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850 BCE
Iliad and Odyssey
Written by the Greek Homer about a man named Odysseus' trials throughout his travels. -
600 BCE
Aesop's Fables
Written by the Greek Aesop about talking animals with a moral to each story. -
8 BCE
Metemorphoses
Written the Roman Ovid about many Roman myths and legends. -
900
Beowulf
Written about the adventures and struggle between Beowulf and the monster Grendel. -
Orbis Sensualium Pictus
Written by John Comenius to teach Latin through pictures. -
The Pilgrim's Progress
Written John Bunyan to tell stories about adventures and monsters in order to entertain children. -
New England Primer
Written to teach Puritan children rhymes in order to learn the alphabet -
Thoughts Concerning Education
Written by John Locke about the minds of children and their learning capacities. -
Robinson Crusoe
Written by Daniel Dufoe to tell the story about a man stuck on a strange island. -
Gulliver's Travels
Written by Johnathon Swift to tell the story of a man named Gulliver's adventures. -
Tales of Mother Goose
Written to tell a collection of fairytales. -
A little Pretty Pocket Book
Written by John Newbery and became the first children's book placed in a bookstore. -
Emile
Written by Jean-Jacques Rousseau and described his idea of a moral education. -
The Story of the Robins
Written by Sarah Trimmer about a family of robins living side by side with a human family -
Tales from the Arabian Nights
Written by Elizabeth Newbery about a collection of Middle Eastern tales. -
Simple Susan
Written by Maria Edgeworth about a wholesome country girl. -
Grimms' Fairy Tales
Written by the brothers Grimm to tell the story of multiple folktales. -
The History of the Fairchild Family
Written Mrs. Sherwood to tell scary, moral stories of children. -
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Written by Lewis Carroll and was the first children's story purely for entertainment