Enterprising Youth: Social Values and Acculturation in Nineteenth-Century American Children's Literature (Children's Literature and Culture)

Recommended by Choice Enterprising Youth examines the agenda behind the shaping of nineteenth-century children’s perceptions and world views and the transmission of civic duties and social values to children by adults. The essays in this book reveal the contradictions involved in the perceptions of children as active or passive, as representatives of a new order, or as receptacles of the transmitted values of their parents. The question, then, is whether the business of telling children's stories becomes an adult enterprise of conservative indoctrination, or whether children are enterprising enough to read what many of the contributors to this volume see as the subversive potential of these texts. This collection of literary and historical criticism of nineteenth-century American children’s literature draws upon recent assessments of canon formations, gender studies, and cultural studies to show how concepts of public/private, male/female, and domestic/foreign are collapsed to reveal a picture of American childhood and life that is expansive and constrictive at the same time. Cover Title Page Copyright Page Contents List of Figures Series Editor’s Foreword Introduction Part I Civic Duties and Moral Pitfalls Chapter One “A Just, A Useful Part”: Lydia Huntley Sigourney and Catharine Maria Sedgwick’s Contributions to The Juvenile Miscellany and The Youth’s Companion Chapter Two Charitable (Mis)givings and the Aesthetics of Poverty in Louisa May Alcott’s Christmas Stories Chapter Three “Hints Dropped Here and There”: Constructing Exclusion in St. Nicholas, Volume I Chapter Four “One extra little girl”: Elizabeth Stuart Phelps’s Orphans Part II Politicizing Children: “Normalization” and the Place of the Marginalized Child Chapter Five “A is an Abolitionist”: The Anti-Slavery Alphabet and the Politics of Literacy Chapter Six Overcoming Racism in Jacob Abbott’s Stories of Rainbow and Lucky and in Antebellum America Chapter Seven “I am your slave for love”: Race, Sentimentality, and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Fiction for Children Chapter Eight Shut-ins, Shut-outs, and Spofford’s Other Children: The Hester Stanley Stories Part III Sentimental and Realistic Constructs of Childhood Chapter Nine Robinson Crusoe and the Shaping of Masculinity in Nineteenth-Century America Chapter Ten “The cleverest children’s book written here”: Elizabeth Stoddard’s Lolly Dinks’s Doings and the Subversion of Social Conventions Chapter Eleven A Sentimental Childhood: The Unlikely Memoirs of Realist-Era Writers Chapter Twelve The Cultural Work of Kate Douglas Wiggin: Cultivating the Child’s Garden Part IV Education and Shifting Paradigms of the Child’s Mind Chapter Thirteen “Heroes of the Laboratory and the Workshop”: Invention and Technology in Books for Children, 1850–1900 Chapter Fourteen Natural History for Children and the Agassiz Association Chapter Fifteen Good Masters: Child–Animal Relationships in the Writings of Mark Twain and G. Stanley Hall Chapter Sixteen Child Consciousness in the American Novel: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), What Maisie Knew (1897), and the Birth of Child Psychology Contributors Bibliography Index A Just, A Useful Part : Lydia Huntley Sigourney And Catharine Maria Sedgwick's Contributions To The Juvenile Miscellany And The Youth's Companion / Lorinda B. Cohoon -- Charitable (mis)givings And The Aesthetics Of Poverty In Louisa May Alcott's Christmas Stories / Monika Elbert -- Hints Dropped Here And There : Constructing Exclusion In St. Nicholas, Volume I / Janet Gray And Melissa Fowler -- One Extra Little Girl : Elizabeth Stuart Phelps's Orphans / Roxanne Harde -- A Is An Abolitionist : The Anti-slavery Alphabet And The Politics Of Literacy / Martha L. Sledge -- Overcoming Racism In Jacob Abbott's Stories Of Rainbow And Lucky And In Antebellum America / Jeannette Barnes Lessels And Eric Sterling -- I Am Your Slave For Love : Race, Sentimentality, And Harriet Beecher Stowe's Fiction For Children / Lesley Ginsberg -- Shut-ins, Shut-outs, And Spofford's Other Children : The Hester Stanley Stories / Rita Bode -- Robinson Crusoe And The Shaping Of Masculinity In Nineteenth-century America / Shawn Thomson -- The Cleverest Children's Book Written Here : Elizabeth Stoddard's Lolly Dinks's Doings And The Subversion Of Social Conventions / Maria Holmgren Troy -- A Sentimental Childhood : The Unlikely Memoirs Of Realist-era Writers / Melanie Dawson -- The Cultural Work Of Kate Douglas Wiggin : Cultivating The Child's Garden / Anne Lundin -- Heroes Of The Laboratory And The Workshop : Invention And Technology In Books For Children, 1850-1990 / Eric S. Hintz -- Natural History For Children And The Agassiz Association / J.d. Stahl -- Good Masters : Child-animal Relationships In The Writings Of Mark Twain And G. Stanley Hall / Joan Menefee -- Child Consciousness In The American Novel : Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn (1885), What Maisie Knew (1897), And The Birth Of Child Psychology / Holly Blackford. Edited By Monika Elbert. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 263-278) And Index. "Recommended" by Choice Enterprising Youth examines the agenda behind the shaping of nineteenth-century children's perceptions and world views and the transmission of civic duties and social values to children by adults. The essays in this book reveal the contradictions involved in the perceptions of children as active or passive, as representatives of a new order, or as receptacles of the transmitted values of their parents. The question, then, is whether the business of telling children's stories becomes an adult enterprise of conservative indoctrination, or whether children are enterprising enough to read what many of the contributors to this volume see as the subversive potential of these texts. This collection of literary and historical criticism of nineteenth-century American children's literature draws upon recent assessments of canon formations, gender studies, and cultural studies to show how concepts of public/private, male/female, and domestic/foreign are collapsed to reveal a picture of American childhood and life that is expansive and constrictive at the same time. "Enterprising Youth examines the agenda behind the shaping of nineteenth-century children's perceptions and world views and the transmission of civic duties and social values to children by adults. The essays in this book reveal the contradictions involved in the perceptions of children as active or passive, as representatives of a new order, or as receptacles of the transmitted values of their parents. The question, then, is whether the business of telling children's stories becomes an adult enterprise of conservative indoctrination, or whether children are enterprising enough to read what many of the contributors to this volume see as the subversive potential of these texts."--BOOK JACKET Examines the agenda behind the shaping of nineteenth-century children's perceptions and world views and the transmission of civic duties and social values to children by adults. This book reveals the contradictions involved in the perceptions of children as active or passive, as receptacles of the transmitted values of their parents.