What Kids and Teachers Think

History and Classics of the Genre

Until the 18th century there was no distinction between books written for instruction or entertainment. Stories from the Bible about animals and saints were most likely the first books available to children. Most of the early children's literature in America was also instructional.

In the eighteenth century fantasy books, based on fables and fairytales, such as Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood, came into play in children's literature.

Reading for enjoyment was impossible for working- class children until the middle of the nineteenth century because they were working all the time. As more working-class children began to read, reading for pleasure became acceptable.

Children's books were extremely popular during the Victorian era. "Alice in Wonderland," "Tom Sawyer," and "Little Women" were all written during that period of time.

By the twentieth century lots of books were being written for children and young adults. The best of these win an annual award called the John Newbery Medal which began in 1922. Some good twentieth century children's books that didn't win the Newbery Medal included the Hardy Boys series and the Nancy Drew series.

Coming to the end of the twentieth century, children's books became tied to movies. Some examples of these books are Stars Wars and Disney books. One reason for this increase in the number of books written for children was that kids were becoming better educated and had more time to read. Some authors felt it was important to write specifically for children. Other authors believe that a good book can appeal to all ages.

Throughout history, some books, written for adults, became popular with kids. Some books were even published in simplified forms or with illustrations just for kids.

Some examples were:
Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift,
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe,
The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper,
The Time Machine and The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells,
The Sherlock Holmes series by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.

Resources for Children's Literature

	Newbery Awards Do you have to read a book that has to be a Newbery? Well click on to this site and you be able to pick out every Newbery book which was ever writen.
	Background of the Newbery Awards
	Other awards besides Newbery awards You might think that there is only one award but there isn't. Click on this link to find out about other awards.
	200 Years of Children's Books, an exhibit from Feb. 17 through June 12 at the University of Delaware. If you can't visit this, you can take a virtual walkthrough by using our links in the text (above) of this document.
	Children's Literature Web Guide
	A Brief History of Young Adult Literature (a source for this page)
	Read our book reviews!
	LiveZone GirlTalk BookList (Good books for girls!)
	A List of Books for Young Adult Learners of English
	Rutger University's Children's and Yound Adult Author Guide (really thorough!)
	Internet Public Library Young Adult Author Page
	Author Links (Internet Public Library)
	Yahoo Young Adult Author's Section