Development of children's literature

When thinking about the origins of children's literature a few questions come to mind:

• Should only a specific media be considered?
• Should materials to teach children reading, writing, and grammar be excluded?
• Should it be when the first book, not written to teach language, Les Contenances de la Table, is published?
• When inexpensive forms of literature become available and popular for many, Chapbooks?
• When the world's first children's picture book, Orbis Sensualium Pictus is published?
• Or when A Little Pretty Pocket Book, by John Newberry is specifically written to entertain and instruct children?
• Or should it include a whole new way of thinking about children and their education to become part of a culture, like: John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau who describe ways of educating children.
• Or should we look explore the history of media, communication, literature, and literacy for the early glimmers of children’s literature?

The children's literature timeline includes events and media to consider for such explorations. Information which can be considered related prerequisites necessary for children’s literature to germinate and information that is children's literature.

The next few paragraphs below consider a brief history of the development of communication, media, literature, and literacy, from which children's literature is embedded. Consider how these have combined to create what is and isn't considered children's literature yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Communication, media, literature, & literacy

First, consider the origins of communication, by wandering back in history to a time before humans. And consider what might be the first kind of communication. Which, could be free flowing molecules, proteins, and viruses interacted and made more complex substances (molecules, proteins, and viruses) in predicable patterns, a communicative event.

Later this free flow of matter and information creates cells and organisms with membranes. Borders, which block entry of foreign matter and energy. Thus, needing structures to selectively allow beneficial matter or energy in and out. With respect to communication, structures that sense information, eyes, nose, ears, skin, and tongues; and structures to transmit it. Structures that need a process to decide how to respond and the structures to respond. Putting the processes necessary to communicate in place. A means for a message to be received from an external source and structures to respond to what is sensed. Responses, which can be involuntary responses or voluntary responses, which implies choice in acting and suggests conscious reactions, which eventually suggests a brain.

From this point in time, everything essential for organisms to communicate with gestures, chirps, songs, dances, pheromones, food, speech, song, chants ... are in place. A message can be created (authored), transferred thorough an external medium (space), with a media (movements and vocal actions), to a receiver (listener, viewer, audience) who may respond to the message. If so,develop communication has occured.

Therefore, if communication with children is the beginning of children's literature, then it could be claimed to have started before we were even human. Probably with had signals. Consider, A field study in 2018 found chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans used 33 different gestures to communicate with many of these animals using the same gesture in the same manner. What they communicate is orders: Give me that. Come closer. Groom my fur. Stop that… Humans use many more gestures and sign language that goes beyond orders to include social contexts, emotions, and attitudes. Thumbs up, fist bump, okay signal, and hands to a heart.. Source

Next let's conside literature as communication stored so the same messages can be communicated repeatedly. Like duplication of instructions with RNA or DNA; in a brain, which can memorize information and teach it to others; or develop tools to create lasting artifacts (media) to share with others. Messages were recorded (authored) on a media (rock, hide, clay tablet, skin, scroll, cloth, paper, ..) and transported through time to another (listener or viewer).

A person could gesture danger, the location of water, where to find food, paint a scene on the wall of a cave, etch markings or pictures on shells and bone, and smear okra on their body. Eventually, these ideas and materials came together to record a story, which may be considered the first work of literature. Maybe to retell events of the day, memories of past stories, and why stories around a campfire. All of these were probably done many times in many places with many types of media. All lost through the passing of time, but many of which could be considered literature.

Then, with the development of quality literture, there is a desire to preserve it, to be able to communicate it to the younger members of a community. To pass on what is considered important for their culture, survival, and desire to prosper. And to do so requires some of the young to learn it well enough to pass it on and so forth; and to do so requires a need for literacy (including reading, writing, listening, speaking, visual literacy, & multiple literacies).

Eventually as they continue this process they will realize children have different needs than adults and to help children learn and become inculturated to benefit their civilization, they create a different kind of media and learnings for children. Hence, children's literature.

The children's literature timeline includes examples for these ideas and more for you to make your own conclusions.

Enjoy!

Children' literature research suggestions & ideas.

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