Written and illustrated by German painter and poet, Wilhelm Busch, Max und Moritz (1865) is a children's story written in doggerel verse and illustrated in a comic-like style about two unscrupulous boys who taunt adults with their sadistic pranks.… [more]

"Meng Ch'iu" translates as "Beginner's Guide." This text by Li Han, who lived during the early Tang Dynasty (618-907), presented the stories of famous figures in China's history and legendary tales. It joined a prominent genre of literature for… [more]

Folktales and fairy tales are resources for dealing with historical topics related to children and youth, and because 19th-century European editors, writers, and pedagogues presented folktales and fairy tales for the moral and cultural education of children, they also reveal how children and childhood were perceived by the societies that produced them, helping to examine the construction of childhood and the experiences of children from a socio-historical perspective. echo [more]

Children's literature in this case study uses Louisa May Alcott's Little Women (1868-69) to explore changing notions about childhood, giving insight into the changing position of girls and women in American society, from the ordinary aspects of children's daily lives in the late 19th century to the ethical and moral assumptions that guided young people at this time in their thinking about class, gender, nationality, friendship, marriage, parenthood, and other issues. echo [more]