Dick and Jane
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''Dick and Jane'' are the two main characters created by
Zerna Sharp Zerna Addas Sharp (August 12, 1889 – June 17, 1981) was an American educator and book editor who is best known as the creator of the Dick and Jane series of beginning readers for elementary school-aged children. Published by Scott, Foresma ...
for a series of
basal reader Basal readers are textbooks used to teach reading and associated skills to schoolchildren. Commonly called "reading books" or "readers" they are usually published as anthologies that combine previously published short stories, excerpts of longe ...
s written by
William S. Gray William S. Gray (1885–1960) was an American educator and literacy advocate. Life and career Gray was born in the town of Coatsburg, Illinois, on June 5, 1885. He graduated from high school in 1904 and began teaching in a one-room school hou ...
to teach children to read. The characters first appeared in the ''Elson-Gray Readers'' in 1930 and continued in a subsequent series of books through the final version in 1965. These readers were used in classrooms in the United States and in other English-speaking countries for nearly four decades, reaching the height of their popularity in the 1950s, when 80 percent of first-grade students in the United States used them. Although the Dick and Jane series of primers continued to be sold until 1973 and remained in use in some classrooms throughout the 1970s, they were replaced with other reading texts by the 1980s and gradually disappeared from school curricula. The Dick and Jane series were known for their simple narrative text and watercolor illustrations. Despite the criticisms of the stereotypical content that depicted white, middle-class Americans and the whole-word (
look-say Whole language is a philosophy of reading and a discredited educational method originally developed for teaching literacy in English to young children. The method became a major model for education in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and ...
) method of teaching reading on which these readers are based, the characters of "Dick", "Jane", and their younger sister, "Sally", became household words. The Dick and Jane primers have also become icons of mid-century American culture and collectors' items.


Origins

The predecessors to the Dick and Jane primers were the
phonics Phonics is a method for teaching people how to Reading, read and write an alphabetic language (such as English alphabet, English, Arabic alphabet, Arabic or Russian alphabet, Russian). It is done by demonstrating the relationship between the so ...
-based
McGuffey Readers The Eclectic Readers (commonly, but informally known as the McGuffey Readers) were a series of graded reader, graded primer (textbook), primers for grade levels 1–6. They were widely used as textbooks in American schools from the mid-19th centur ...
, which were popular from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, and the ''Elson Basic Readers''. William Scott Gray (1885–1960), director of the Curriculum Foundation Series at
Scott, Foresman and Company Scott Foresman was an elementary educational publisher for PreK through Grade 6 in all subject areas. Its titles are now owned by Savvas Learning Company which formed from former Pearson Education K12 division. The old Glenview headquarters o ...
and dean of the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
's college of education, co-authored with William H. Elson the ''Elson Basic Readers'' (renamed the ''Elson-Gray Basic Readers'' in 1936), which Scott Foresman published in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
. (via Google Books) Gray's research focused on methods to improve reading instruction using content that would be of interest children and develop their word-recognition skills. Gray's vision was to tie "subject area" books in health, science, social studies, and arithmetic (each discipline having its own series of graded texts also published by Scott Foresman) with the vocabulary mastered in the basic readers, thus vastly improving readability in these same areas.
Zerna Sharp Zerna Addas Sharp (August 12, 1889 – June 17, 1981) was an American educator and book editor who is best known as the creator of the Dick and Jane series of beginning readers for elementary school-aged children. Published by Scott, Foresma ...
, a former teacher, came up with the idea for what became the Dick and Jane readers for elementary school children while working as a reading consultant and textbook editor for Scott Foresman. She worked with Gray to develop the readers after noting the reduced reading ability of children and urged the use of a new reading format for primers. In addition, Sharp developed the main characters of "Dick" and "Jane", the older brother and sister in a fictional family that included "Mother", "Father", and a younger sister named "Sally", their pets, "Spot" (originally a cat in the 1930s, but a dog in later editions), and "Puff", their cat; and a toy
teddy bear A teddy bear is a stuffed toy in the form of a bear. Developed apparently simultaneously by toymakers Morris Michtom in the U.S. and Richard Steiff under his aunt Margarete Steiff's company in Germany in the early 20th century, the teddy bear, ...
named "Tim". Sharp named the characters, selected and edited the storylines from ideas that others submitted, and supervised production of the books. Gray and others wrote the Dick and Jane stories; illustrator Eleanor B. Campbell did most of the early illustrations. "Dick" and "Jane" originally appeared in ''Elson-Gray Readers'' in 1930. Before the appearance of the first Dick and Jane stories, reading primers "generally included Bible stories or fairy tales with complicated language and few pictures." After the Elson-Gray series ended in 1940, the characters continued in a subsequent series of primary readers that were later revised and enlarged into newer editions. The Dick and Jane readers were widely used in classrooms in the United States and in other English-speaking countries for nearly four decades and reached the height of their popularity in the 1950s, when 80 percent of first-grade students in the United States were learning to read though these stories. The 1965 edition, the last of the Dick and Jane series, introduced the first Black family as characters in a first-grade reader. Although the Dick and Jane series of primers continued to be sold until 1973 they remained in use in some classrooms throughout the 1970s. By the 1980s, the Dick and Jane stories had been replaced with other reading texts and gradually disappeared from schools curriculum.


Content and illustrations

William Gray and Zerna Sharp worked together to develop readers that incorporated the whole-word or
look-say Whole language is a philosophy of reading and a discredited educational method originally developed for teaching literacy in English to young children. The method became a major model for education in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and ...
method of word recognition (also called sight reading). The Dick and Jane primers introduced new readers to one new word on each page and only five new words in each individual story. Gray and Sharp also wanted children who read the books to be able to readily identify with the characters. Sharp chose stories where the characters participated in typical children's activities. The Dick and Jane primers taught reading as well as American middle-class values to school-aged children. The storylines described the lives and experiences of a stereotypical American middle-class, white family in their suburban home. "Father" wore a suit, worked in an office, mowed the lawn, and washed the car. "Mother" stayed at home, did housework, and raised the children. "Dick", the oldest of the family's three children, was active and well-behaved; "Jane", the second oldest child, was pretty and carefree. She also helped care for "Sally", the baby of the family. The texts and illustrations for the Dick and Jane primers were intended to work together to help young readers understand the story. The texts introduced a repetitive pattern of words; the illustrations provided visual reinforcements to help convey the meaning of the words. The simple but distinctive illustrations for the books were done by artists Eleanor Campbell and Keith Ward. Robert Childress did the illustrations during the 1950s. Richard Wiley took over the illustrations in the 1960s. The Dick and Jane beginning readers became well known for their simple narrative text and watercolor illustrations. Because the primers were intended for nationwide distribution, the text and illustrations intentionally lacked references to specific regional geographical features such as mountains, rivers, lakes, plains, or the seashore.


Books published in the series

* Grade 1 – ''Before We Read'', ''We Look and See'', ''We Work and Play'', ''We Come and Go'', ''Guess Who'', ''Fun with Dick and Jane'' and ''Our New Friends'' * Grade 2 – ''Friends and Neighbors'' and ''More Friends and Neighbors'' * Grade 3 – ''Streets and Roads,'' ''More Streets and Roads,'' ''Roads to Follow'', and ''More Roads to Follow'' * Transitional 3/4 – ''Just Imagine'' * Grade 4 – ''Times and Places '' * Grade 5 – ''Days and Deeds'' * Grade 6 – ''People and Progress'' * Grade 7 – ''Paths and Pathfinders; Parades'' * Grade 8 – ''Wonders and Workers; Panoramas'' * Grade 9 – ''Helpful in Ways'' In the mid-1950s, the texts for grades four, five, and six were split into two books for each grade level, as was originally the pattern with the lower grades in the series. The naming pattern for this group of books added the words "The New" at the beginning of the title for the first book in each grade level and the word "More" to the beginning of the title for the second book in each grade level to form new titles: ''The New Times and Places'' and ''More Times and Places''; ''The New Days and Deeds'' and ''More Days and Deeds''; and ''The New People and Progress'' and ''More People and Progress''. In the late 1950s, the texts for grades seven and eight were re-packaged into a ''Basic Reading and Literature'' series consisting of Book 1 (for seventh grade) and Book 2 (for eighth grade) without changing any of the contents from the original late 1940s versions. As an alternative to this more literary approach for these two grades, entirely new texts were published with shorter, simpler readings with the titles of ''Parades'' and ''More Parades'' for the seventh grade and ''Panoramas'' and ''More Panoramas'' for the eighth grade. Focusing on targeted reading and word attack techniques, a soft-cover workbook, ''Basic Reading Skills'', was published for the junior high (seventh and/or eighth grade) and intended to be used independently, similar to the ''Think And Do'' books were used in conjunction with the graded texts at the elementary school level. Scott Foresman made changes in their readers in the 1960s in an effort to keep the stories relevant, updating the series every five years. Scott Foresman published ''Wide Wide World'' in 1960 for the seventh grade; it included longer literary selections from authors such as
Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...
,
Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massach ...
, and
Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...
. In the mid-1960s, Scott Foresman's ''New New Basic Readers'' were heavily revised. The books had a larger page size, new and updated artwork, some shortened stories from previous editions, and a large portion of new stories. In addition, the "Dick", "Jane", and "Sally" characters were a bit older and a bit more sophisticated. Teaching procedures also were slightly different: the vocabulary control was looser and more
phonics Phonics is a method for teaching people how to Reading, read and write an alphabetic language (such as English alphabet, English, Arabic alphabet, Arabic or Russian alphabet, Russian). It is done by demonstrating the relationship between the so ...
training was added. Helen M. Robinson became the head author. The earliest titles, released in 1962, were: ''We Read Pictures'', ''We Read More Pictures'', ''Before We Read'', ''Sally Dick and Jane'', ''Fun With Our Family'', ''Fun Wherever We Are'', ''Guess Who'', ''Fun With Our Friends'', ''More Fun With Our Friends'' (all Grade 1); ''Friends Old and New'' and ''More Friends Old and New'' (grade 2); ''Roads to Follow'' and ''More Roads to Follow'' (grade 3); ''Ventures'' (grade 4); ''Vistas'' (grade 5); ''Cavalcades'' (grade 6); ''Dimensions'' (grade 7); and ''Challenges'' (grade 8). In 1965, Scott Foresman became the first publisher to introduce an
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
family as characters in a first-grade reader series. The family included two parents and their three children: a son, "Mike", and twin daughters, "Pam" and "Penny". In the multi-ethnic edition, the titles of the 1st and 2nd pre-primers were changed to ''Now We Read'' and ''Fun With the Family'' to reflect the addition of an African-American family. Other books in the series retained the 1962 titles. In addition, the 1965 edition books were available in two covers: one cover featured characters as in previous books; the other cover, which many people refer to as a "fingerpaint" cover, was listed in the Scott, Foresman catalog a "child-art" and did not feature any characters. The ''Think-and-Do Book'' workbooks, which began as ''Silent Reading Workbooks'' with the Elson readers if the 1930s, were part of the 1950s and the 1960s editions of the updated readers. An experimental
Initial Teaching Alphabet The Initial Teaching Alphabet (I.T.A. or i.t.a.) is a variant of the Latin alphabet developed by Sir James Pitman (the grandson of Sir Isaac Pitman, inventor of a system of shorthand) in the early 1960s. It was not intended to be a strictly phonet ...
version was launched with the multi-ethnic series in the 1960s as well. In 1967, two years after Scott Foresman retired the Dick and Jane series, the company launched its Open Highways series, which included heavily illustrated classic children's stories and poems, as well as placing greater emphasis on multicultural content and phonics training in its subsequent readers. Wide Horizons, a compansion series for advanced readers, was introduced as well. Initially, the readers for grades one through seven were indicated as "Book 1", "Book 2", and so on, but later editions for each grade-level reader had its own title in the series, such as ''Ready to Roll'' and ''Rolling Along'' (the Open Highways books for the first grade): ''Moving Ahead'' and ''More Power'' for the second grade' and ''Splendid Journey'' and ''Speeding Away'' books for the third grade.


Adaptations

The Dick and Jane readers inspired other publishers to adopt a similar format, but Scott Foresman's Dick and Jane series were the market leaders until the early 1960s, In
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editions of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s series, the "Sally", "Dick", and "Jane" characters were renamed "Judy", "John", and "Jean" to reflect the names of Catholic
saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...
s. Another series, published by
Ginn and Company Pearson Education is a British-owned education publishing and assessment service to schools and corporations, as well for students directly. Pearson owns educational media brands including Addison–Wesley, Peachpit, Prentice Hall, eCollege, ...
, featured characters named "David" and "Ann". Groups of stories in each book were replaced by Catholic-oriented stories of the saints or portrayed moral choices. Some 1960s grade-level readers also had
Seventh-day Adventist The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventism, Adventist Protestantism, Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the Names of the days of the week#Numbered days of the week, seventh day of the ...
versions that used the 1965 multi-ethnic characters with revised book title. For example, ''Now We Read'' became ''Friends to Know'' and ''Fun Wherever We Are'' became ''Places to Know''. W. J. Gage published
British English British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...
language versions in
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
with appropriate spelling changes. In lower grades
French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...
versions also were issued in the 1950s in Canada, with the main characters renamed Jeanne, Paul, and Lise in these editions, as well as British English versions in paperback in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
.


Teaching methodology

For three decades (roughly 1940 to 1970), the whole-word or look-say method (also called
sight reading In music, sight-reading, also called ''a prima vista'' (Italian meaning "at first sight"), is the practice of reading and performing of a piece in a music notation that the performer has not seen or learned before. Sight-singing is used to descri ...
) on which the Dick and Jane readers were based remained the dominant reading method in American schools.
Phonics Phonics is a method for teaching people how to Reading, read and write an alphabetic language (such as English alphabet, English, Arabic alphabet, Arabic or Russian alphabet, Russian). It is done by demonstrating the relationship between the so ...
-based reading methods came into fashion in the 1970s. The whole-language movement developed in the 1980s. Other methods were also in use for shorter periods before they were replaced as well. The look-say method used a controlled vocabulary and taught readers to memorize the words through
repetition Repetition may refer to: * Repetition (rhetorical device), repeating a word within a short space of words *Repetition (bodybuilding), a single cycle of lifting and lowering a weight in strength training *Working title for the 1985 slasher film '' ...
, placing less emphasis on teaching
phonics Phonics is a method for teaching people how to Reading, read and write an alphabetic language (such as English alphabet, English, Arabic alphabet, Arabic or Russian alphabet, Russian). It is done by demonstrating the relationship between the so ...
Texts in the Dick and Jane readers repeated words within phrases such as "Oh, see. Oh, see Jane. Funny, funny Jane." Teacher's guides accompanying the texts also encouraged adoption of the whole-word (look-say) method of identifying the meaning of words from the illustrations and repeating words introduced in the text. Phonetic analysis was part of each reading lesson, although not to the degree one would associate with learning to read by pure phonics. For this reason, the Dick and Jane readers came to be used less and less as studies supported phonics as a more effective method of gaining
literacy Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...
. Texts in the primary grades emphasized ''Learning to Read'', but in fourth grade and above the focus was ''Reading to Learn'', with content becoming very important.


Criticisms

According to the history of the
Institute for Juvenile Research The Institute for Juvenile Research (IJR) is a research, demonstration and training center housed in the Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago. The institute has more than 40 faculty members and 65 profes ...
, psychologist Marion Monroe developed methods for early childhood reading programs, which led to the Dick and Jane stories.Beuttler, Fred and Bell, Carl (2010). For the Welfare of Every Child – A Brief History of the Institute for Juvenile Research, 1909 – 2010. University of Illinois: Chicago


Impact on students

For decades, critics and advocates continued to debate the impact of the sight reading method and the primers that used it. Dr. Samuel T. Orton, a neuropathologist, warned educators in his article published in the February 1929 issue of the ''Journal of Educational Psychology'' that the look-say method would lead to reading disability. In ''
Why Johnny Can't Read ''Why Johnny Can't Read—And What You Can Do About It'' is a 1955 book-length exposé on American reading education by Rudolf Flesch. It was an immediate bestseller for 37 weeks and became an educational cause célèbre. In this book, the aut ...
'' (1955), author
Rudolf Flesch Rudolf Franz Flesch (8 May 1911 – 5 October 1986) was an Austrian-born naturalized American writer (noted for his book ''Why Johnny Can't Read''), and also a readability expert and writing consultant who was a vigorous proponent of plain Engli ...
concluded that the whole-word (look-say) method was ineffective because it lacked phonics training. In addition, Flesch was critical of the simple stories and limited text and vocabulary in the Dick-and-Jane-style readers that taught students to read through word memorization. Flesch and other critics also believed that the look-say method did not properly prepare students to read more complex materials in the upper grade levels.
Arther Trace Arther Storrey Trace Jr. (Denver, 6 January 1922 – Fayetteville, Arkansas, July 18, 2005) was an author, educator, educational critic and reformer, and academic professor. Trace was best known as the author of ''What Ivan Knows that Johnny Does ...
also criticized the Dick and Jane series in his book, ''Reading Without Dick and Jane'' (1965). In 2002, author Samuel L. Blumenfeld, a supporter of teaching reading skills with phonics reading, argued that the Dick and Jane series and others that used the whole-word, look-say, or sight-reading method caused poor reading skills among the millions of American students who learned to read using this method. Harold Henderson asserted in his book, ''Let's Kill Dick and Jane'' (2006), that the series focused on trivial aspects of reading and left children far behind their peers in Europe.


Bias and stereotypes

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, critics of the Dick and Jane readers began to point out its stereotypes; class, gender, and racial bias; and errors in content and illustrations. Critics objected to the Dick and Jane storylines and stereotyped roles, arguing that "many students could not relate to family with two children, a dog named Spot, and a cat named Puff." Increasing social changes, including the
civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...
in the 1960s and efforts to include a stronger presentation of other races and cultures in classroom texts, made the white, middle-class characters of "Dick and Jane seem increasingly irrelevant to some." Zerna Sharp, who created the characters and edited the readers countered the harsh criticisms with the reply, "That's all an adult's viewpoint." Although the Dick and Jane primers were already declining in popularity by the mid-1960s, critics continued to attack the look-say method and the content of the readers, especially their gender stereotypes (i.e., the mother staying at home to take care of the children and keep house, while the father went to work, along with passive female characters such as Jane) and lack of racial and cultural diversity.


Collectibles and reprint editions

The primers that made the characters of "Dick", "Jane", and "Sally" household words have become icons of mid-century American culture, as well as collectors' items. First editions of the books sell for as much as
US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
200.
Grosset & Dunlap Grosset & Dunlap is a New York City-based publishing house founded in 1898. The company was purchased by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1982 and today is part of Penguin Random House through its subsidiary Penguin Group. Today, through the Penguin Gro ...
, an imprint of
Penguin Group Penguin Group is a British trade book publisher and part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. The new company was created by a merger that was finalised on 1 July 2013, with Bertelsmann initial ...
, reissued the books in 2003, and over 2.5 million copies were sold, but the publishers warned against using them to teach reading to children. Related merchandise, such as shirts and magnets, also gained wide popularity, particularly among people who had never been exposed to the original series, but were familiar with catchphrases such as "See Spot run!".


In popular culture


Advertising and branding

*See Jane Work is a line of organizational products at
Office Depot The ODP Corporation is an American office supply holding company headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida. The company has combined annual sales of approximately $11 billion, and employs about 38,000 associates with businesses in the United States. ...
designed by Holly Bohn; the inspiration for the name comes from the character Jane. *Many
Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, fi ...
commercials featuring Target Dog included the phrase "See Spot save", a take on of the series' famous "See Spot run".


Cartoons

*In a ''
Calvin and Hobbes ''Calvin and Hobbes'' is a daily American comic strip created by cartoonist Bill Watterson that was syndicated from November 18, 1985, to December 31, 1995. Commonly cited as "the last great newspaper comic", ''Calvin and Hobbes'' has enjoyed ...
'' cartoon Calvin wrote a book report titled, "The Dynamics of Interbeing and Monological Imperatives in ''Dick and Jane'': A Study in Psychic Transrelational Gender Modes". **A Sunday Issue also has him read the "See Spot Run" story as a homework assignment.


Films

*'' Fun with Dick and Jane'' (1977) and its 2005 remake refers to ''Fun with Dick and Jane'', the title of the Grade 1 book in the reading series. *One sequence of
Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
's
animated feature film These lists of animated feature films compiles animated feature films from around the world and is organized alphabetically under the year of release (the year the completed film was first released to the public). Theatrical releases as well as ...
''
Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...
'' (1999) that is set to music features a book with a page that says, "See Jane, See Jane Run." * The title of ''
See Spot Run ''See Spot Run'' is a 2001 American comedy film about a mailman who takes in a stray bullmastiff, the titular Spot, only to learn that he is a trained FBI dog that has escaped from a witness protection program and is targeted for attacking a ...
'' is based on a line in the books.


Literature

*Marc Gallant's illustrated parody book, ''More Fun with Dick and Jane'' (1986), shows the characters as grown-ups. *An excerpt of a Dick and Jane text is used in the opening chapter of Nobel Prize-winner
Toni Morrison Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford; February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019), known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist. Her first novel, ''The Bluest Eye'', was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed '' So ...
's novel, ''
The Bluest Eye ''The Bluest Eye,'' published in 1970, is the first novel written by Toni Morrison. The novel takes place in Lorain, Ohio (Morrison's hometown), and tells the story of a young African-American girl named Pecola who grew up following the Great De ...
'', and the text is repeated with variations throughout the book; its idyllic white suburban setting is juxtaposed with that of a black family during the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
.


Music

*The band Human Sexual Response referenced the characters and style of the books in the song "Dick and Jane", from their EP ''Fig. 14'' (1980). *The band
Hawaiian Pups The Hawaiian Pups were a new wave/synthpop music group from the 1980s which formed in the New York Metropolitan Area. Portrait Records signed them onto their record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music re ...
spoofed the characters in the song "Baby Judy", from their EP ''Split Second Precision'' (1983).


Television

*A
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...
called ''
Between the Lions ''Between the Lions'' is an American animated/live-action/puppet children's television series designed to promote reading. The show was a co-production between WGBH in Boston and Sirius Thinking, Ltd., in New York City, in association with Miss ...
'' does a spoof of the books entitled ''Fun with Chicken Jane''. *Singer
Bobby Vinton Stanley Robert "Bobby" Vinton (born April 16, 1935) is a American former singer and occasional actor, who also hosted his own self-titled TV show in the late 1970s. As a teen idol, he became known as "The Polish Prince", as his music paid trib ...
recorded a song in the 1970s entitled "Dick and Jane". *In ''
The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...
'' episode "
They Saved Lisa's Brain "They Saved Lisa's Brain" is the twenty-second and penultimate episode of the tenth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 9, 1999. In the episode, after w ...
", the Comic Book Guy's T-shirt reads "C:/DOS C:/DOS/RUN RUN/DOS/RUN", similar to the catch phrases in the book series. *''
Third Rock from the Sun ''Third Rock from the Sun'' is the fourth studio album by American country music artist Joe Diffie. Diffie's breakthrough album, the first five tracks were all released as singles, and all charted on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks ...
''s season 1 finale episode is titled "See Dick Run" and the two-part season 3 opening episode is titled "Fun with Dick and Janet"; many of the show's episode titles have various references, with the names of the show's characters added in.


Public exhibitions

The Dick and Jane readers were featured in an exhibition at Lakeview Museum of Arts and Sciences in
Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and the largest city on the Illinois River. As of the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census, the city had a population of 113,150. It is the principal city of the Peoria ...
, in 1994 and at the Richmond Public Library in
Richmond, Indiana Richmond is a city in eastern Wayne County, Indiana. Bordering the state of Ohio, it is the county seat of Wayne County and is part of the Dayton, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 36,812. Situa ...
, in 1997.


See also

*
Alice and Jerry Alice and Jerry was a basal reader educational series published and used in classrooms from the mid-1930s to the 1960s. The books sold nearly 100 million copies worldwide. This series competed at the time with the Dick and Jane educational series. ...
*
Ant and Bee The Ant and Bee stories are a series of small-format hardback books written by Angela Banner (pseudonym of Angela Mary Maddison ee Lincke 1923–2014). She began writing the books in order to teach her son how to read. Angela Mary Lincke mar ...
*
Janet and John ''Janet and John'' is a series of early reading books for children, originally published in the UK by James Nisbet and Co in four volumes in 1949–50, and one of the first to make use of the "look and say" approach. Further volumes appeared l ...
* Janet and Mark *
Key Words Reading Scheme The Key Words Reading Scheme is a series of 36 English language early readers children's books, published by the British publishing company, Ladybird Books. The series are also often referred to as Peter and Jane, the names of the main charact ...
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McGuffey Readers The Eclectic Readers (commonly, but informally known as the McGuffey Readers) were a series of graded reader, graded primer (textbook), primers for grade levels 1–6. They were widely used as textbooks in American schools from the mid-19th centur ...
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Mr. Mugs Mr. Mugs is the title character in a series of children's books written by Martha Kambeitz and Carol Roth and published by Ginn and Company (now part of Prentice Hall). Mr. Mugs was an Old English Sheepdog who lived with two children, Pat and Cathy ...
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Science Research Associates Science Research Associates (SRA) was a Chicago-based publisher of educational materials and schoolroom reading comprehension products. The company was acquired by McGraw-Hill Education in the early 2000s. History Science Research Associates Inc. ...
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Why Johnny Can't Read ''Why Johnny Can't Read—And What You Can Do About It'' is a 1955 book-length exposé on American reading education by Rudolf Flesch. It was an immediate bestseller for 37 weeks and became an educational cause célèbre. In this book, the aut ...


References


Further reading

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External links


An article in ''USA Today''.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dick And Jane Learning to read Reading (process) Basal readers Series of children's books Early childhood education Early childhood education in the United States