" . . . in researching for my books, I always found that along with real characters who were stupid, weak and cruel, were also real men and women who opposed evil  --  who were courageous and brave and who responded to needs of people and were against the cruelties of war, revolution, slavery and prejudice. Their personal histories were luminous flames in the surrounding darkness. I include as many of them as I can find. They provide hope."

Barbara Claassen Smucker. "Border Crossings", Convocation Address, May 29, 1986, University of Waterloo, pp. 5-6.

" . . . where else could I have got the idea, so early in life, that words can change you?"

Margaret Atwood. "Margaret Atwood: A Childhood Fascination with Some Grimm Tales",Ottawa Citizen. September 26, 1987, p. C2.

The power of children's books to influence has not gone unrecognized. In fact, adults who know the strength of this power have frequently turned to children's literature as a medium for teaching and imparting messages.

Teaching in books is something that children have not always welcomed. Witness the Canadian reader who complained of a novel: "It seemed like a book of facts instead of one for enjoyment." ¹ Nor is it something of which the results are guaranteed  --  as evidenced by the six-year-old who explained that the lesson learned from a certain book was how to "hide brussel sprouts in your dress to flush in the toilet later." ²

Teaching has always been a part of children's literature, however. That first book of Caxton's was entitled The Book of Courtesy. The first known Canadian children's book was An Abstract of the Douay Catechism, published in 1778. In the next century, English-speaking children were treated to The Snow Drop  --  a magazine which offered stories with titles like "Heedless Helen", "Example of Christian Charity", "The Mourner", and which apparently never contained a single piece that did not have some overt moral purpose. Meanwhile, French-speaking children were being given edifying editions of the lives of various saints.

The tendency to moralize continued on into the 20th century. Times change, however. The messages that once seemed right and proper do not seem right and proper now. The old messages were aimed largely at supporting the status quo. The messages of today tend to be rooted in an awareness of areas where we need to do things better, where we have gone wrong.

One influence in this has been the women's movement. Responding to the feelings aroused in women throughout their childhood reading, this influence created the climate for detailed studies of the ways in which children's books reinforced stereotypes.

Out of the new awareness of sex-role stereotyping, early publications of The Women's Press  --  like Fresh Fish... and Chips by Jan Andrews  --  were sent onto the market. A growing force of strong, active, self-sufficient heroines such as we find in the pages of Ginette Anfousse's La Varicelle or Marsha Hewitt and Claire Mackay's One Proud Summer began to appear.