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In 1744, John Newbery (1713-1776) opened a bookstore in St. Paul's Churchyard, London, where he published and sold books for children.
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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll came out in 1865.
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In 1907, the first child labor laws were passed which freed children to go to school. This increased the quality and the types of books published for children to read.
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Peter Pan by James M. Barrie came out in 1911.
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In 1919, the US publishing house Macmillan launched a department devoted entirely to children's books.
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In 1922, the John Newbery Award was established by the American Library Association.
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In 1922 and 1923, two women, Helen Dean Fish and May Massee, became the first children's books editors, each at a different company.
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In 1924, The Horn Book Magazine was published by the Bookshop for Boys and Girls in Boston under the guidance of Bertha Mahony and Elinor Whitney.
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In 1933, May Massee moved to open a children's book department at Viking. Other publishers then began to open children's books departments, and children's literature blossomed into the twentieth century.
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In 1938, the Randolph Caldecott Award was established.
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Curious George by H. A. Rey came out in 1941.
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Charlotte's Web by E. B. White came out in 1952.
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In 1975, disturbed by the lack of picturebooks that reflected diversity, Harriet Rohmer established Children's Book Press, devoted to the publication of bilingual picturebooks that reflected a diversity of cultural experiences.
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Just Us Books, founded in 1988, was established to address the lack of diversity in the field. Forward-thinking editors such as Phyllis Fogelman, at Dial, encouraged and supported the work of several now-notable African American authors and illustrators.
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The increasing attention paid to nonfiction in the final decades of the twentieth century is reflected in the establishment of the OrbisPictus Award, administered by the National Council of Teachers of English in 1990.
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The Giver by Lois Lowry came out in 1993.
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Holes by Louis Sachar came out in 1998.
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The resurgence of adolescent literature was marked by the establishment of the Michael L. Printz Award in 200. This award is administered by the American Library Association.
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The increasing attention paid to nonfiction in the final decades of the twentieth century is also reflected in the establishment of the Robert F. Sibert Award for outstanding informational books, administered by the American Library Association in 2001.
