The readings listed below are basic to a background and understanding of the history of children's literature.

Adams, Bess Porter. About Books and Children. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1953.

Allen, Ruth. Children's Book Prizes : An Evaluation and History of Major Awards for Children's Books in the
English-speaking World. Aldershot, Hants, England ; Brookfield, VT: Ashgate, 1998.

Anderson, Celia Catlett and Marilyn Fain Apseloff. Nonsense Literature for Children: Aesop to Seuss. Hamden, CT: Shoestring Press, 1989.

Andrews, Siri, Editor. The Hewins Lectures, 1947-62. Boston, MA: The Horn Book, 1963.

Association for Library Service to Children. Jones, Dolores Blythe, Ed. Special Collections in Children's Literature: An International Directory. Chicago, IL: American Library Association, 1995.

Avery, Gillian E. Behold the Child: American Children and Their Books 1621-1922 Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994.

Avery, Gillian E. Childhood Patterns: A Study of the Heroes and Heroines of Children's Fiction, 1770-1950. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1975.

Baker, W. "Historical Meaning in Mother Goose: Nursery Rhymes Illustrative of English Society Before the Industrial Revolution," Journal of Popular Culture. Volume 9 (Winter 1975): 645-652.

Billman, Carol. The Secrets of the Stratemeyer Syndicate: Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, and the Million Dollar Fiction Factory. New York: The Unger Publishing Co., 1986.

Bingham, Jane and Scholt, Grayce. Fifteen Centuries of Children's Literature: An Annotated Chronology of British and American Works in Historical Context. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1980.

Bottigheimer, Ruth B. The Bible for Children : From the Age of Gutenberg to the Present. New Haven, CT : Yale University Press, c1996.

Cadogan, Mary, and Craig, Patricia. You're a Brick, Angela! A New Look at Girls' Fiction from 1839 to 1975. London: Gollanez, 1976.

Carpenter, Charles. History of American Schoolbooks. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1963.

Children's Book Council. 75 Years of Children's Book Week Posters. Introduction & text by Leonard Marcus. New York: Knopf, 1994.

Children and Their Books: A Celebration of the Work of Iona and Peter Opie. Edited by Gillian Avery and Julia Briggs. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1989.

Children in Culture : Approaches to Childhood. Edited by Kar¨ªn Lesnik-Oberstein. New York : St. Martin's Press, 1998.

Colley, Ann C. Edward Lear and the Critics. Columbia, SC: Camden House, 1993.

Companions of Our Youth: Stories by Women for Young People's Magazines 1865-1900. Edited by Jane Benardete and Phyllis Moe. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1980.

Darling, Richard L. The Rise of Children's Book Reviewing in America, 1865-1881. New York: R. R. Bowker Co., 1968.

Darton, Frederick J. Harvey. Children's Books in England: Five Centuries of Social Life. 3rd Edition. Revised by Brian Alderson. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1982.

Deane, Paul. Mirrors of American Culture: Children's Fiction Series in the Twentieth Century. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1991.

Dear Genius : The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom. Collected and Edited by Leonard S. Marcus. New York : HarperCollins, c1998.

De Vries, Leonard. A Treasury of Illustrated Children's Books: Early Nineteenth-Century Classics from the Osborne Collection. New York: Abbeville Press, 1989.

Dölvers, Horst. Fables Less and Less Fabulous : English Fables and Parables of the Nineteenth Century and Their Illustrations. Newark, DE : University of Delaware Press ; London : Associated University Presses, c1997.

Feaver, William. When We Were Young: Two Centuries of Children's Book Illustration. London: Thames and Hudson, 1977.

Field, Mrs. E. M. The Child and His Book. Reprint. Detroit, MI: Singing Tree Press, 1968.

Frey, Charles and John Griffith. The Literary Heritage of Childhood: An Appraisal of Children's Classics in the Western Tradition. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1987.

Fraser, James. "Children's Literature Collections and Research Libraries," Wilson Library Bulletin. Volume 50, No. 2 (October 1975): 128-169.

Gottlieb, Robin. Publishing Children's Books in America, 1919-1976: An Annotated Bibliography. New York: The Children's Book Council, 1978.

Green, Martin. The Robinson Crusoe Story. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1990.

Griswold, Jerry. Audacious Kids: Coming of Age in America's Classic Children's Books. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.

Gumuchian, Kirkor. "From Piety to Entertainment in Children's Books," American Scholar. Volume 10, No. 3 (Summer 1941): 337-350.

Guroian, Vigen. Tending the Heart of Virtue : How Classic Stories Awaken a Child's Moral Imagination. New York : Oxford University Press, 1998.

Halsey, Rosalie. Forgotten Books of the American Nursery: A History of the Development of the American Story-Book. Reprint. Detroit, MI: Singing Tree Press, 1969.

Hazard, Paul. Books, Children and Men. 4th Edition. Boston, MA: Horn Book, 1960.

How Much Truth Do We Tell the Children? The Politics of Children's Literature. Ed. by Betty Bacon. Minneapolis, MN: Marxist Educational Press, 1988.

Hunt, Peter, Ed. (1995). Children's Literature: An Illustrated History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.

Image & Maker: An Annual Dedicated to the Consideration of Book Illustration. ed. by Harold Darling and Peter Neumeyer. La Jolla, CA: Green Tiger Press, 1984.

Kelly, R. Gordon. Mother Was a Lady: Self and Society in Selected American Children's Periodicals 1865-1890. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1974.

Kelly, R. Gordon. "American Children's Literature: Historiographic Review," American Literary Realism. Volume 6 (September 1963): 89-107.

Kelly, R. Gordon. "Literature and the Historian," American Quarterly. Volume 26 (May 1974): 141-159.

Kiefer, Monica. American Children Through Their Books, 1700-1835. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1948.

Knoepflmacher, U. C. Ventures into Childland : Victorians, Fairy Tales, and Femininity.
Chicago, IL : University of Chicago Press, 1998.

Kuznets, Lois R. When Toys Came Alive: Narratives of Animation, Metamorphosis, and Development. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1994.

Lundin, Anne. "In A Different Place: Feminist Aesthetics and the Picture Book," in Ways of Knowing: Literature and the Intellectual Life of Children. ed. By Kay E. Vandergrift. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1996, pp. 203-231.

MacCann, Donnarae. White Supremacy in Children's Literature : Characterizations of African Americans, 1830-1900. New York : Garland Pub., 1998.

MacDonald, Ruth. Literature for Children in England and America from 1646 to 1774. Troy, NY: The Whitston Publishing Co., 1982.

MacLeod, Anne Scott. A Moral Tale: Children's Fiction and American Culture, 1820-1860. Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1975.

Mackey, Margaret. The Case of Peter Rabbit : Changing Conditions of Literature for Children. New York : Garland Pub., 1998.

Marcus, Leonard S. Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened By the Moon. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1992.

Meigs, Cornelia, and others. A Critical History of Children's Literature. New York: Macmillan, 1969. Note: If you use an earlier edition [1953] please be sure to read the following to identify errors and concerns: Walbridge, Erle. "A Critical History of Children's Literature Critically Considered," in The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America. Volume XLVIII [second and third quarters, 1974]: 199-208, 263-267.

Michaels, Carolyn Clugston. Children's Book Collecting. Hamden, CT: Library Professional Publications, 1993.

Montanaro, Ann R. Pop-Up and Movable Books: A Bibliography. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993.

Murray, Gail S. American Children's Literature and the Construction of Childhood. New York: Twayne, 1998.

Myth, Magic, and Mystery: One Hundred Years of American Children's Book Illustration. Introductory Essay by Michael Patrick Hearn. Essays by Trinkett Clark and H. Nichols B. Clark. Boulder, CO: Robert Rinehart in Cooperation with the Chrysler Museum of Art, 1996.

Neuburg, Victor E. The Penny Histories: A Study of Chapbooks for Young Readers Over Two Centuries. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1969.

Opie, Iona and Robert Opie and Brian Alderson. The Treasures of Childhood: Books, Toys, and Games From the Opie Collection. New York: Arcade, Little Brown, 1989.

A Peculiar Gift: Nineteenth Century Writings on Books for Children. Selected and Introduced by Lance Salway. Harmondsworth, England: Kestral Books, 1976.

Rahn, Suzanne. Children's Literature: An Annotated Bibliography of the History and Criticism. New York: Garland, 1981.

Rayward, W. Boyd. "What Shall They Read? A Historical Perspective," Wilson Library Bulletin. Volume 51 (October 1976): 146-162.

Richardson, Selma K., Editor. Research About Nineteenth-Century Children and Books: Portrait Studies. Urbana-Champaign, IL: Graduate School of Library Science, University of Illinois, 1980.

Richardson, Selma K., Editor. "The Study and Collecting of Historical Children's Books," Library Trends. Volume 27, No. 4 (Spring 1979): 421-567.

Safford, Barbara Ripp, and Sharyl Smith. Children's Literature: A Guide to Research Collections in the Columbia University Libraries. New York: School of Library Service, Columbia University, 1979.

Salway, Lance, Editor. Research About Nineteenth-Century Writings on Books for Children. London: Kestral Books, 1976.

Sandner, David. The Fantastic Sublime : Romanticism and Transcendence in Nineteenth-century Children's Fantasy Literature. Westport, CT : Greenwood Press, 1996.

Santi, Steve. Collecting Little Golden Books. Florence, AL: Books Americana, 1989.

Schiller, Justin G. "Magazines for Young America: The First Hundred Years of Juvenile Periodicals," Columbia Library Columns. Volume 23 (May 1974): 24-39.

Silvey, Anita, Ed. Children's Books and Their Creators. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1995.

Smith, Karen Patricia. The Fabulous Realm: A Literary-Historical Approach to British Fantasy, 1780-1990. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993.

Stephens, John and Robyn McCallum. Retelling Stories, Framing Culture : Traditional Story and Metanarratives in Children's Literature. New York : Garland Pub., 1998.

Targ, William, Editor. Bibliophile in the Nursery: A Bookman's Treasury of Collectors' Lore on Old and Rare Children's Books. Cleveland, OH: World, 1957.

Tatar, Maria. Off With Their Heads!: Fairy Tales and the Culture of Childhood. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992.

Thwaite, Mary F. From Primer to Pleasure in Reading: An Introduction to the History of Children's Books in England, From the Invention of Printing to 1914 with an Outline of Some Development in Other Countries. 2nd Edition. London: Library Association, 1972.

Townsend, John Rowe. Written For Children: An Outline of English-Language Children's Literature. Revised Edition. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott, 1975.

Tuer, Andrew W. The History of the Horn Book. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1897.

Tuer, Andrew W.. Pages and Pictures From Forgotten Children's Books. London: Leadenhall Press, 1899.

Vandergrift, Kay E. "Female Advocacy and Harmonious Voices: A History of Public Library Services and Publishing for Children in the United States," Library Trends. Vol. 44, No. 4 (Spring 1996): 683-718.

Vandergrift, Kay E. "Collecting: Passion with a Purpose," School Library Journal. Vol. 33, No. 2 (October 1986): 91-95.

Vandergrift, Kay E.. "A Feminist Perspective on Multicultural Children's Literature in the Middle Years of the Twentieth Century," Library Trends. Vol.41 (Winter 1993): 354-77.

Vandergrift. Kay E.. "A Feminist Research Agenda for Youth Literature," Wilson Library Bulletin. Vol. 68 (October 1993): 23-27.

Vandergrift, Kay E., and Jane Anne Hannigan. "A Celebration of Tradition in Children's Literature," School Library Journal. Vol. 31, No. 8 (April 1985): 33-37.

Vandergrift, Kay E.. "Oldies But Goodies: Hidden Treasures from Your Shelves," School Library Journal. Vol. 37 (September 1991): 174-179.

West, Mark I., ed. Before OZ: Juvenile Fantasy Stories from Nineteenth Century America. Hamden, CT: Shoestring Press.

Whalley, Joyce Irene. Cobwebs to Catch Flies: Illustrated Books for the Nursery and Schoolroom 1700-1900. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1975.

Wooden, Warren W. Children's Literature of the English Renaissance. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 1986.

Wullschlager, Jackie. Inventing Wonderland: The Lives and Fantasies of Lewis Caroll, Edward Lear, J.M. Barrie, Kenneth Grahame and A.A. milne. London: Methuen, 1995.

Created September 20, 1995 and is continuously revised

SCILS, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey