Children's Literature

1. Introduction 3
2. Early History 6
The Greek and Roman Eras: 50 B.C.-A.D. 500 6
The Middle Ages: 500-1500 6
The Renaissance: 1500-1650 7
The Rise of Puritanism and John Locke: Late 1600s 8
3. Beginning of Children’s Literature: Late 1700s 10
4. Fairy and Folk Tales 12
The Golden Age of Children’s Literature: Late 1800s 12
5. Victorian Children's Literature 16
6. Contemporary Children's Literature 18
6. Analysis of Harry Potters’ series 21
7. Conclusion 30
8. Summary 31
Children’s Literature Definitions 31
The Ancient World [ancient Rome; 50 BCE to 500 CE] 31
The Middle Ages [500 to 1500 CE] 31
The European Renaissance [1500-1650 CE] 32
The 17th Century 34
The 18th and Early 19th Centuries 35
The Victorians: The Golden Age 36
Twentieth Century: Widening Worlds 38
9. Bibliography 38 1. Introduction
In 1817 Robert Bloomfield, author of The History of Little Davy’s New Hat, wrote: ‘The longer I live … the more I am convinced of the importance of children’s books.’ That similar statements are still being made two hundred years later shows us how much children’s books have always had to prove in England. And it has been harder still for children’s fantasy, since it supposedly goes against that hearty empiricism which has been as much the hallmark of the standard Englishman as once was his roast beef. Bloomfi eld, after all, was talking about ‘realistic’ children’s books which could be made useful by being directed to the moral and social education of children. Towards the comic or fantastical others he harboured nothing but scorn, and directed parents to put them to the one use for which they were fitted, namely, lighting fires.
Like the concept of childhood, children's literature is very much a cultural construct that continues to evolve over time. As a term, “children’s literature” does not easily fit into any cultural or academic category; rather, it is a diverse and paradoxical area of study. Its richness is reflected in the vast amount of theories that permeate

Bibliography: • Alcott, Louisa M. Little Women. New York: Grosset and Dunlop, 1947. • Avery, Gillian. 1965. Nineteenth Century Children: Heroes and Heroines in English Children 's Stories 1780–1900. London: Hodder and Stoughton. • -------------. 1994. Behold the Child: American Children and Their Books. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. • Bader, Barbara. 1976. American Picturebooks from Noah 's Ark to the Beast Within. New York: Macmillan. • Bingham, Jane and Grayce Scholt. 1980. Fifteen Centuries of Children’s Literature: An Annotated Chronology of British and American Works in Historical Context. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. • Darton, F. J. Harvey. 1932. Children 's Books in England: Five Centuries of Social Life. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. • Green, Roger Lancelyn. 1964. Tellers of Tales: British Authors of Children 's Books from 1800 to 1964.New York: Franklin Watts. • Guth, D. L. Letters of E. B. White. New York: Harper & Row, 1976. • Hunt, Peter, ed. 1995. Children’s Literature: An Illustrated History. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. • ------. 1999. Understanding Children’s Literature. New York, NY: Routledge. • Hunt, Peter, ed. 1996. Intentional Companion Encyclopedia of Children 's Literature. New York: Routledge. • Hunt, Peter. 1994. An Introduction to Children’s Literature. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. • ------. 2001. Children’s Literature. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers Ltd. • Hunt, Peter. Children 's Literature: An Illustrated History. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. • Hürlimann, Bettina. 1959. Three Centuries of Children 's Books in Europe. Trans. and ed. Brian Alderson. Cleveland, OH: World Publishing Company. • Jackson, Mary V. 1989. Engines of Instruction, Mischief, and Magic: Children 's Literature in England from Its Beginning to 1839. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. • Johnson, Clifton. Old-Time Schools and School Books. 1904. Reprint, New York: Dover, 1963. • Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth. On Death and Dying. New York: Macmillan, 1969. • McGuffey, William. McGuffey 's Eclectic Readers, 7 book series, Primer–Sixth Reader. New York: Van Nostrand, 1920. • Muir, Percy. 1954. English Children 's Books. London: B.T. Batsford. • Mulherin, Jennifer, ed. Favorite Fairy Tales. London: Granada Publishing, 1982. • Owens, Lily. The Complete Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales. New York: Avenel, 1981. • Silvey, Anita, ed. 1995. Children 's Books and Their Creators. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. • Thwaite, Mary F. 1963. From Primer to Pleasure in Reading. Boston: The Horn Book. • To Instruct and Delight. A History of Children’s Literature. Posted January 29, 2008. 2 December 2010. • Townsend, John Rowe • Townsend, John Rowe. 1996. Written for Children: An Outline of English-Language Children’s Literature. Lanham, MA: Scarecrow Press. • Watson, Victor, ed. 2001. The Cambridge Guide to Children 's Books in English. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.