Vol. 17, No. 19	Feb. 12, 1998

Exhibition highlights 300 years of children's books

Obedient miniature adult, mischievous free spirit or mini-consumer-the image of the child in society has changed many times over the past 300 years. Often books given to children are meant to mold or train the young mind to the values of their elders. For this reason, children's literature is often more reflective of adult society than of the intended readers, Snyder said.

In Western Europe, there was no separate category of books for children before the 18th century. The Bible, stories of saints and martyrs and books about exotic animals were probably the first printed books available to children. The woodcut illustrations of these early works was intriguing even for those unable to read.

Early books for children were strongly influenced by the conservative English beliefs of the 17th century. Seeing children as amoral savages needing to be taught right from wrong, society used stories filled with death and damnation to frighten children into good behavior. Humor and imagination were banned, replaced by stories of boys and girls who suffered grisly fates for misbehaving.

The Sunday School Movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, which aimed to bring religion to the working class, continued the didactic tone in thousands of tracts of simple stories distributed throughout England and the United States.

The 18th century saw the translation into English of classic fairy tales such as Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood and the beginnings of the English novel with Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver's Travels. While these may not have been written specifically for a young audience, the stories appealed to readers of all ages, both in their original forms and in the many illustrated and simplified editions that followed.

Fairy tales and folklore also were available to working class children in the form of chapbooks, small crudely produced pamphlets, sold by itinerant merchants.

Eventually, improved technology in the publishing industry made books cheaper and more attractive for an increasingly literate middle class. The attitude toward reading changed as reading for pleasure became acceptable.

The Victorian era was a golden age for children's books. It was the time of classic books-Alice in Wonderland, Tom Sawyer and Little Women-and great illustrators-Kate Greenaway, John Tenniel and Howard Pyle, to mention a few. Books and games for children became plentiful and inexpensive.

The thriving publishing industry for young people continued in the 20th century with adventure stories, series books like the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, science fiction and fantasy. Storybooks for young children flourished and even babies were considered an audience. Recent years have brought books tied to movies and commercial products from Disney to Star Wars, as well as the psychologically oriented young adult novel.

An online version of the exhibition will be available on the Internet after March 1. This virtual exhibition will be at http://www. lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/exhibits/child or through the Special Collections web page.

"World of the Child" can be viewed during Special Collections' normal hours: Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Tuesdays until 8 p.m. The gallery is located on the second floor of the Morris Library.