Children's literature timeline

Timeline of turning points in children's literature

• Orbis Pictus (1658) by John Amos Comenius: Earliest picturebook specifically for children.

• Fairy tale collections are one of the earliest forms of published fiction that have never lost their charm for children, though several of the classic tales are gruesome and were not originally collected for children. Famous collectors and retellers of Fairy Tales include Charles Perrault, the brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen and Andrew Lang.

• The Pilgrim's Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come by John Bunyan (1678): many later children's fantasies were modeled on this Christian allegory.

• A Token for Children. Being An Exact Account of the Conversion, Holy and Exemplary Lives, and Joyful Deaths of several Young Children (1672) by James Janeway: One of the first books specifically written for children which shaped much eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century writing for children.

• A Little Pretty Pocket-Book (1744) by John Newbery: Earliest marketing tie-in and storybook marketed as pleasure reading in English
• The Governess, or The Little Female Academy (1749) by Sarah Fielding: Often described as the first novel for children.

• Lessons for Children (1778-9) by Anna Laetitia Barbauld: The first series of age-adapted reading primers for children printed with large text and wide margins; in print for over a century.

• Struwwelpeter (1845) by Heinrich Hoffmann (published in English as Slovenly Peter): One of the earliest examples of grotesque humor as well as of modern picturebook design.

• Little Eva: The Flower of the South by Philip J. Cozans (1853): First known children's novel to feature racial (i.e. pro-slavery) bias.

• Tom Brown's Schooldays (1857) by Thomas Hughes, the first true school story.

• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) by Lewis Carroll: Early surrealism and extensive criticism of didacticism.

• The Jungle Book (1894) by Rudyard Kipling.

• Swallows and Amazons (1930) by Arthur Ransome, started trend of outdoor holiday adventures.

• Five on a Treasure Island is published in 1942 by Enid Blyton.

• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950) by C. S. Lewis.

• The Lord of the Rings (1954–1955) by J.R.R. Tolkien.

• The Cat in the Hat (1957) by Dr. Seuss: First high quality limited-vocabulary book, written for early readers.

• To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) by Harper Lee: Pulitzer for book market to children; also seminal work on race.

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997) by J. K. Rowling, and sequels; worldwide publishing phenomenon, one of the bestselling books of all time and one of the most widely translated works of literature. Worldwide popularity caused resurgence of interest in children's literature.

• Maggie Goes on a Diet (2011) by Paul Kramer: Insperational book for children who are over weight, and stiring controversy before being released.

See also

Children's literature portal

• Children's literature

• Children's literature canon