Minders of make-believe

Minders of make-believe : idealists, entrepreneurs, and the shaping of American children’s literature / Leonard S. Marcus.-- Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 2008.
xi, 402 p. ; 24 cm.
ISBN: 9780395674079
Contents: Providence and purpose in Colonial America and the young republic -- Wonder in the wake of war : publishing for the children from the gilded age to the dawn of the new century -- Innocence lost and found : the 1920s -- Sisters in crisis and in conflict : the 1930s -- World War and mass market : the 1940s -- Fun and fear : the 1950s -- Shaken and stirred : the 1960s -- Change and more change : the 1970s -- Suits and wizards at the millennium’s gate. Includes bibliographical references (p. 322-369) and index.

1. Children --Books and reading --United States --History. 2. Children’s books --United States --History. 3. Children’s literature --Publishing --United States --History.

070.5083

Marcus has written a very interesting history of publishing English books for children in the United States from the 1690 New England Primer to the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in July 2000. The twentieth century, when publishers first appointed knowledgeable women editors to begin and run specialized children’s imprints, gets the most coverage. As the subtitle advertises, the debates in the field supply the story’s plot: should books for children be educational or entertaining, truth or fiction, draw upon folktales or the daily sensations of children in their new modern environment, is our business literature or commerce, and is children’s literature really literature at all? The characters, and there are some characters, are supplied by the publishers, editors, librarians, and educators who wrestle with these issues and the economic necessity of keeping their enterprises afloat.