Reading has always been a critical source of imagination and output since the beginning of human history. From religious texts to tales of dragons and cookbooks, all authors take into account their audience and the intended goal the reader has in mind. Yet children’s books started to gain attraction in the late 18th century, for a strange reason.

From as early as the Medieval period, children were brought up to prepare for adulthood before they gained a childhood. Due to the increased risk of death in children before the age of 5 and the small percent they’d make it long enough to have children of their own, kids immediately emerged into the adult world. Little girls were taught how to clean house, sew, cook, and raise babies from the time they could walk, and little boys were taught how to hunt, work, and build up their livelihoods. Childhood was not a priority.

However, during the Gilded Age, as the printing press became more available, literacy rates went up, and the chains of adulthood were not as stressed on children; children’s books start to erupt. An English publisher named John Newbery (1719-1767) was credited as the first person to make books catered towards kids. These books would contain moral lessons and happy endings. 

Entering into the 19th century, childhood innocence became the highlight of children’s books, leading to Mark Twain and Lewis Carroll’s classics. The rapid entertainment of kids books and the recognized importance of learning in children grew this phenomenon out of the water. Soon enough, children’s books expanded past the moral intentions and led onto the adventurous and imaginative world of writing.

As of today, many authors, scientists, and pediatricians acclaim children’s books as the entryway to reading and comprehension. Many benefits have been discovered within children reading books, and the kids classics we know today started from the enjoyment of childhood and innocence.