory, rather than a necessity.
• This is because the majority of children's books were published around the Christmas season.
• Children's literature was also more focused on art than literature. Authors expected to be praised on their artistic ability, rather than their actual storyline.  
• Illustration also enabled children, as well as adults, to become educated at this time.
• "Six of the ten best-sellers in the United States between 1875 and 1895 were children's books: Heidi, Treasure Island, A Child's Garden of Verses, Hucklberry Finn, Little Lord Fauntleroy, and King Solomon's Mines" (Lundin 40)
• Literature was also expected to teach a lesson or theme.
• Gender division became a trend in the 1860s .
• It wasn't until the late nineteenth century that children's literature and adult literature began to have separate entities.
• Prior to the 18th century children were thought of as small adults, and there were three theories for what books should be:
• The Educationalist theory that children's minds were blank slates on which adults could imprint anything they wanted.
• The Augustinian theories that children's personalities were controlled by forces beyond human control.
• The theory that children were inherently good and therefore would be educated best if they were allowed personal freedom of growth independent from the influence of adults.
• Before children's literature in this era, the only literature found was didactic, meaning the alphabet and a prayer were the only things allowed. They did not believe that fairy tales were suitable for children because it was thought of as witchcraft.  

In the 19th century children's literature increased in quantity and quality as it was opened to female writers and illustrators. Because it was considered to be less significant than adult literature, such literature was sometimes affiliated with "dime novels" which the lower working class could afford. Meanwhile, the middle and upper class would read more elaborate pieces.

Children's Fiction and American History

• Themes recurrent in American children's literature:
• The Search for Values
• Problems of Growing Up
• Travel and Understanding People in Foreign Lands
• Lives of Heroes-The Desire to Achieve-Overcoming Great Odds
• Fun and Fairy Tales
• The Urge to Know  
• Religious instruction 
• Class Divisions
• Gender Constructs 

Resources Consulted

• Anne H. Lundin. "Victorian Horizons: The Reception of Children's Books in England and America, 1880-1900." The Library Quarterly 64.1 (1994): 30-59.
• Anne H. Lundin. "Little "Pilgrims' Progress": Literary Horizons for Children's Literature." Libraries & Culture 41.1 (2006): 133-52.
• Jean Duncan Shaw. "Children's Fiction and American History." Elementary English 45.1:89-94.

Special thanks to class members Ginny Chung, Maithy Do, and Sinead Leon for assisting with research on the history of children's literature.