CHILDREN’S LITERATURE OF CANADA
Early Canadian children’s literature aimed at so called “pious feelings and moral lessons.” Examples can be found in the first Canadian children’s magazine, The Snow Drop (1847).
Early writers who put their stories in a Canadian setting include Catherine Parr Traill. Her ‘Canadian Crusoes’ (1852) was later republished as ‘Lost in the Backwoods’. James de Mille wrote the first Canadian series, the Brethren of the White Cross schoolboy stories (1869-73).
‘Beautiful Joe’ (1894), by Margaret Marshall Saunders, is a sentimental and very popular dog story. But Ernest Thompson Seton and Sir Charles G.D. Roberts created the realistic animal story, a unique Canadian contribution to children’s literature. ‘Wild Animals I Have Known’ (1898) was Seton’s first collection of animal tales. One of Robert’s best is ‘The Kindred of the Wild’ (1902).
Lucy Maud Montgomery’s ‘Anne of Green Gables’ (1908), the first in a series of books about life on Prince Edward Island at the turn of the century, became an international best-seller. In 1912 Lillian H. Smith began her work in Boys and Girls Services at the Toronto Public Library. During her almost 40 years there, she greatly influenced selection of children’s books in Canada and elsewhere. The year 1922 marked a giant step for Canadian children’s books. The Toronto Public Library built Boys and Girls House, the first library building for children in Canada. ‘Silver: The Life of an Atlantic Salmon’ (1931) is a realistic animal story by one of Canada’s outstanding writers for children, Roderick L. Haig-Brown.
There are many romantic stories about the North West Mounted Police (now the Royal Canadian Mounted Police). One of the best known is Muriel Denison’s ‘Susannah: A Little Girl with the Mounties’ (1936). In 1936 La Bibliotheque des Enfants (The Children’s Library) opened in Montreal to serve the needs of the area’s French-speaking children.
The best-illustrated Canadian books of the 1940s are by the author-illustrator Clare Bice. His ‘Jory’s Cove’ (1941) captures the flavour of fishing life in Nova Scotia. In 1941 Mary Grannan’s fantasy ‘Just Mary’ was broadcast over the radio. It was the first of a series, later published in book form. Two of Haig-Brown’s best stories of outdoor life are ‘Starbuck Valley Winter’ (1943) and ‘Saltwater Summer’ (1948), set in British Columbia.
Bertha Mabel Dunham’s ‘Kristli’s Trees’ (1948) is a warm picture of Mennonite farm life in Ontario. In 1948 the Canadian Association of Children’s Librarians sponsored the first Young Canada’s Book Week. The Canadian Library Association had begun awarding prizes for the best Canadian children’s books in 1946. But the awards were confined to books in English. Several years later awards were also established for books in French.
‘The Talking Cat’ (1952) is a delightful collection of French Canadian folktales retold by Natalie Savage Carlson. A first-class example of history for children is Pierre Berton’s ‘Golden Trail’ (1954), the story of the Klondike Gold Rush. Farley Mowat’s prize winning ‘Lost in the Barrens’ (1956) was later republished as ‘Two Against the North’. Another popular Mowat story is ‘The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be’ (1957).
An outstanding book of 1958 was Marius Barbeau’s ‘Golden Phoenix, and Other French-Canadian Fairy Tales’, a retelling of stories from his ‘Contes du Grand-Pere Sept-Heures’ (Tales of Grandfather Seven O’Clock). Sheila Burnford’s ‘Incredible Journey’ (1960) was made into a movie. Claude Aubry’s fantasy ‘Les Iles du Roi Maha Maha II’ (The Islands of King Maha Maha II) tells the story of how the Thousand Islands came to be. In 1963 it was translated as ‘The King of the Thousand Islands’.
Christie Harris’ ‘Once Upon a Totem’ (1963) is a noteworthy retelling of Indian legends. A memorable book based on Eskimo legend is James Houston’s ‘Tikta’liktak’ (1965). Later books by the same author-illustrator include ‘The White Archer’.
Claude Aubry’s ‘Christmas Wolf’ (1965), the fanciful story of a Christmas Eve conversion, was translated from ‘Le Loup de Noel’. Another outstanding 1965 book is William Stevenson’s ‘Bushbabies’, a story of friendship and adventure set in Kenya. In 1971 the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Medal for illustration was given for the first time. It was awarded to Elizabeth Cleaver, illustrator of the poetry collection ‘The Wind Has Wings’ (1968).
CHILDREN’S LITERATURE OF LATIN AMERICA
Latin American literature for children began in the late 1800s. It was often moralistic and still is.
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, president of Argentina, laid the foundation for children’s libraries in that country. The Sarmiento Law of 1870 provided for a national library commission and for books. Through his writings, Sarmiento also influenced the development of children’s libraries in many other countries of Latin America.
In 1889 Jose Marti, the Cuban liberator, founded an early children’s magazine, La Edad de Oro (The Golden Age). Several years later, ‘Contos da Carochinha’ was published in Brazil. A collection of folktales from several countries, it was the first known book written to entertain children in Latin America. The Biblioteca de Chapulin series of children’s books began to appear in Mexico in 1904. Each book was chosen for its literary quality and was illustrated by a noted Mexican artist.
Rafael Pombo of Colombia, one of the first fine children’s poets of Latin America, wrote ‘Fabulas y verdades’ (Fables and True Stories) (1916). ‘South American Jungle Tales’, by Horacio Quiroga of Uruguay, was translated in 1922. Antonio Robles Soler, who wrote under the name Antoniorrobles, went to Mexico from Spain. His popular children’s stories include the books later translated as ‘Tales of Living Playthings’ and ‘Merry Tales from Spain’. ‘Perez and Martina’ (1932), a Puerto Rican folktale, was written down by Pura Belpre as she heard it from her grandmother.
In 1936 the National Commission for Children’s Literature was founded in Brazil. Two years later, one of Venezuela’s outstanding children’s magazines came out. It was Onza, Tigre y Leon. A later Venezuelan magazine was Tricolor. ‘Cuentos para Mari-Sol’ (Tales for Mari-Sol) (1938), by Chile’s Marta Brunet, was a collection of nursery stories. Constancio C. Vigil of Argentina was famous for his animal fantasies. One of his best-loved stories was translated as ‘La Hormiguita Viajera/The Adventures of Hormiguita’.
In 1940 Margarida Bandeira Duarte published a Brazilian “why” story, later translated as ‘The Legend of the Palm Tree’. Philip M. Sherlock wrote ‘Anansi, the Spider Man’ (1954), one of the best collections of Jamaican folktales. Costa Rica’s Maria Isabel Carvajal wrote under the name Carmen Lira. Her ‘Los Cuentos de mi tia Panchita’ (Tales Told by My Aunt Panchita), was published in 1956. ‘The Snow and the Sun/La Nieve y el Sol’ (1961), a South American folk rhyme in English and Spanish, was done by the author-illustrator Antonio Frasconi, who was born in Uruguay.
Andrew Salkey, a leading Jamaican writer, wrote several exciting children’s stories, among them ‘The Shark Hunters’ (1966). ‘Crick-Crack!’ (1966), folktales from Trinidad and Tobago, were retold by Eaulin Ashtine. Ricardo E. Alegria of Puerto Rico retold ‘The Three Wishes’ (1969), a collection of Puerto Rican folktales.
CHILDREN’S LITERATURE OF ASIA
In much of Asia, children’s literature has been at least partly to teach. The idea of children’s literature for pure fun is not generally accepted.
One of the first to write for children in Asia was Sazanami Iwaya of Japan. In the late 1800s he rewrote old stories, later translated as ‘Japanese Fairy Tales’. In 1909 Phool, the leading children’s magazine in Urdu, appeared in Pakistan. Lu Hsun of China collected old Chinese fairy tales and wrote stories for children. Akai Tori (Red Bird), the most important children’s magazine in Japan, first came out in 1918. Dhan Gopal Mukerji of India wrote the prize winning ‘Gayneck: The Story of a Pigeon’ (1927).
In 1939 a Lahore, Pakistan, publisher began a sort of children’s book-of-the-month club called the Paisa Library. For a paisa (about 1 1/2 cents) a day, a member received one children’s book at the end of the month. Ch’eng-en Wu’s ‘Monkey’, a popular Chinese story of about 1550, was retold in English for children in 1943. Htin Aung retold ‘Burmese Folk-Tales’ (1948). In 1949 the Tondo Children’s Library opened in Manila. It was the first of its kind in the Philippines.
‘The Animal Frolic’ (1954) was a reprint, with a few words added, of Toba Sojo’s Scroll of Animals. The Japanese artist drew the picture scroll in about 1100. So-Un Kim’s ‘Story Bag’ is a collection of Korean folktales. Ashraf Siddiqui of Pakistan wrote ‘Bhombal Dass: The Uncle of Lion’ (1959).
In the 1960s and 1970s especially, more children’s literature of Asia became available in English. This reflected, in part, a growing interest among English speakers in children of other lands. Janice Holland retold a story from ‘The Book of Huai Nan Tzu’ in ‘You Never Can Tell’ (1963). The original was written in China before 122 BC. Miyoko Matsutani’s ‘Fox Wedding’ is a Japanese folktale retold. Mom Dusdi Paribatra retold a Thai legend of love, ‘The Reluctant Princess’. ‘Blue in the Seed’ (1964) by Korea’s Yong Ik Kim, is a realistic story about a tormented blue-eyed boy. In 1964 Eliezer Smoli’s ‘Frontiersmen of Israel’ appeared in English. Selma Ekrem retold ‘Turkish Fairy Tales’ (1964).
Among many excellent translations from Japanese are Momoko Ishii’s ‘Issun Boshi, the Inchling’, a Japanese Tom Thumb story, and Kenji Miyazawa’s ‘Winds and Wildcat Places’ (1967). ‘Gilgamesh: Man’s First Story’ (1967) was retold by Bernarda Bryson. An outstanding book from Iran is Faridah Fardjam’s ‘Crystal Flower and the Sun’. Devorah Omer’s ‘Gideonites’ is an outstanding book from Israel.
Yasuo Segawa, a top Japanese artist, illustrated Miyoko Matsutani’s ‘Witch’s Magic Cloth’ (1969). Vo-Dinh wrote and illustrated ‘The Toad Is the Emperor’s Uncle’ (1970), a collection of animal folktales from Vietnam. ‘Juan and the Asuangs’ (1970), the story of a little boy and jungle spirits, was done by the author-illustrator Jose Aruego of the Philippines. Later picture books by Aruego include ‘Look What I Can Do’ (1971) about two carabaos who are always trying to outdo each other at everything.
CHILDREN’S LITERATURE OF AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
Few books for children were written in Australia until the late 1800s. And there has been very little children’s literature of New Zealand.
One of the best-known children’s writers of Australia, Ethel Sibyl Turner, wrote ‘Seven Little Australians’ (1894). K. Langloh Parker retold the folktales of the Australian aborigines in ‘Australian Legendary Tales’ (1896).
Children’s services began in the Dunedin Public Library of New Zealand in 1910. That same year, Mary Grant Bruce wrote ‘A Little Bush Maid’, the first of a popular series about a family who lived on a place called Billabong. In 1915 the Public Library of South Australia opened a children’s department.
May Gibbs’s ‘Gumnut Babies’ (1916) later appeared as a comic strip. Esther Glen, who wrote ‘Six Little New Zealanders’ (1917), set the standards for children’s writing in New Zealand. The author-illustrator Norman Lindsay wrote ‘The Magic Pudding’ (1918), one of Australia’s first fine picture books.
Dorothy Wall’s ‘Blinky Bill, the Quaint Little Australian’ (1933) was the first of a popular series. ‘Whalers of the Midnight Sun’ (1934), by the Australian Alan John Villiers, is one of the best adventure stories of its time. Mary and Elizabeth Durack wrote ‘The Way of the Whirlwind’ (1941), a fantasy. ‘The Book of Wiremu’ (1944), by New Zealand’s Stella M. Morice, is a story of Maori life.
The first Children’s Book Week in New Zealand was held in 1944. In 1945 the first Children’s Book Council was organized in Australia. The Esther Glen awards for the best children’s books began in New Zealand in 1945. The following year the Australian Children’s Book of the Year awards began. All these helped bring children and good books together.
Other outstanding books from Australia include Nan Chauncy’s ‘Tangara’ (1960) and Ivan Southall’s ‘Hills End’ (1962) and his dramatic ‘To the Wild Sky’ (1967). Patricia Wrightson’s realistic ‘I Own the Racecourse’ (1968) is another excellent book.
CHILDREN’S LITERATURE OF AFRICA
Children’s literature of Africa is fairly new mostly from the 1960s and 1970s. Often only small numbers of books by African writers were printed, so that there were few available in United States libraries.
In 1913 the Durban Public Library, South Africa, set aside a children’s book section. Six years later the first children’s librarian was appointed there. Abayomi Fuja began collecting Yoruba folktales in Nigeria in 1938. They were later published as ‘Fourteen Hundred Cowries’. In 1959 the Sierra Leone Library Board began services to children. The Kenya Children’s Library opened in Nairobi in 1960.
In 1962 the African Universities Press of Lagos, Nigeria, began to publish a series of children’s books called the African Reader’s Library. Among these stories by outstanding writers is Cyprian Ekwensi’s ‘African Night’s Entertainment’ (1962), set in Muslim Nigeria. J.H. Kwabena Nketia’s ‘Folk Songs of Ghana’ (1963) includes songs about Ananse the spider. In Kola Onadipe’s ‘Adventures of Souza’ (1963), he recalls his childhood adventures in a rural Nigerian village. His ‘Sugar Girl’ (1964) is a lively fairy tale. In 1964 the Juvenile Book Writers’ Group was founded in Nigeria to provide more and better books for children.
Ngumbu Njururi’s ‘Agikuyu Folk Tales’ (1966) retells stories from Kenya. ‘The Adventures of Coalpot’ (1966), about a clay stove and coal pot replaced by an electric stove, was written by Ghana’s Nana Adoma. Birago Diop retold Senegal folktales in ‘Tales of Amadou Koumba’. J.K. Njoroge’s ‘Tit for Tat, and Other Stories’ (1966) is a collection of Kenyan folktales.
‘Chike and the River’ (1966) was written by Chinua Achebe, one of Nigeria’s and Africa’s best novelists. Nigerian Solomon Irein Wangboje illustrated ‘A Crocodile Has Me by the Leg’ (1967), a collection of African poems. Mesfin Habte-Mariam’s ‘The Rich Man and the Singer’ (1971) is a collection of folktales from Ethiopia.
A PICTURE BOOK
A picture book is not just a book with pictures. Nor is it just a story with pictures added. In a picture book, words and pictures are like peanut butter and jelly. They go well together, and they add to each other. In a picture book, pictures are at least as important as the words.
Some picture books have no words, but they still tell a story. Then the pictures and the unspoken story must do something for each other. Films without words are picture books in a different form.
A GOOD BOOK
A good book latches onto a child and won’t let go. What a child needs is to be exposed to the pleasures of reading and to have access to a large collection of books from which to choose when the child is ready to read. What a child does not need is to be pushed into reading or to have an adult force a child to read a certain book by insisting that it is a good book.
Just the same, many adults want to know how to help children find good books or how to find good books for children. There are no sure-fire formulas. Every child is different, and every child is always changing. But a few general guidelines might be of help:
A good book is easy to hold. It is easier to concentrate when a book can be held comfortably.
A good book is easy to read. Type is large enough, with not too many words on a page. Children from about grade 4 shy away from what looks like a baby book type that’s too large. But most children of any age dislike what looks like a reading chore.
A good book is easy to understand. In a storybook, the plot is clear and easy to follow. As for reading levels of books, children’s librarians and children’s teachers can offer suggestions, especially if they know the child.
A good book is exciting. Children like interesting characters, lots of action, lively writing. They also appreciate good illustrations.
A GIANT STEP
In the history of children’s literature, there have been many giant steps. The following bibliography is a selection of only some of the landmark literature for children that have appeared throughout the world. All titles that are given in English are the titles under which the books were published in English.
Assisted by Augusta Baker, Coordinator of Children’s Services, New York Public Library.
BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR LITERATURE FOR CHILDREN
Allison, Christine. I’ll Tell You a Story, I’ll Sing You a Song: A Parent’s Guide to the Fairy Tales, Fables, Songs and Rhymes of Childhood (Delacorte, 1987).
Barrett, Graham and Morpurgo, Michael, eds. The Story Teller (State Mutual Books, 1985).
Bava, Domenick. Favorite Stories for Boys and Girls (Todd and Honeywell, 1980).
Bayert, Brod. If Only I Could Fly: Poems for Children to Read Out Loud (Juliahouse, 1984).
Bedard, Roger. Dramatic Literature for Children: A Century in Review (Anchorage, 1983).
Carpenter, Humphrey and Prichard, Mari. The Oxford Companion to Children’s Literature (Oxford Univ. Press, 1984).
Daniel, Elouise. A Treasury of Books for Family Enjoyment: Books for Children from Infancy to Grade 2 (Blue Engine, 1983).
Downs, Robert. Books That Changed the World (New American, 1983).
Dreyer, Sharon. The Bookfinder: A Guide to Children’s Literature About the Needs and Problems of Youth Aged 2 to 15 (American Guidance, 1981).
Dunhouse, Mary, ed. International Directory of Children’s Literature (Facts on File, 1986).
Egoff, Sheila and others, eds. Only Connect: Readings on Children’s Literature (Oxford, 1980).
Elleman, Barbara, ed. Children’s Books of International Interest (ALA, 1985).
Fitz-Randolph, Jane. How to Write for Children and Young Adults (Johnson Books, 1987).
Gillespie, John and Naden, Corinne, eds. Best Books for Children: Preschool Through Grade 6 (Bowker, 1990).
Hazard, Paul. Books, Children and Men (Horn Book, 1983).
Kimmel, M.M. and Segel, Elizabeth. For Reading Out Loud! (Dell, 1987).
Klein, Leonard, ed. Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th Century (Ungar, 1984).
Landsberg, Michele. Reading for the Love of It (Prentice, 1989).
Lewis, R.W.B. and Warren, R.P. American Literature: The Makers and the Making (St. Martin, 1987).
Lipson, E.R. The New York Times Parent’s Guide to the Best Books for Children (Time-Life, 1988).
Newman, Judith. The Craft of Children’s Writing (Heinemann, 1985).
Ohrbach, Barbara. Memories of Childhood: Old-Fashioned Rhymes, Poems, Lullabies, and Thoughts to Share with Children (Crown, 1988).
Paterson, Katherine. Gates of Excellence: On Reading and Writing Books for Children (Lodestar, 1988).
Pellowski, Anne. The Family Storytelling Handbook (Macmillan, 1987).
Pellowski, Anne. Made to Measure: Children’s Books in Developing Countries (UNIPUB, 1980).
Pellowski, Anne. The Story Vine: A Source Book of Unusual and Easy-to-Tell Stories from Around the World (Macmillan, 1984).
Rollock, Barbara. Black Authors and Illustrators of Children’s Books: A Biographical Dictionary (Garland, 1988).
Shulevitz, Uri. Writing with Pictures: How To Write and Illustrate Children’s Books (Watson-Guptill, 1985).
Stott, Jon. Children’s Literature From A to Z: A Guide for Parents and Teachers (McGraw, 1984).
Sutherland, Zena and others. Children and Books, 7th ed. (Scott, Foresman, 1986).
Townsend, John. Written for Children (Harper Junior, 1988).
Vandergrift, Kay. Children’s Literature: Theory, Research and Teaching (Libraries Unlimited, 1989).
Waugh, Charles and Greenberg, Martin, eds. The Newbery Award Reader (Harcourt, 1984).
Weiss, Jacqueline. Prize winning Books for Children (Lexington, 1983).
Whitney, Phyllis. Writing Juvenile Stories and Novels (Writer, 1985).
Withers, Carl. A Rocket in My Pocket (Holt, 1988).
Copyright©2008
By clicking here, you will be Redirected to the Parent Blog at Multiply.com
By clicking here, you will be Redirected to the Mirror Blog at LiveJournal.com
Related articles: LITERATURE FOR CHILDREN, STORYTELLING, LITERATURE, John BUNYAN, FABLE, Jean de LA FONTAINE, Daniel DEFOE, MOTHER GOOSE, John NEWBERY, SWIFT, GRIMM BROTHERS, Hans Christian ANDERSEN, Edward LEAR, Lewis CARROLL, John RUSKIN, William Makepeace THACKERAY, Johanna SPYRI, Robert Louis STEVENSON, Rudyard KIPLING, James M BARRIE, Kenneth GRAHAME, Maurice MAETERLINCK, Sergei PROKOFIEV, C.S. LEWIS, J.R.R. TOLKIEN, Washington IRVING, Louisa May ALCOTT, Mark TWAIN, Joel Chandler HARRIS, Howard PYLE, LITERARY AWARDS, Walt DISNEY, Langston HUGHES, DR. SEUSS, Gwendolyn BROOKS, Maurice SENDAK, Isaac Bashevis SINGER, READING
Tags: c.s. lewis, daniel defoe, dr. seuss, edward lear, fable, grimm brothers, gwendolyn brooks, hans christian andersen, howard pyle, isaac bashevis singer, j.r.r. tolkien, james m barrie, jean de la fontaine, joel chandler harris, johanna spyri, john bunyan, john newbery, john ruskin, kenneth grahame, langston hughes, lewis carroll, literary awards, literature, literature for children, louisa may alcott, mark twain, maurice maeterlinck, maurice sendak, mother goose, reading, robert louis stevenson, rudyard kipling, sergei prokofiev, storytelling, swift, walt disney, washington irving, william makepeace thackeray
