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Before 1744, children's literature was largely unheard of in the traditional sense. What they did have was printed on blocks of wood and cardboard, and was bound together crudely. The content was meant to teach children how to behave properly, and was often biblical or educational in nature.
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Newbery's bookstore both published and sold books for children. His first widely published book, A Little Pretty Pocket Book, appealed to children with it's brightly colored cover. It had morals to the stories, and educational content like an alphabet song.
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Lewis Carroll's enduring work, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is one of the first books to be made for children- purely for entertainment, and with absolutely no moral or education to speak of.
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Children continue reading books for fun. The literature comes from all over- not just England or America. Pinocchio, for example, came from Italy, yet children enjoyed it ever as much as anything printed in their own country.
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When the first child labor laws passed, children were free to go to school. This allowed for more books to be made to support their education. More children were becoming literate and wanted books to read. This made creating, publishing, and selling books profitable.
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Macmillan is the first publishing house in America to devote an entire department to children's literature.
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Modern picture books became increasingly popular, and became integral parts of the classroom and libraries.
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An award for the greatest contribution to children's literature, which endures today.
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With libraries steadily stocking more children's books, children and young adults had a place to go to read more books. They were also encouraged to listen to books and magazines that were read aloud in the library.
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Disturbed by the lack of diversity in picture books, Harriet Rohmer dedicated a publishing house solely for the production of bilingual picture books. These books offered a variety of different cultural experiences for children to delve into. This push toward diversity continued into 1988, where more publishing houses started to support black artists and authors.
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Despite early pushes to support POC, by 1990, studies were conducted on children's literature where it became apparent that books representing people of color, LGBTQ, and persons with "exceptionalities" were rare. Girls in nontraditional roles were sprinkled throughout literature, but were not yet mainstream. Social class was touched on briefly on in a few books.
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Books have become more diverse, touching on multiple subjects which are not limited to traditional themes and people. More books are available featuring people of color, nontraditional gender roles, LGBTQ themes, and instances of disabilities.
