The document discusses the history of children's literature in Western civilization and how ideas of childhood have evolved over time. It explains that concepts of childhood are socially constructed and shaped by dominant cultural ideals. Children's books from different eras reflected prevailing views of childhood, such as children being born sinful, the mind as a blank slate to fill, or children being naturally innocent. The Golden Age of children's literature in the 19th century presented the home and family as a haven. More recent decades saw a shift to books addressing harsh realities of life. The roots and evolution of modern childhood from the 17th century onward are also outlined.

1. Constructing Childhood:
A Brief History of
Early Children’s
Literature in Western
Civilization

2. What is “children’s literature?”
What is “childhood?”
 Meaning of “childhood” is
ideological—socially constructed,
constantly evolving
 Books “for children” reflect
dominant cultural ideals
 Reinforce ideas about behavior,
morality, gender roles, class
structure, etc.—shape reader
 Reflect ideological lens of writer,
culture—not created in vacuum
Image: Rosemary Adcock, “Orphan Series”

3. Analyze children’s literature in order to . . .
 Uncover culture’s ideal views
of “childhood”
 Examine society’s concept of
self
 Interrogate individual author’s
relationship to broader
cultural contexts
 Viewed across time, provides
insight into our own concepts
of childhood and “normalcy”
Image: Arthur B. Houghton, Mother and Children Reading, 1860

4. The “Golden Age” of
Children’s Literature
 Ideology of the nuclear family takes
shape in early 19th century
 Home & family as haven in heartless
world
 Source of stability in increasingly
materialistic, fractious world
 Powerful “cult of childhood”—child as
icon of “lost” innocence, emblematic of
past golden age of humanity
 Tensions: hierarchies, gender, class,
race, literary marketplace

5. What did “childhood” mean?
Historical Highlights
 400 years ago: children born in state of sin ;
childhood reading about religious guidance,
indoctrination
 250-300 years ago: “invention of childhood” as
modern concept; children’s minds “a blank slate”—fill
with proper information—logical, didactic texts
 200 years ago: children naturally innocent; moral
compass to society—imaginative texts
 40 years ago: children need to read about harsh
realities of life

6. Protestantism & Roots of “Modern
Childhood” (17th & early 18th centuries)
 Ideal of universal literacy;
importance of print culture
 Children products of original sin;
prepare for adult religious
experience
 Instructional books, conduct books
 Primers: teach reading, but also turn
innately sinful children into spiritual
beings
 Themes of death, damnation,
conversion
Image: From New England Primer, circa 1690

7. A little light bedtime reading . . .
 Popular reading for
Protestant children: Book
of Martyrs (1563); The Day
of Doom (1662)
 Anti-Catholic account of
“Bloody Mary” reign
 Poem of damnation of
world
 Horrific scenes of violence,
mutilation, murder
Images: Thomas Foxe, Book of Martyrs, 1563; Michael
Wigglesworth, The Day of Doom, 1662

8. The Enlightenment (late 17th, 18th centuries):
Enter Modern Childhood
 John Locke (1632-1704)
 Some Thoughts Concerning
Education (1693)
 Young mind as tabula rasa (blank
slate)
 Children not burdened by original sin
 Logical beings awaiting proper
education—rational writings
 Whole new construction of childhood
—distinct phase of life
Image: John Locke

9. 18th Century Groundbreakers
 John Newbery
 Bookseller/publisher
 Little Pretty Pocket Book
(1744) — first significant
story book specifically for
children
 Songs, poems, moral
tales, illustrations
 Instruct AND entertain
Image: John Newbery, Little Pretty Pocket Book, 1744

10. 18th Century Groundbreakers
 Jean-Jacques Rousseau
 Emile (1755)—Children
should be raised in natural
settings, free to imagine
 Children naturally innocent,
moral – “The child is the father
of the man” (Wordsworth)
 Books should free children’s
imaginations
 Romantics influence writers of
Golden Age
Image: Jean-Jacques Rousseau