PART ONE: ROOTS IN THE PAST: UP TO 1840 / by Cornelia Meigs: The deepest roots: folklore, the original inheritance
The quickening life: Medieval tales: morality and mystery plays
The multiplying leaves: the printed word: Caxton, Aesop, Malory
"The compass of the world" : Hakluyt's Voyages, Plutarch's Lives, Foxe
Three tales of travel: Pilgrim's Progress, Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver's Travels
The Bible and the Sun: influence of Locke; John Newbery's contribution
The little female academy: Sarah Fielding, Sarah Trimmer, Hannah More, Mary Wollstonecraft, and others
Launching a century: Mary Sherwood; Fables; Charles and Mary Lamb
Rousseau and his companions: new influences, Thomas Day, Maria Edgworth, Walter Scott
Distinguished foreigners: Gesta Romanorum, Comenius, Perrault, The Arabian Nights
The New England Primer : spiritual literature in early America
Printer's ink: Isaiah Thomas, Hugh Gaine
Two indefatigable Americans: Samuel Goodrich, Jacob Abbott
"Some excellent verses for the education of youth."
PART TWO: WIDENING HORIZONS: 1840-1890 / by Anne Thaxter Eaton: The Victorian family / Charlotte Mary Yonge
A scientist, a reaiist, and a purveyer of magic: Mrs. Gatty, Mrs. Ewing, Mrs. Molesworth
A broader field: Castle Blair, Hans Brinker, Heidi, Tom Brown's School Days, Westward Ho!, The Water-Rabbit
The return of the fairy tale: The Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Charles Dickens, William Thackeray
The gift of pure nonsense and pure imagination: Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear, George Macdonald, Dinah Mulock, Oscar Wilde
The American family: Elsie Dinsmore, Lady Prudy, Five Little Peppers, Little Women
The field of adventure in England and America: Frederick Marryat, George Henty, Robert Lewis Stevenson, Oliver Optic, Richard H. Dana, Jules Verne
Illustrators who were more than illustrators: George Cruikshank, John Tenniel, Walter Crane, Randolph Caldecott, Kate Greenaway
New horizons: The Bodleys, Zigzag Journeys, Boy Travellers, Little Lord Fauntleroy, Tom Sawyer, Toby Tyler, Tales of a Grandfather
Magazines for children in the Nineteenth Century: The Children's Friend, Aunt Judy's Magazine and others in England: St. Nicholas, Youth's Companion and others in America
Poetry for children in the Nineteenth Century.
PART THREE: A RIGHTFUL HERITAGE: 1890-1920 / by Elizabeth Nesbitt: A new era: Howard Pyle
A rightful heritage: Folklore. classic myths, fairy books
A new impulse in romance: Robert Louis Stevenson
The great originator: Rudyard Kipling
Classics in miniature: Beatrix Potter
A landmark in fantasy: The Wind in the Willows
Extensions of reality: Old Mother West Wind series, David Blaize and the Blue Door, Wonderful Adventures of Nils, Peter Pan, A Little Boy Lost
Romance and actuality: Eliza Orne White, Laura Richards, Ralph Henry Barbour, Lucy Finch Perkins, Hamlin Garland
Events and people: History and biography
The march of the picture books: Gelett Burgess, E. Boyd Smith, Boutet de Mouvel, H. Willebeck Le Mair, Leslie Brooke
Major steps foreward: Children's rooms established in public libraries, professional education for children's libraries, literary criticismof children's books recognized in press.
PART FOUR: GOLDEN YEARS AND TIME OF TUMULT: 1920-1967 / by Ruth Hill Viguers: Childhood golden era and after: an introductory survey
Treasure from the past: folklore retold and newly recorded, hero tales, The Bible, Introductions to great literature
Worlds without boundaries: literary fairy tales an fantasy
Quests, survival, and the romance of history: adventure tales and historical fiction
Adventures in the New World: American historical and period stories
Backgrounds of understanding: history, geography, travel
One world in children's books: storiies of other lands and people
Experiences to share: modern realistic stories, family stories, social trends
Companions on the road: biogrraphy
The world around us: books of facts and information
The artist as storyteller: picture books