Children's Literature of Europe > Children's Literature Comes into Its Own

Two outstanding English books of the early 18th century—Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe and Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels —became children's favorites. But, like many earlier books embraced by children, they were written for adults. Children's books did not truly emerge as a separate branch of English literature until the mid–18th century, when merchants began publishing especially for children. The best known of these merchants was John Newbery, who published his first book, A Little Pretty Pocket-Book, in 1744. Two of Newbery's most famous books are The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes and Mother Goose's Melody. His Mother Goose book was the first collection of Mother Goose rhymes in English. (See also Defoe, Daniel; Mother Goose; Newbery, John; Swift, Jonathan.)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Émile (1762) is about a boy whose learning was based on his interests. Many children's books of the time adopted Rousseau's main characters—the boy and his teacher. In the imitations, however, everything the two did was made to teach a lesson. English engraver Thomas Bewick began to illustrate fine picture books for children. Children's magazines and newspapers appeared. These included Germany's Leipziger Wochenblatt für Kinder (1772; Leipzig Children's Weekly) and Spain's La Gaceta de los Niños (1798; Children's Magazine).

In the 19th century writing for children became more respectable in Europe, and the quality of both children's writers and children's books improved. An early book of poems for children was Original Poems for Infant Minds (1804), by Ann and Jane Taylor of England. Jane wrote the famous poem Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Charles Lamb and his sister Mary began the retelling of classics for children with their Tales from Shakespeare, a version of Shakespeare's plays. Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm published their own versions of the German folktales that were told to them as they traveled throughout the countryside (see Grimm brothers). In Switzerland, Johann Wyss's Swiss Family Robinson appeared.

Russia's Ivan A. Krylov published his fables in 1825. Sir Walter Scott's Tales of a Grandfather marked the beginning of Scottish children's literature (1827–30). Petr P. Ershov's story of a magic horse, The Little Humpbacked Horse (1834), was printed in Russia. In Denmark appeared the first fairy tales by one of the world's great storytellers, Hans Christian Andersen (see Andersen, Hans Christian).

Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (1843) gave children the memorable characters Scrooge and Tiny Tim. From 1837 to 1844 Peter Asbjörnsen and Jörgen Moe published their collection of Norwegian folktales, many of which were later retold by a noted Norwegian storyteller, Gudrun Thorne-Thomsen, in East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon. Heinrich Hoffman, a doctor of Frankfurt am Main, Germany, drew humorous pictures for children in his waiting room. The result was Struwwelpeter (1845; Shock-headed Peter), later translated as Slovenly Peter. Edward Lear's Book of Nonsense (1846) was pure fun—a taste of things to come in children's literature (see Lear, Edward).

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