Reading Between the Lines

For 150 years, the accepted tools for teaching
American elementary school students to read were
textbooks known as basal readers. In addition to
teaching the mechanics of pronunciation and word
meaning, these schoolbooks presented a view of
American society that remained fairly constant from
the middle of the 19th century to almost the end of
the 20th century. The stories and pictures in school
readers profoundly influenced each generation of
American children between 1850 and 2000. 'Reading
Between the Lines', based on the author's doctoral
dissertation, presents the results of a research
project that examined 100,000 pages of children's
textbook literature containing 15,000 stories and
80,000 pictures. From horn books and New England
primers through McGuffey's Readers to Dick and Jane
and beyond, this book examines what children learned
from school readers about history, literature,
science, and - most importantly - the people who
made up their world. The book considers the messages
contained in reader stories and artwork, documents
the times during which changes or emphases occurred,
and looks for historical reasons to support its
conclusions.