One day in 1902, Beatrice Potter, a 36-year-old rich woman, gently pushed open the door of Vaughan Publishing House with a stack of precious manuscripts. This was the 7th publishing house she had found, and the previous six had scoffed at her "rabbit book", believing that there was no possibility of publication.
The Two Vaughan Publishers, the Wayne Brothers, received her and looked at Miss Potter, who was well-dressed and sincere, and they had planned to find a reason to refuse: the story of rabbits, rats, and ducks, would anyone be willing to pay for it?
But on second thought, their younger brother Norman Wien has just been involved in the family publishing business, and it is time to be full of ambition, so it is better to take over the book and let him "practice his hands". In this way, Miss Potter found a home for her "Rabbit Book", and after leaving The Wayne Press, she excitedly let the coachman pull her around Hyde Park for a long time before returning home beautifully.
To the surprise of the Wayne brothers, thanks to the joint efforts of Miss Porter and Norman, the "Rabbit Book", the famous Peter Rabbit series, which had been rejected several times, was a great success as soon as it was published. Seeing that the sales were so gratifying, Miss Potter introduced new storybooks, and each release sparked a buying spree, even during the war. In the more than 100 years since then, thousands of readers in the UK and around the world have been fascinated by the story of Peter Rabbit, and according to incomplete statistics, the Sales of Peter Rabbit books has now exceeded 150 million copies.
The little "selfishness" of the Wayne brothers not only achieved great commercial achievements, but also inadvertently achieved classics in the history of children's books. Miss Potter's original intention of creating Peter Rabbit was even more accidental, when her former governess's 5-year-old son was seriously ill, and in order to bring him some comfort, Miss Potter wrote the earliest version of Peter Rabbit's story in a letter to him in the form of "illustration + text".
The superposition of accidental factors has produced such a powerful magic, and the story of "Miss Potter and Peter Rabbit" is not unique in the entire history of children's book development. In the "100 Children's Books That Influenced the World of Children's Reading" co-authored by British writer Roderick Cave and Sarah Ayad, there are many similar situations, some of which were originally written for their children, after being discovered and published, they were welcomed by children's readers and parents, and even created a huge children's book industry kingdom, and the economic and social effects should not be underestimated.
Behind the success of the Peter Rabbit series, although there are many accidental blessings, but from another point of view, from the distant ancient times to the present, the potential market demand for children's enlightenment has always existed.
In the middle of the 18th century, savvy publishers discovered the business opportunities and began to print "little books" specifically for children, and children's publications received more and more attention as a market segment. By the Victorian era in which Miss Potter lived, children's books that were both interesting and artistic occupied a place in children's childhood.
Roderick Cave and Sarah Ayad's "100 Children's Books That Influenced the World of Children's Reading" takes 100 classic children's books as clues and carefully sorts out the development of children's books from the previous writing era to the present.
Before the invention of writing, in the process of raising children, people would do the initial enlightenment education for their children by humming songs and telling stories. With the development of civilization and the gradual mastery of literacy skills, the forms of children's enlightenment have become more and more diverse.
Among the archaeological finds of the ancient Sumerian civilization, there are cuneiform stone tablets inscribed with lullabies, accompanied by the mother's gentle song "Sleep will pile up your knees with ears of wheat, and I will make sweet cheese for you", and the children sleep peacefully. Such as Aesop's Fables, One Thousand and One Nights, Irish folktales, etc., have also accompanied generations of children in different countries in oral form.
By the 18th century, the continuous advancement of printing, papermaking and binding technology made oral poetry, stories, nursery rhymes, etc. successively put into printing and became the "new favorite" of children. In the Victorian era, the children's book industry has begun to take shape, and people suddenly discover that there is a huge and lucrative treasure in the seemingly inconspicuous children's books.
The rapid development of the children's book industry during this period has its special background of the times. In addition to the influence of technological factors, the industrial revolution that emerged in Europe has promoted the improvement of medical means, the decline in infant mortality, the number of children raised by each family has decreased compared with the past, and people have invested more energy in raising children.
People's educational concepts are also quietly changing, and the early children's books were dominated by a strong "didactic style", and the main target audience was not so much children as parents. People are now really paying attention to the needs of children: mini-folios, interesting illustrations, unique styling and binding styles, and endless innovations in the field of children's books.
Even Queen Victoria herself, when she was a princess, based on the small stories written in her diary, collaborated with the governess Petrushka on an illustrated storybook called The Adventures of Alice Lessell. Not only within the royal family, many families also have the habit of "making their own children's books", which provides convenience for expanding children's imagination.
Miss Potter lived in the United Kingdom at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries, before she became famous, C.S. Louise's "Alice in Wonderland" already had a good reputation among young readers, Miss Potter and her Peter rabbit perfectly matched the booming trend of the children's book market, coupled with her strong personal style, childlike illustrations and plots, it is natural to achieve commercial success.
After the Victorian era, the children's book market, while the content is constantly innovating, combined with television, new media and other forms of communication, has a richer form of presentation. More than a hundred years ago, exquisite children's books that only wealthy families could afford have flown into the homes of ordinary people and become an indispensable part of children's growth.
As a specialized field, the children's publishing industry has only two or three hundred years of development, but it is rooted in the history of human civilization for thousands of years, and the clever integration of literature, artistry and commerce, and the cooperation of writers, illustrators, publishing houses and marketing channels, has created a colorful and innocent world.
From the perspective of the target audience, for readers of different ages, each has a book that meets the characteristics of their physical and mental growth. For young children with teeth and teeth, the "tear-resistant" cloth book can withstand the tearing of their small hands, and the unique shape of the "hole book" can make the little finger interact effectively with the book and enhance the understanding of numbers, nature, etc. At a slightly older age, "moving" pop-up books, picture books with illustrations and words, poems with smooth rhythms, and even growth novels may bring beautiful nourishment to the soul.
In terms of content, children's books cover a wide range of topics. "Animals" are one of the most beloved images of many children's book authors, as we mentioned at the beginning, Peter the rabbit, the puppy in boots, Bambi, the mole and Mr. Toad in The Wind in the Willows, animals seem to have spirituality, they can talk like people, have their own family, friends, and subtle psychological activities, so they greatly stimulate children's interest in reading. In the era of overseas colonization in Britain, a large number of exotic animals were well known to children through the form of children's books.
However, not all animal-themed works were initially popular with readers.
The 18th-century British writer Sarah Catherine Martin, after publishing The Funny Adventures of Grandma Hubbard and Her Dog, had readers write to her complaining that the book was "very stupid" because "dogs can't dance at all", but it was unbelievable that a dog was writing about dancing. Peter rabbits were also questioned on the grounds that most of the rabbits depicted in the book belonged to the "middle class" and enjoyed the so-called "privileges" and were therefore not suitable for children to read.
Fairies, elves, ghosts, ghosts, etc., which often appear in folklore and fairy tales, have been appropriately adapted and adjusted to give new vitality in children's books. As for the exciting adventure stories, bizarre time travel and magic stories, etc., they also have their own huge fan base.
Michael Scott, a former landseller and merchant in Jamaica, combined his unique experiences with the creation of Tom Klinger's Logbook, which became popular in 1829. Later adventure story books such as "Coral Island", "Treasure Island", "Robinson Crusoe" and so on, readers seem to be able to immerse themselves in them and feel the complex game between heroes and pirates, human nature and nature.
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From the ancient Sumerian lullabies, the horned books printed on gingerbread in the 17th century, to the well-made paper puppet books of the Victorian era, and the variety of children's books in public libraries and bookstores today, people can choose more and more children's books, and many "controversies" related to children's books have surfaced.
Over the past hundred years, some content has been considered "inappropriate" to appear in children's books, and has been resisted by some parents.
There are many such cases in fairy tales that have been passed down for thousands of years. In the original Grimm's fairy tale, the bad guy who wanted to poison Snow White was not her stepmother, but her biological mother; in The story of Bluebeard, the murderous male protagonist killed six of his wives in succession; a father made a deal with the devil, actually cut off the hands of his own daughter, and abandoned her in the deserted jungle...
Such a "dark" plot, to be told to children, will it cause harm to their young minds? It is a problem that worries many parents. In response, many authors and publishers have downplayed or modified these episodes to minimize their negative impact.
The mix of children's publications is also a cause for concern from time to time. In the publishing markets of Europe and the United States, there have been "cheap horror novels" and "dime novels", etc., which are often thrilling and exciting, but the literature and artistry are not respected, and children are easy to immerse themselves in, but they gain little.
In the American writer Louisa May Olcott's Little Women, the heroine Joe wrote such a novel for the Volcano Daily in order to make "quick money", and later abandoned such writing under the influence of Mr. Barr. Looking at the madmen, corpses, villains and snakes in the newspapers, Mr. Barr said, "Some people love to see these things, but I would rather play with gunpowder for my children than show them this pile of garbage." ”
But in other cases, children's books are questioned, criticized, or not so well-founded in themselves, or influenced by specific eras.
Best-selling books such as the Harry Potter series and Maurice Sandak's BeastLand have all been banned for "preaching witchcraft." Painter Nicholson's Flannel Rabbit, because of its relatively tragic tone, has been criticized by critics for "sentimentally applying concepts that are useless in reality to nursery toys."
Some time ago, the domestic media on the content of children's books also caused heated discussions, suicide, animal mating and other plots, whether they should appear in the books for children to read, how to grasp the language expression, etc., have become the focus of discussion among netizens. This aspect involves the standardization of the children's book market, and also puts forward new challenges to the "ability to choose books" of parents.
As Zhou Zuoren said: "It is very difficult to write fairy tales." Those who are not familiar with child psychology cannot try, and those who do not have their own child psychology cannot be good. "Writing fairy tales and doing children's books, if you want to be truly accepted by young readers, you need to go into the inner world of children."
For parents, "100 Children's Books That Affect the World of Children's Reading" is not only a good book to understand the history of children's book development, but also through the example of 100 classic children's books, let us see what a good children's book should be, and what characteristics the children like the book has. With these cognitions as the foundation, in the future, in the process of selecting books for children, they will be more targeted and will not let children become victims of the next "toxic" children's books.
Note: The picture in this article comes from the network.