100 Years of National Children’s Book Week

April 29, 2019
100 Years of National Children's Book Week

Stop by Campbell Library and learn about the history of children’s literacy, literature, and libraries.  Carefully researched by Cynthia Holland (Interlibrary Loan Assistant), the exhibit highlights the emergence of children’s programs in the United States. 

Children learned to read via chapbooks, horn books, and primers.  Samples of each are included in the exhibit.  Early libraries prohibited children from entering.  Calls for changes to these policies began in 1876.  Once library doors were opened for children beginning in 1890, special reading rooms were designed for special shelving and story hours.  Children were routinely taught how to behave in the library and about the proper treatment of books. 

Celebrating children’s literature is easy!  Most Americans have a particular favorite that elicits childhood memories.  The exhibit highlights such titles as Alice in WonderlandThe Wonderful Wizard of OzHungry Hungry Caterpillar, and Snowy Day.  National Children’s Book Week began in 1919 to “promote the importance of books and reading in the lives of children”.