The Dime Novel in Children’s Literature

With their rakish characters, sensationalist plots, improbable adventures and objectionable language (like swell and golly), dime novels in their heyday were widely considered a threat to the morals of impressionable youth. Roundly criticized by church leaders and educators of the time, these short, quick-moving, pocket-sized publications were also, inevitably, wildly popular with readers of all ages.
This work looks at the evolution of the dime novel and at the authors, publishers, illustrators, and subject matter of the genre. Also discussed are related types of children’s literature, such as story papers, chapbooks, broadsides, serial books, pulp magazines, comic books and today’s paperback books. The author shows how these works reveal much about early American life and thought and how they reflect cultural nationalism through their ideological teachings in personal morality and ethics, humanitarian reform and political thought. Overall, this book is a thoughtful consideration of the dime novel’s contribution to the genre of children’s literature.
Eight appendices provide a wealth of information, offering an annotated bibliography of dime novels and listing series books, story paper periodicals, characters, authors and their pseudonyms, and more. A reference section, index and illustrations are all included.

Vicki Anderson is a retired school librarian who has written numerous selection tools for the profession. She lives in Peoria, Arizona.

Vicki Anderson
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 274
Bibliographic Info: photos, appendices, references, index
Copyright Date: 2005
pISBN: 978-0-7864-1843-5
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8302-0
Imprint: McFarland

Introduction      1

Short History      7

Broadsides      19

Chapbooks      24

Street Cries      36

Hornbooks and Battledores      41

Toy Books      46

Penny Dreadfuls      53

Dime Novels      61

Series Books      126

Story Papers      132

Comics      145

Big Little Books      151

Pulp Fiction      156

Conclusion      161

Appendices

A. Chronology of the Dime Novel and Related Works, 1860–1902      167

B. Annotated Bibliography of Dime Novels      170

C. List of Series Books      193

D. Periodicals (Story Papers)      219

E. Children’s Literature Year by Year: A Chronological List of Significant Publications      222

F. List of Pseudonym      241

G. List of Character Names      242

H. Biographical Dictionary      247

References      257

Index      263

“lavish illustrations and extensive useful appendices…valuable…highly recommended”—Choice; “definitely worth a read”—American Literature.