Editing Children's literature (section)

===Origins of the modern genre===

[[File:NewberyPocketBook.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|left|[[John Newbery]]'s ''[[A Little Pretty Pocket-Book]]'', originally published in 1744]]
The modern children's book emerged in mid-18th-century England.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/07/how-the-newbery-award-got-its-name/|title = How the Newbery Award Got Its Name|date = 2013-07-19|website = Today I Found Out|first = Emily|last = Upton|access-date = 2013-10-14|archive-date = 2019-04-05|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190405202512/http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/07/how-the-newbery-award-got-its-name/|url-status = live}}</ref> A growing [[politeness|polite]] middle-class and the influence of [[John Locke|Lockean]] theories of childhood innocence combined to create the beginnings of childhood as a concept. In an article for the [[British Library]], professor MO Grenby writes, "in the 1740s, a cluster of London publishers began to produce new books designed to instruct and delight young readers. [[Thomas Boreman]] was one. Another was [[Mary Cooper (publisher)|Mary Cooper]], whose two-volume ''[[Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book]]'' (1744) is the first known [[nursery rhyme]] collection. But the most celebrated of these pioneers is [[John Newbery]], whose first book for the entertainment of children was ''[[A Little Pretty Pocket-Book]]''."<ref name="Grenby"/>

Widely considered the first modern children's book, ''A Little Pretty Pocket-Book'' was the first children's publication aimed at giving enjoyment to children,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.kodomo.go.jp/ingram/e/section1/index.html |title=Early Children's Literature: From moralistic stories to narratives of everyday life |access-date=2013-10-14 |archive-date=2013-06-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130601231713/http://www.kodomo.go.jp/ingram/e/section1/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> containing a mixture of rhymes, picture stories and games for pleasure.<ref name=marks>{{cite book |last=Marks |first=Diana F. |title= Children's Book Award Handbook |year=2006 |publisher=[[Libraries Unlimited]] |location=Westport, Conn |page=201}}</ref> Newbery believed that play was a better enticement to children's good behavior than physical discipline,<ref>Townsend, John Rowe. ''Written for Children''. (1990). New York: HarperCollins. {{ISBN|0-06-446125-4}}, pp. 15–16.</ref> and the child was to record his or her behaviour daily. The book was child–sized with a brightly colored cover that appealed to children—something new in the publishing industry. Known as gift books, these early books became the precursors to the [[toy book]]s popular in the nineteenth century.<ref name="Lundin">{{cite journal |author=Lundin, Anne H. |year=1994 |title=Victorian Horizons: The Reception of Children's Books in England and America, 1880–1900 |journal=The Library Quarterly |volume=64 |pages=30–59 |doi=10.1086/602651|s2cid=143693178 }}</ref> Newbery was also adept at marketing this new genre. According to the journal ''[[The Lion and the Unicorn (journal)|The Lion and the Unicorn]]'', "Newbery's genius was in developing the fairly new product category, children's books, through his frequent advertisements... and his clever ploy of introducing additional titles and products into the body of his children's books."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Susina |first=Jan |title=Editor's Note: Kiddie Lit(e): The Dumbing Down of Children's Literature |journal=The Lion and the Unicorn |date=June 1993 |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=v–vi |doi=10.1353/uni.0.0256|s2cid=144833564 }}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Rose|1984|p=218}}</ref> Professor Grenby writes, "Newbery has become known as the 'father of children's literature' chiefly because he was able to show that publishing children's books could be a commercial success."<ref name="Grenby">{{cite news |last1=Grenby |first1=M O |title=The origins of children's literature |url=https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/the-origins-of-childrens-literature |access-date=18 January 2020 |agency=British Library |date=15 May 2014 |archive-date=1 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301053319/https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/the-origins-of-childrens-literature |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Image:GTShoesWoodcut.jpg|thumb|right|A [[woodcut]] of the eponymous Goody Two-Shoes from the 1768 edition of ''[[The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes]]''. It was first published in London in 1765.]]
The improvement in the quality of books for children and the diversity of topics he published helped make Newbery the leading producer of children's books in his time. He published his own books as well as those by authors such as [[Samuel Johnson]] and [[Oliver Goldsmith]];<ref name=Arbuth />{{rp|36}}<ref name="Rose, 219">{{harvnb|Rose|1984|p=219}}</ref> the latter may have written ''[[The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes]]'', Newbery's most popular book.

Another philosopher who influenced the development of children's literature was [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]], who argued that children should be allowed to develop naturally and joyously. His idea of appealing to a children's natural interests took hold among writers for children.<ref name=Arbuth />{{rp|41}} Popular examples included [[Thomas Day (writer)|Thomas Day]]'s ''[[The History of Sandford and Merton]]'', four volumes that embody Rousseau's theories. Furthermore, [[Maria Edgeworth|Maria]] and [[Richard Lovell Edgeworth]]'s ''[[Practical Education]]: The History of Harry and Lucy'' (1780) urged children to teach themselves.<ref>{{cite book|last=Leader|first= Zachary|title = Reading Blake's Songs|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Gu5WCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA3 |page = 3|publisher = Routledge|date = 2015|isbn = 9781317381235}}</ref>

Rousseau's ideas also had great influence in Germany, especially on [[Philanthropinum|German Philanthropism]], a movement concerned with reforming both education and literature for children. Its founder, [[Johann Bernhard Basedow]], authored ''Elementarwerk'' as a popular textbook for children that included many illustrations by [[Daniel Chodowiecki]]. Another follower, [[Joachim Heinrich Campe]], created an adaptation of ''Robinson Crusoe'' that went into over 100 printings. He became Germany's "outstanding and most modern"<ref name="int.comp.ency" />{{rp|736}} writer for children. According to Hans-Heino Ewers in ''The International Companion Encyclopedia of Children's Literature'', "It can be argued that from this time, the history of European children's literature was largely written in Germany."<ref name="int.comp.ency" />{{rp|737}}

[[File:Kinder title page.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.3|Pages from the 1819 edition of ''[[Grimms' Fairy Tales|Kinder- und Haus-Märchen]]'' by the Brothers Grimm]]
The [[Brothers Grimm]] preserved and published [[Grimms' Fairy Tales|the traditional tales]] told in [[Germany]].<ref name=Silvey>{{cite book |editor-last=Silvey |editor-first=Anita |title=The Essential Guide to Children's Books and their Creators |url=https://archive.org/details/essentialguideto00silv |url-access=registration |year=2002 |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin]] |location=New York |isbn=978-0-618-19082-9}}</ref>{{rp|184}} They were so popular in their home country that modern, realistic children's literature began to be looked down on there. This dislike of non-traditional stories continued there until the beginning of the next century.<ref name="int.comp.ency" />{{rp|739–740}} In addition to their collection of stories, the Grimm brothers also contributed to children's literature through their academic pursuits. As professors, they had a scholarly interest in the stories, striving to preserve them and their variations accurately, recording their sources.<ref name=Arbuth />{{rp|259}}

A similar project was carried out by the [[Norway|Norwegian]] scholars [[Peter Christen Asbjørnsen]] and [[Jørgen Moe]], who collected Norwegian fairy tales and published them as ''[[Norwegian Folktales]]'', often referred to as ''Asbjørnsen and Moe''. By compiling these stories, they preserved Norway's literary heritage and helped create the Norwegian written language.<ref name=Arbuth />{{rp|260}}

Danish author and poet [[Hans Christian Andersen]] traveled through Europe and gathered many well-known fairy tales and created new stories in the fairy tale genre.<ref name=EB>Elias Bredsdorff, ''Hans Christian Andersen: the story of his life and work 1805–75'', Phaidon (1975) {{ISBN|0-7148-1636-1}}</ref>

In [[Switzerland]], [[Johann David Wyss]] published ''[[The Swiss Family Robinson]]'' in 1812, with the aim of teaching children about family values, good husbandry, the uses of the natural world and self-reliance. The book became popular across Europe after it was translated into French by [[Isabelle de Montolieu]].

[[E. T. A. Hoffmann]]'s tale "[[The Nutcracker and the Mouse King]]" was published in 1816 in a German collection of stories for children, ''Kinder-Märchen''.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Nutcracker |last1=Hoffmann |first1=E. T. A. |last2=Sendak (illustrator) |first2=Maurice |publisher=Crown Publishers |year=1984 |isbn=978-0-385-34864-5 |location=New York, N.Y., US }}</ref> It is the first modern short story to introduce bizarre, odd and grotesque elements in children's literature and thereby anticipates Lewis Carroll's tale, ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Kinder-Märchen von C. W. Contessa, F. de la Motte Fouqué, E. T. A. Hoffmann |editor-last=Ewers |editor-first=Hans-Heino |publisher=Philipp Reclam Jr. |year=1987 |isbn=978-3-15-028377-6 |location=Stuttgart, Germany |pages=347 (afterword)}}</ref> There are not only parallels concerning the content (the weird adventures of a young girl in a fantasy land), but also the origin of the tales as both are dedicated and given to a daughter of the author's friends.