Katherine Wakely-Mulroney is an Assistant Professor of English at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She has published widely on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century children's literature and childhood. She is the co-editor of The Aesthetics of Children's Poetry (2018) and judge for The Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry.

'Deeply researched and beautifully written, The Origins of Children's Literature, 1658–1834 practices the eighteenth-century principle of instructing through delight. Detailing an original genealogy of children's literature that traces a dynamic intimacy between literary form and epistemology, this book argues elegantly that childhood is as much a literary phenomenon as a sociological or psychological one.' Eugenia Zuroski, Professor of English and Cultural Studies, McMaster University

• Introduction; Part I. Little Readers: 1. Compression; 2. Gradation; Part II. Little Forms: 3. Sing song; 4. The book of books; 5. Little giants; Conclusion; Works cited.

Katherine Wakely-Mulroney is an Assistant Professor of English at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She has published widely on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century children's literature and childhood. She is the co-editor of The Aesthetics of Children's Poetry (2018) and judge for The Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry.

'Deeply researched and beautifully written, The Origins of Children's Literature, 1658–1834 practices the eighteenth-century principle of instructing through delight. Detailing an original genealogy of children's literature that traces a dynamic intimacy between literary form and epistemology, this book argues elegantly that childhood is as much a literary phenomenon as a sociological or psychological one.' Eugenia Zuroski, Professor of English and Cultural Studies, McMaster University

• Introduction; Part I. Little Readers: 1. Compression; 2. Gradation; Part II. Little Forms: 3. Sing song; 4. The book of books; 5. Little giants; Conclusion; Works cited.

Katherine Wakely-Mulroney is an Assistant Professor of English at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She has published widely on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century children's literature and childhood. She is the co-editor of The Aesthetics of Children's Poetry (2018) and judge for The Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry.

'Deeply researched and beautifully written, The Origins of Children's Literature, 1658–1834 practices the eighteenth-century principle of instructing through delight. Detailing an original genealogy of children's literature that traces a dynamic intimacy between literary form and epistemology, this book argues elegantly that childhood is as much a literary phenomenon as a sociological or psychological one.' Eugenia Zuroski, Professor of English and Cultural Studies, McMaster University

• Introduction; Part I. Little Readers: 1. Compression; 2. Gradation; Part II. Little Forms: 3. Sing song; 4. The book of books; 5. Little giants; Conclusion; Works cited.