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Noah Webster
Noah Webster is the original co-author of the first Merriam-Webster dictionary. He was born on October 16th 1758 in Connecticut. Although the Merriam-Webster dictionary is the work for which he is most celebrated, Webster also revolutionized what and how children of the time were taught with his book, The American Spelling Book, which was published in the early 1800s (exact date unknown). In the book, words were broken down in to individual syllables; so many illiterate adults also used it to -
Clement Clarke Moore
Clement Moore was born in 1779 and died in 1863. He was an only child to Benjamin Moore. In 1798, he studied biblical and classical studies, focusing on ancient languages. In 1809, Moore accomplished a big achievement of publishing a two-volume: Compendious Lexicon of the Hebrew Language. In 1818, Moore donated a large amount of land for the re-establishment of New York City school which he then served as a Oriental and Greek Literature Professor in 1821-1850. Throughout his teachings, he wrote -
Sarah Josepha Hale
Sarah Josepha Hale was a writer born in New Hampshire in 1788. A mother of five, Hale often read to told poems and stories to her children. In 1830, she published Poems for Our Children, which included the famous poem Mary Had a Little Lamb. She wrote another book of peoms entitled The Genius of Oblivion in 1823, followed by her first novel, Northwood, a Tale of New England in 1827. Sarah Hale advocated women's education through her participation in the Boston Ladies' Peace Society. -
Samuel G. Goodrich
Samuel G. Goodrich, born in Connecticut in 1793, was a widely-known American author who wrote for children between the ages of seven and thirteen. In 1827, he published his first children’s book, Peter Parley’s Tales About America, which became very popular. His continued his writing career using the pseudonym Peter Parley with title such as Tales of Peter Parley about Europe (1829), Parley’s Winter Evening Tales (1830) and Parley’s Juvenile Tales. -
Jacob Abbott
Born in Maine, Jacob Abbott was a very famous author for youth during his day. He wrote many series for both boys and girls, including Cousin Lucy, Franconia, Florence, Marco Paul Travels, and Rainbow and Lucky. In the 1830s, he began writing his most popular series, Rollo. Abbott's writing treated children as intelligent haman beings, as opposed to the more popular patronizing works of his time. His books were often instructional and contained Christian morals and values. -
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) was born in Salem, Massachusetts. He attended Bowdoin College and became an author. Hawthorne wrote famous children’s books such as The Scarlet Letter(1850). Hawthorne’s works on sin, repentance, creativity, and retribution inspired works of children’s literature. He disagreed with the transcendentalist movement’s morals, and wrote The Blithedale Romance (1852) to mock the movement’s values. This act started another movement that was opposed to transcendentalism. -
Martha Finley
Martha Finley was born in Ohio in April 1828. Not much is known about her life, and biographers disagree on most facts, including her actually date of birth. It is known that she moved around quite a bit, but exact locations are not confirmed. Her most well known stories are the Elsie Dinsmore series, which followed the life a Christian girl by that name. The first novel in the series was published in 1867, however when she actually wrote the first novel is unknown. Martha wrote fiction for -
Mary Mapes Dodge
Mary Mapes Dodge was born on January 26th, 1831. Dodge has three sisters and a brother. Her father and tutors educated her throughout her childhood and in 1851 married William Dodge, a New York City lawyer and had two sons. Mary Mapes Dodge widowed in 1858, which forced her to pick up writing to support her family. Her first published work; The Irvington Stories, in 1865 for boys. In 1868, she became an associate editor for Hearth and Home, a children’s magazine. In 1873, Dodge published anonymo -
Louisa May Alcott
Louisa Alcott was born on November 29th, 1832 and died in 1888 two days after her fathers death. Since 1851, Alcott wrote under the name Flora Fairfield. In 1862, she adopted the pen name; A.M Barnard and some of her works were produced on the Boston stages. In 1863 after he account of her civil war experiences, she chose to become a serious writer and in 1865 she published in the Atlantic Monthly and Lady’s Companion under her real name. She then became the editor of girl’s magazine in 1868. He -
Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) - Birth
Samuel Clemens left school at the age of 13 to become a printer's apprentice. He worked for two years as a printer and editorial assistant, where he discovered his passion for writing. His first story, Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calveras County, was published in 1865. Following that, he wrote a total of 28 books, including Innocents Abroad (1869), and the classics The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885). -
Transcendentalism
Transcendentalism was a religious and literary movement from 1836 to the 1850s founded by literary figures Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller and David Thoreau. Transcendentalists were referred to as “Unitarians” because of their belief in individualism, encouragement in scepticism, intuition and imagination to create a better world. It gave Americans a bold, expressive and wild style of writing and inspired works of literature for years to come, such as Where the Wild Things Are by Sendak. -
Joel Chandler Harris
Joel Chandler Harris was born in Georgia on December 9th 1848, to Mary Ann Harris, who had recently immigrated to the US from Ireland and had been abandoned by Joel’s father. Harris had been writing for several years before a compilation of his works were published in the early 1880s. Uncle Remus: His Songs and Stories was his first book, a collection of poems and folktales told to him by African-American slaves during his adolescence spent working at the Turnwold Plantation . Harris continue -
Howard Pyle
Born in 1853 in Delaware, Howard Pyle was an author and an illustrator. He taught throughout his life in many different institutes across the United States, and even founded his own school is his hometown. He illustrated mainly for his own books and not those of other authors, although he did create a cover for Mark Twain’s Saint Joan of the Arc. Pyle’s most famous novel would definitely be The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, published in 1883, which is still well-known and in print. He also -
Frank Baum
Frank Baum was born on May 15th, 1856 and in 1881 he wrote and published a successful “The Maid of Arran”. In 1887-1889, Baum’s father died and Baum takes over the shop “Baum’s Bazaar, although he failed to keep the place running he turned to handling the local weekly newspaper “Arberdeen Saturday Pioneer”. In 1891 the newspaper failed Frank Baum took a job as a reporter for the evening post and to make ends meet he travelled as a salesmen to China. While away, he developed characters to tell st -
The American Civil War
The Civil war lasted from April 12, 1861 to April 9, 1865. It was a result of the southern states that supported slavery separating themselves from the rest of America when Abraham Lincoln vowed to abolish slavery. The Civil War was one of the most destructive wars in American history and inspired many books, children and adult alike, with themes of slavery, discrimination and the effects of war on families and children. -
Realism
Realism was a literary movement in the late 1800s that takes everyday Americans in everyday realistic situations. Realism started after the Civil War, when citizens were trying to comprehend the rapid industrial changes. It is represented by reality at the expense of the plot, character complexity in mood and action, ethical choices, natural diction and plausible events. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Twain is an example of realism.
