Republic of the Philippines
North Eastern Mindanao State University
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A HANDOUT IN EL 111 ( Children and Adolescent Literature)
Historical Background of Children’s Literature
Goyo, Nicole M., Alaan, Febmae G., Devera, Angel Joy L., & Engroba,
Sheenamarie P. BSED ENGLISH 2
OBJECTIVES:
At the end of the lesson, the students are expected to:
1. Identify persons and events in history that contributed to the development
of Children’s Literature.
2. Construct a timeline or graphic organizer showing the development of
children’s literature and young adults’ literature in the world and in the
Philippines.
3. Appreciate the essence of children's literature in children and adolescents.
What is Children's Literature?
Children's literature is the good-quality written work with the purpose of
entertainment and information intended primarily for children from birth to
adolescence, covering topics of relevance and interests to children that
appropriately reflect the experiences and the realms of childhood, through
prose and poetry, fiction and nonfiction.
How important are these literary pieces to children and adolescents?
1. It helps them to better understand themselves, others, their world, and the
aesthetic values of written language.
2. Assumes the role of one of the characters.
3. Through that character's thoughts, words, and actions the child develops
insight into his or her own character and values.
4. Frequently, because of experiences with literature, the child's modes of
behavior and value structures are changed, modified, or extended.
How did Children's literature evolve?
Oral story telling- Before the invention in the fifteenth century of the printing
press, which made books more widely available, children listened to stories told
by their elders, this in general, states that the characteristics of the earliest
children's literature were presented through oral story telling. The stories were
about the adventures of the older people. about animals, and imaginary
characters. These stones were passed on by word of mouth from generation to
generation before they were collected for printing.
Classical Period
Early Beginnings: History of Children's Literature under Classical World (Greek
and Roman) 500 BCE-400 CE
All literature began with the ancient art of storytelling. Our ancestors told
stories to entertain each other, to comfort each other, to instruct the young in
the lessons of living, to pass on their religious and cultural heritage. Storytelling
is an integral part of every world culture.
In early times, Western civilization has its roots in the cultures of Ancient
Greece and Rome, which flourished between about 500 BCE and 400 CE, now
known as the Classical period. Greece in the fifth century BCE is in many ways
the birthplace of Western culture and so that is where our story begins. In this
cradle of democracy and individualism, children grew up with the stories of the
Trojan War (from Homer's Iliad) and of the travels of Odysseus (from Homer's
Odyssey) and the stories of Jason and the Golden Fleece and the adventures
of Hercules. They also knew of the now-famous fables attributed to the slave
Aesop, believed to be a teacher, writing to instruct his students in cultural and
personal values.
With the decline of Greek civilization, the Roman Empire rose to power,
but the Romans remained under the long shadow of Greeks, whom they greatly
admired. The power of these ancient stories remains with us, and modern
writers and illustrators frequently turn to the Greek and Roman
myths for inspiration and retelling.
The Aesop's fable- Written by a former Greek slave, in the late to mid6th century BCE, Aesop's Fables are the world's best known collection of
morality tales. The fables were originally told from person-to-person as much
for entertainment purposes but largely as a means for relaying or teaching a
moral or lesson.
These early stories are essentially allegorical myths often portraying
animals or insects e.g. foxes, grasshoppers, frogs, cats, dogs, ants, crabs,
stags, and monkeys representing humans engaged in human-like situations (a
belief known as animism). Ultimately the fables represent one of the oldest
characteristics of human life: storytelling.
Some of Aesop's Timeless Fables
AngloSaxon
Period
The Tortoise and the Hare
The Dog and Its Reflection
The Boy Who Cried Wolf
The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
The Ant and the Grasshopper
The Farmer and the Viper
The Lion and the Mouse
The Crow and the Pitcher
The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs
The North Wind and the Sun
As far back
as the Anglo-Saxon Period, monks and other learned men wrote "lesson books"
for children. These lesson books were designed for teaching.
Aldhelm (640-709)
The first man to write lesson books
for children.
During the AngloSaxon
period,
Abbot (monk-leader) of Malmesbury
there
were
and bishop of Sherborne.
different kinds of
stories.
Some Collection of Educational Material De Septenario
were
Epic Compiled by Aldhelm:
De Metris
poems
were
about heroes and
Enigmatibus
their
brave
deeds,
while
Ac Pedum Regulis
Elegiac poems
were more about
It contained the meaning and use o
feeling sad and Content of the Collection:
the number seven in the Bible.
thinking
about
life. Heroic tales
showed
how
It included riddles and puzzles in
brave
people
Latin, which children were asked to
were,
and
solve.
Religious
stories
taught
lessons about right and wrong. Folklore stories added excitement with magical
beings. These stories were important for keeping traditions alive, teaching
people how to behave, and showing what was important to them.
Some Stories of Anglo-Saxon Period
Beowulf
Dream of the Rood
The Battle of Maldon
The Wanderer
The most famous works from this period include Beowulf that became the
highest achievement of Old English literature and the earliest European
vernacular epic.
The Medieval Period
By the fifteenth century, books on manners and morals began to appear in
England by 1430. One of these was William Caxton's books that published
about 1477. Another was “The Babies Boke” which had the subtitles “Manners
and Meals in the Olden Time” so this book contained rules of
behavior for boys who trained to become knights during the age of chivalry.
William Caxton is the first person to introduce printing press in publishing in
Westminster.
Some of the pieces printed materials during this time:
ABC books- Also known as primers were used at the hour of prime as a book
of private devotions in the Angelican Church. Henry VIllI had ordered the
printing of both Catholic and Protestant primers that contained the alphabet and
Christian principles, thus, the term primer came to be applied to all the first
books for children in school.
Hornbook- The hornbooks, which were not really books, appeared toward the
end of the sixteenth century. These were the first books designed for children
to handle. The hornbooks were used to teach the alphabet and combinations
of letters and to continue religious instruction.
Chapbooks- In 1697 Charles Perrault, a Frenchman, published his collection of
tales entitled Comtes de Ma Mere L' Oye or Tales of My Mother Goose.
Translations of these tales were published separately in as chapbooks in
England. These books were called chapbooks because they were sold by
itinerant peddlers called chapmen.
Some Of Medieval Period Famous Stories
Tittle
Magic Tree House Book
Author
Mary Pope Osborne
Year Published
1992
Ella Enchanted
Gail Carson Levine
1997
Fairy Tale Romance
Series Book 1
Melanie Dickerson
2010
The Journal of Tobias
Burgess
Unknown
20003
Puritan Period
In this period the books stressed fear of God, religious instruction and
preparation for death. Children read books that interested them although the
books were for adults like John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress (1678), Daniel
Defoe's Robinson Cruse (1714), Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels (1726),
Mallory's Death of King Arthur, Reynard the Fox.
The tool that is develop during the Puritan Period:
New England Primer- A book made especially for the children of the American
colonies appeared. It was a small book, about 3 by 4⅐ inches and had about
100 pages. It contained the alphabet, words and syllables for spelling lessons,
the Lord's Prayer, catechism, hymns and verses, rhymes for each letter of the
alphabet. In 1658, the first illustrated school book appeared which became the
first piture book. It was invented by Johann Amos Comenius, Bishop of Moravia
and an educator who believed in teaching children by letting them see things
with their own eyes. Orbis Sensualum or Orbis Pictus (The World in Pictures).
17th Century and 18th Century Books- In 1715, Dr. Isaac Watts published Divine
and Moral Songs for Children, a companion volume to The New England
Primer. Some writers consider Isaac Watts as the starting point of the history
of children's literature, and
"The Cradle Hymn" as the first children's poem.
Battledore- This succeeded the hornbook. It was a 4 by 6½ three-leaved
cardboard that folded like a pocketbook. It had the alphabet and easy-reading
matter that made it popular until 1840.
Some Of Puritan’s Period Famous Stories
Book
Sinners in the Hands of
an Angry God
Anne Bradstreet's
Poems
The Bay Psalm Book
Of Plymouth Plantation
The New England
Primer
The Pilgrim's Progress
Author
Jonathan Edwards
Year
1741
Anne Bradstreet
1650s
Various (New England
Puritan)
William Bradford
Various (New England
Puritans)
John Bunyan
1640
1651
1660
1678
John Newbery Era
John Newbery "The father of children's literature"
He conceived the idea of publishing books for the enjoyment
and entertainment of children.
1.
Little Pretty Pocket Book
- The first book that can be truly called a child's book.
- It contained a variety of content aimed at engaging and instructing
young readers such as...
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
2.
Short pieces of prose
Poetry
Instructional content
Games
Activities aimed at entertaining and educating children.
Mother Goose Melody - a collection of nursery rhymes published.
Some of Mother Goose Melody Nursery Rhymes
Baa Baa Black Sheep
Jack’n Jill
Humpty Dumpty
Three Blind Mice
Pussycat
Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes- The Newbery firm seems to have derived the
name "Mother Goose" from the title of Charles Perrault's fairy tales, Contes de
ma mère l'oye (1697; "Tales of Mother Goose"), a French folk expression
roughly equivalent to "old wives'' tales.
Mother goose rhymes for child development:
a. Cognitive- learn alphabet, numbers and counting,
b. Aesthetic- nurturing love for sounds and rhythms, and sensitivity to
patterns in arts,
c. Social and Physical- most rhymes are cooperative play.
The Didactic Period
Didactic literature presents philosophical, religious, moral, and scientific
knowledge and ideas in various imaginative literary genres. Jean Jacques
Rousseau (1712-1778) was a French philosopher who started a new
philosophy in the education of children.
Some stories of Didactic Period
Emile
History of Sanford and Merton
History of the world
AUTHORS
Jean Jacques Rousseau
Thomas Day
Peter Parley
Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) was a French philosopher who
started a new
philosophy in the education of children. His book Emile embodied the
philosophy that children be
given freedom to develop their natural interests and learn from actual
experience.
Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) was a French philosopher who
started a new
philosophy in the education of children. His book Emile embodied the
philosophy that children be
given freedom to develop their natural interests and learn from actual
experience.
The Return of Fairy Tales Old and New
The influence of didactic was unable to control permanently children's love for
fairy tales. The publication of Grimm's Fairy tales revived the interest for the
imaginative stories. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm collected the old German stories
not for the entertainment of children but to record them scientifically for
prosperity. These stories were translated into English in 1823 and were called
Grimm's Popular Stories.
Some stories of Fairy Tales
Thumbelina
The Nightingale
Ugly Ducklings
Book of Nonsense
Through the Looking Glass
Alice in Wonderland
Realistic Literature
Authors
Hans Christian Andersen
Edward Lear
Lewis Carroll
This period was marked with the appearance of stories of boys and girls in
simple home situations, stories of adventure, of brave men and women,
history and growth of countries, the wonders of nature and science.
Famous stories in Realistic Literature
Little
Women in 1868
Little Women
Little MAn
Authors
Louisa May Alcott
References:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2
ahUKEwjekLjrqpiEAxWEnq8BHX8bDw0QFnoECBgQAQ&url=https%3
A%2F%2Fwww.studocu.com%2Fph%2Fdocument%2Fbukidnon-stateuniversity%2Fgeneral-education%2Fel111module-1-l1-historicalbackground-of-childrens
literature%2F45137089&usg=AOvVaw0SmyIH_qA_QbU4_Dg9VwZO&
opi=89978449
https://youtube.com/watch?v=wjo1Qaq4THc&si=fK0d6ySjIfgUoL4u