Children's Literature

Curry, Charles Madison, 1869-1944Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 2.1M words
Chapters: 213

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Children's Literature by Erle Elsworth Clippinger and Charles Madison CurryAuthor: Curry, Charles Madison, 1869-1944,Language: English, Class: PN: Language and Literatures: Literature: General, Criticism, Collections, Release Date: May 20, 2008

Editor's review

Co-edited by Currie and Clipinger, Children's Literature is an anthology-type work intended for the teaching and study of children's literature rather than a collection of original stories by a single author. Its value lies in systematically mapping the scope and genres of children's literature, presenting fairy tales, fables, poetry, and other forms through selected texts and editorial arrangement, thereby giving readers a comprehensive overview of the field. As a public-domain e-book from Project Gutenberg, it preserves the perspectives and selection tastes of early children's literature scholarship and is instructive for understanding the editorial principles of the discipline's formative period. The selections balance readability with representativeness, serving both as English reading material and as classroom resources for educators. Readers should note that both the selections and commentary bear the imprint of the era in which the book was compiled, and some content is distant from the concerns of contemporary children's literature studies. It is best treated as a reference reader to be used with a comparative and critical eye, not as the sole authoritative anthology.

Who it's for

A good fit for

University students majoring in children's literature, education, or English
Primary and secondary school Chinese and English teachers seeking anthology material for children's literature
Researchers interested in the history of children's literature and early editorial principles
Parents looking to select classic English children's books for their children

Not a good fit for

General young readers expecting a single complete full-length story
Readers who want only a list of contemporary popular children's literature
Readers who cannot read the English original and need a Chinese translation

Reading tips

Begin with the table of contents and editors' introduction to understand the genre framework, then read by category
Read selections alongside the editors' commentary, noting the selectors' criteria and the era's assumptions
Teachers can choose short selections for classroom read-alouds or reading discussions without reading the whole book
After finishing, compare with a contemporary history of children's literature to trace changes in selection tastes over the past century

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book itself a children's story, or an anthology about children's literature?

It is a work of anthology and introduction to children's literature, containing selections from various genres along with the editors' arrangement and commentary; it is not a full-length story by a single author. Readers should understand it as a reference reader for learning about the genres of children's literature and early editorial principles.

Is it suitable for reading directly to children?

Some short selections can be read aloud to or read by children, but the book includes editorial commentary and lengthy arrangement notes, making it overall more suitable for adult readers, teachers, or researchers. If using it with children, adults should first select pieces that are short and simple in language.

How difficult is the English, and what level is needed?

The language of the selections varies by genre—fairy tales and fables are relatively simple, while the commentary is more academic. Readers with CET-4 or above reading ability are better suited. When encountering unfamiliar words, skim first; grasping the overall genre framework is more important than word-by-word reading.

Are the selection principles in this book outdated?

The book was compiled early, and its selections and commentary reflect the children's literature views of the time, differing from contemporary research in areas such as diversity and children's perspectives. It is best read as historical material, valuing its editorial framework while comparing and critiquing it by contemporary standards.

Comments

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About the author

Curry, Charles Madison, 1869-1944 Author · American · 1869–1944

Charles Madison Curry (1869–1944) was an American educator who devoted himself to school literary education and the compilation of school readers. One work by him is held in this catalog, Children's Literature. Public information about his life is limited, and his contribution lies mainly in selecting literary works for school teaching and bringing literature suitable for children into the classroom. This representative work shows his attention to young readers' capacity and interest in reading; the selections balance literary quality with educational use, reflecting an editorial approach aimed at the classroom and readability. Such readers served as a bridge between original literary works and students' reading in American school literary education of the time, and provided teachers with anthologies convenient for teaching.