-
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John Newbery's Bookstore
In 1744, John Newbery (1713–1767) opened a
bookstore in St. Paul’s Churchyard, London, where
he published and sold books for children. -
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A Wonder Book for Boys and Girls
Nathaniel Hawthorne is considered the author of the first American book written specifically for children, A Wonder
Book for Boys and Girls (1851/1893). -
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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Lewis Carroll’s "Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland," was soon reprinted in English-speaking countries all over the world. -
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Through the Looking Glass
Both Lewis Carroll’s two books were written purely to give pleasure to children. There is not a trace of a lesson or moral in the books. -
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Heidi, Pinocchio, The Wonderful Adventures of Nils
"Heidi," "Pinocchio," and "The Wonderful Adventures of Nils," were British and American books that kids read with equal enthusiasm. -
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1902
Walter de la Mare, Songs of Childhood
Rudyard Kipling, Just So Stories
E. Nesbit, Five Children and It
Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Peter
Rabbit -
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Child Labor Laws Passed
The first child labor laws were passed for freed children to go to school. -
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1908
Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the
Willows
L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green
Gables -
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1911
James M. Barrie, Peter Pan -
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Louise Bechtel Seaman
In 1919, the US publishing house Macmillan
launched a department devoted entirely to children’s books. Louise Bechtel Seaman, who had worked as an editor of adult books and taught in a progressive school, was appointed department head. -
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Modern Pictures Develop
Modern picture books began to develop during the 1920s and 1930s; from the 1940s through the 1960s, children’s and young adults’ books became an increasingly important part of libraries, schools, homes, and publishing houses. -
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First Women's Editors
In 1922 and 1923, two women, Helen Dean Fish and May Massee, became the first children’s books editors, each at a different company. -
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John Newbery Award
In 1922, the John Newbery Award was established by the American Library Association, followed by the Randolph Caldecott Award in 1938. -
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1922
Margery Williams, The Velveteen
Rabbit -
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The Horn Book Magazine Published
In 1924, The Horn Book Magazine was published by the Bookshop for Boys and Girls in Boston under the guidance of Bertha Mahony and Elinor Whitney. -
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1924
A. A. Milne, When We Were Very
Young -
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Children's Books Departments Open
In 1933, May Massee moved to open a children’s books department at Viking. Other publishers began to open children’s books departments, and children’s literature blossomed into the twentieth century. -
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1933
Jean de Brunhoff, The Story of Babar
P. L. Travers, Mary Poppins -
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1936
Edward Ardizzone, Little Tim and the
Brave Sea Captain -
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1938
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, The
Yearling -
Period: to
1939
Ludwig Bemelmans, Madeline
T. S. Eliot, Old Possum’s Book of
Practical Cats -
Period: to
1940
Maud Hart Lovelace, Betsy-Tacy
Eric Knight, Lassie Come-Home -
Period: to
1941
Robert McCloskey, Make Way for
Ducklings
H. A. Rey, Curious George -
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1943
Esther Forbes, Johnny Tremain -
Period: to
1950
C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch,
and the Wardrobe -
Period: to
1952
Mary Norton, The Borrowers
E. B. White, Charlotte’s Web -
Period: to
1954
Lucy M. Boston, The Children of
Green Knowe
Rosemary Sutcliff, The Eagle of the
Ninth
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the
Ring -
Period: to
1958
Philippa Pearce, Tom’s Midnight
Garden -
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Female Characters
It was difficult in the 1960s and 1970s to find books that presented girls and women in what at the time were “nontraditional” roles, that was not the case at the end of the twentieth century. -
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Robust Renaissance Genre
The genre began in earnest in the 1960s and 1970s
with the publication of novels such as S. E. Hinton’s The Outsiders (A), Paul Zindel’s The Pigman (A), Robert Lipsyte’s The Contender (A), Robert Cormier’s The Chocolate War (A), and Judy Blume’s Forever (A), among others. -
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Ashley Bryan
Ashley Bryan was named the winner of the 2012 Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement; in 1962, Bryan was the first African American to both write and illustrate a children’s book. -
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1962
Ezra Jack Keats, The Snowy Day
Madeleine L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time -
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1963
Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild
Things Are -
Period: to
1964
Lloyd Alexander, The Book of Three
Louise Fitzhugh, Harriet the Spy -
Period: to
1967
Virginia Hamilton, Zeely
S. E. Hinton, The Outsiders -
Period: to
1968
Ursula Le Guin, A Wizard of Earthsea
Paul Zindel, The Pigman -
Period: to
Special Recognition Awards
Special recognition of authors and illustrators of particular parallel cultures, such as the Coretta Scott King Awards (for
African American literature) and the Pura Belpré Awards (for Latino literature), were established in 1970 and 1996, respectively, and are administered by the American Library Association. -
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Native American Perspective
Literature for young readers by and about Native Americans began to flower in the late 1970s, as Native American voices, so long suppressed, began to be heard. Children’s
literature now includes Native American poetry, folklore, historical fiction, and biography, as well as historical nonfiction from a Native American perspective. -
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Children's Book Press
In 1975, disturbed by the lack of picturebooks
that reflected diversity, Harriet Rohmer established
Children’s Book Press, devoted to the publication of
bilingual picture books that reflected a diversity of cultural experiences. -
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First African American to Win an Award
The first African American to win the Newbery Award, in 1975 for M. C. Higgins, the Great (I–A) and the international Hans Christian Andersen Award, the late Virginia Hamilton was also the first writer for children and adolescents to receive the prestigious MacArthur “genius” grant. -
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Diversity in the Field
Other small presses such as Just Us Books, founded in 1988, were established to address the lack of diversity in the field, and forward-thinking editors such as Phyllis Fogelman, at Dial, encouraged and supported the work of several now-notable African American authors and illustrators. -
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OrbisPictus Award
The increasing attention paid to nonfiction in the final decades of the twentieth century is reflected in the establishment of the OrbisPictus Award, administered by the National Council of Teachers of English, in 1990, and the Robert F. Sibert Award for outstanding informational books, administered by the American Library Association, in 2001 -
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People of Color
In 1994, Bishop found that only 3 to 4 percent of the children’s books published in 1990, 1991, and 1992 related to of color. Since 1999, less than 3 percent of books published each year were by or about people of color. -
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Michael L. Printz Award
The subsequent resurgence of adolescent literature was marked by the establishment of the Michael L. Printz Award in 2000; this award is administered by the American Library Association. -
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Schnieder Family Book Award
In 2004, the Schneider Family Book Award, administered by the American Library Association, was inaugurated to honor an author or illustrator for his or her expression of the
disability experience for young readers. -
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Outstanding International Books
Outstanding International Books list, begun in 2006, and reviews of translated books in the USBBY newsletter, offer titles for those interested in global literature. -
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American Arab Book Award
Reflecting the increasing numbers of books that the Arab American community produces, the Arab American Book Award for literature for young readers was established in 2007. -
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The Caldecott Medal
The classic description of a picture book was shaken with the awarding of the Caldecott Medal, given for the most distinguished picture book of the preceding year, to Brian Selznick for The Invention of Hugo Cabret. -
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Chris Raschka
Chris Raschka’s A Ball for Daisy relied entirely on the illustrations to tell the story of a small dog who loved playing (and sleeping) with her big red ball, Raschka conveys emotions, action, and theme through use of line, color, and the sequence of the illustrations—and for this, he was awarded the 2012 Caldecott Medal.