The Children's Literature Portal
Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader, from picture books for the very young to young adult fiction.
Children's literature can be traced to traditional stories like fairy tales, that have only been identified as children's literature in the eighteenth century, and songs, part of a wider oral tradition, that adults shared with children before publishing existed. The development of early children's literature, before printing was invented, is difficult to trace. Even after printing became widespread, many classic "children's" tales were originally created for adults and later adapted for a younger audience. Since the fifteenth century much literature has been aimed specifically at children, often with a moral or religious message. Children's literature has been shaped by religious sources, like Puritan traditions, or by more philosophical and scientific standpoints with the influences of Charles Darwin and John Locke. The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are known as the "Golden Age of Children's Literature" because many classic children's books were published then. (Full article...)
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Raggedy Ann and Andy (1919), illustrated by Johnny Gruelle, meet for the first time.
In this month
- 4 May 1980 – The US Congress passes the Department of Education Organization Act, establishing the United States Department of Education
- 15 May 2004 - Death of Mexican American feminist, author, poet, scholar and activist Gloria E. Anzaldúa
- 17 May 1900 - Printing of the first copy of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (pictured)
- 22 May 1849 – Death of Maria Edgeworth, one of the first realist children's writers
- 29 May 1839 – Birth of Mary Louisa Molesworth, the "Jane Austen of the nursery"
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- Literature • Books • Novels
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- Related projects
- Artemis Fowl • Discworld • Fablehaven • Harry Potter • Inheritance Cycle • Lemony Snicket • Redwall • Oz
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Did you know...
- ... that It's Just a Plant, a children's book, was heavily criticized by Republican Congressman Mark Souder (pictured), who argued that it supported marijuana use by children?
- ... that Howard Pyle's 1883 children's novel The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood had a vast influence on portrayals of Robin Hood through the 20th century?
- ...that while still in college, children's author Eloise Greenfield realized that she was too shy to be a teacher and dropped out to work at the U.S. Patent Office?
Featured content
Featured articles
Chinua Achebe- Argosy (magazine)
- Bronwyn Bancroft
- Enid Blyton
- The Coral Island
- Edmund Evans
- Ian Fleming
- The Fox and the Hound (novel)
- Anne Frank
- The Guardian of Education
- The Hardy Boys
- The Hunger Games (novel)
- Lad, A Dog
- Ursula K. Le Guin
- Julianne Moore
- Baron Munchausen
- The Phantom Tollbooth
- Proserpine (play)
- Talbot Baines Reed
- Sally Ride
- J. K. Rowling
- Scoops (magazine)
- Mary Martha Sherwood
- The Story of Miss Moppet
- Tom Swift
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- J. R. R. Tolkien
- When Megan Went Away
- A Wizard of Earthsea
- Mary Wollstonecraft
Featured lists
Categories
Topics
Children's literature: Book talk • Children's literature criticism • Children's literature periodicals • International Children's Digital Library • Native Americans in children's literature
Young adult literature: Gay teen fiction • Lesbian teen fiction • List of young adult authors • Young Adult Library Services Association
Associations and awards: Children's Book Council of Australia • CBCA book awards • Governor General's Literary Award for Children's Literature and Illustration • IBBY Canada • American Library Association • Association for Library Service to Children • Newbery Medal • Caldecott Medal • Golden Kite Award • Ezra Jack Keats Book Award • SCBWI • Sibert Medal • Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal • Batchelder Award • Coretta Scott King Award • Belpre Medal • Carnegie Medal • Kate Greenaway Medal • Nestlé Smarties Book Prize • Guardian Award • Hans Christian Andersen Award • Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award • Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators
Lists: List of children's classic books • List of children's literature authors • List of children's non-fiction writers • List of fairy tales • List of illustrators • List of publishers of children's books
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