READING FOR SCHOOL CHILDREN: THE NINETEENTH ENTURY NEXUS BETWEEN LEISURE AND LESSONS

It is the contention of this article that examinations of the content of the reading syllabi used in schools should be balanced by a consideration of the leisure reading available to the children required to study those reading syllabi. In this way, a more complete picture is made available of the social attitudes and values placed before children in their in‐school and out‐of‐school reading. This approach is germane to nineteenth century children's literature written in English since there is evidence that many English speaking authorities of that time held that the reading matter to which children were exposed could influence them powerfully. This study therefore examines the prescribed school reading and the commercial publications available in the market in a particular region in the second half of the nineteenth century as a case study of the interrelationships between the content of the two. It would be useful if researchers in other countries undertook to see if similar patterns of relationships have existed between these materials in their respective regions.