Favorite Children’s Book Animals 39¢ Postage Stamps, 2006 Sheet – Additional Postage for Cards and Letters

Before the 1800s, the child was seen as a miniature adult, and few authors wrote books for children. Most of these early children’s books were lesson books.

In the 1800s, talented authors and illustrators began creating books to entertain children. By the mid-1800s, color illustrations began appearing widely in children’s books, partly due to advances in color printing.

Children’s literature flourished in the 1900s with more books written than in all the previous centuries. Picture books for young children were produced in large numbers. In the mid-twentieth century, books for beginning readers appeared, with simple stories and limited vocabularies. Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss) was one of the first authors to create such books.