List Of Children's Classic Books
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

This is a list of classic children's books published no later than 2008 and still available in the English language. Books specifically for children existed by the 17th century. Before that, books were written mainly for adults – although some later became popular with children. In Europe,
Gutenberg Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg ( – 3 February 1468) was a German inventor and craftsman who invented the movable-type printing press. Though movable type was already in use in East Asia, Gutenberg's invention of the printing ...
's invention of the
printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in whi ...
around 1440 made possible mass production of books, though the first printed books were quite expensive and remained so for a long time. Gradually, however, improvements in printing technology lowered the costs of publishing and made books more affordable to the
working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...
es, who were also likely to buy smaller and cheaper broadsides,
chapbook A chapbook is a type of small printed booklet that was a popular medium for street literature throughout early modern Europe. Chapbooks were usually produced cheaply, illustrated with crude woodcuts and printed on a single sheet folded into 8, 1 ...
s,
pamphlet A pamphlet is an unbound book (that is, without a Hardcover, hard cover or Bookbinding, binding). Pamphlets may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called a ''leaflet'' ...
s,
tract Tract may refer to: Geography and real estate * Housing tract, an area of land that is subdivided into smaller individual lots * Land lot or tract, a section of land * Census tract, a geographic region defined for the purpose of taking a census ...
s, and early newspapers, all of which were widely available before 1800. In the 19th century, improvements in paper production, as well as the invention of cast-iron, steam-powered printing presses, enabled book publishing on a very large scale, and made books of all kinds affordable by all. Scholarship on
children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...
includes professional organizations, dedicated publications, and university courses.


Before 18th century


18th century


19th century


20th century


21st century


See also

*
List of children's literature authors These writers are notable authors of children's literature with some of their most famous works. __NOTOC__ A *Verna Aardema (1911–2001) – ''Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears'' *Rafael Ábalos (born 1956) – ''Grimpow'' *Jacob Abbott (1 ...
*
List of fairy tales __NOTOC__ Fairy tales are stories that range from those in folklore to more modern stories defined as literary fairy tales. Despite subtle differences in the categorizing of fairy tales, folklore, fables, myths, and legends, a modern definition of ...


References


Further reading

* * * * * * A scholarly examination of canons of children's literature. * Includes a basic reading list on pp. xi–xvi. * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Childrens classic books *