Shortly after the Civil War, author Samuel Osgood first considered the question: "What should we do?" More specifically, how should we "train and teach them novel and multiple chapters that are open to us in human history through schools and books, entertainment and work?"

He had many reasons to wonder. Children's literature is an emerging genre, and public libraries that did not exist in the United States until the 1850s did not include the children's section until forty years later. As time goes by and AtlanticThe archives - and what should be read about the child's problem has become a constant avoidance. In 1900, children's writer Everett T. Tomlinson observed that "the need for young readers is to act rather than think... Analysis and introspection are words beyond his vocabulary." In 1902, librarian Hiller C. Wellman firmly believed that a novel could irrevocably change a child's morality: "If in the book (sometimes happen), established nature and deception are just excusable or "intelligent," then his ideal of honor will be seriously hurt."

Should only fairy tales and fables be provided for children? Can they deal with Shakespeare? Will teens be more inclined to pick up classics if they cover up ridiculous sex? How much horror can they take? Anyway, what is the difference between education and entertainment?

In 1888, librarian CM Hewins believed that the last thing adults should do was to oversimplify children's stories. If they start reading downplayed stories, they will “know nothing in the great originals that later”. Wellman insisted that children's books should give children "right and wrong standards." More than a century later, Chicken skin Author RL Stine will refute the notion that children's literature itself should have any rules. “Adults are allowed to read whatever they want. Adults don’t have to let the characters learn and grow. Adults can read all kinds of trash and no one criticizes them. Why must children have it?” he told my colleague Adrienne Lafrance in 2018. “I think it’s great to write a bunch of books for kids who no one learns.” For Stine, the result is a series of successful novels that have spawned popular shows and multiple movie adaptations.

Of course, popularity does not mean approval from children and adults, even some of the most popular titles are under scrutiny, while the number of banned books is one year. When Virginia School Board adds The story of the maid Margaret Atwood responds to Stine's view of the strict restrictions set by children in the list of titles to be removed. She wrote in 2023: "What should parents teach in public schools? Of course: Democratic votes on this matter.

At the same time, the children read less. A 2020 study showed that the number of famous recreational children has reached its lowest point since 1984 and that reading skills have declined throughout the United States. This may be a number of factors that may be behind this depression, including demographic changes in schools, changes in education policies, and the rise of smartphones and screen time. But one of the most compelling explanations, according to children’s writer Katherine Marsh, is “rooted in how our education system teaches children to connect with books.” She details an educator’s advice to a third-grade English teacher who follows the common core requirement: First walk students through the differences between non-literal and literal language, and then let them read a paragraph Amelia Bedeliaa classic series where the protagonist literally grasps everything. After that, the student will answer written questions.

"The focus of reading from an analytically seems to be pressing down on this organic pleasure," Marsh explained. "Critical reading is an important skill...but the high focus of this analysis is at a steep price: the love for books and storytelling is being lost."

Perhaps, in order for children to fall in love with reading, adults must avoid it - Osgood reached a conclusion in 1865. The best children's books must showcase "stories and images that young readers can easily appreciate and enjoy." But at the same time, why not introduce the best writers to the kids” Earthly feelings and starless wisdom”? Now there is a question to think about.