See Jane Run. See Dick Run. Run Run Run.

The History of Learning to Read in America Series: Dick and Jane

Hello again beautiful humans! I have another fun history-ish newsletter for you all. If you missed the previous ones you can go back and read my thoughts on Jeanne Chall, which was the post that sparked my interest in the Reading Wars and the history of how we have been learning to read. There is also a primer on primers, and a look at the Father of Education, Horace Mann, and his feelings about the alphabet (spoiler: he was not a fan).

When I think about my grandma and my mom learning to read, I think of Dick and Jane. (They have both confirmed that this is correct). The characters are so pervasive in our culture that all you have to say is those two names for an image to jump to mind of a young boy in a cap, a young girl in a frilly dress. But when did we go from Primers and Readers (dense biblical passages, Shakespeare, scary allegorical puritanical poems) to the simple stories of Dick and Jane (no more than 5 new words per book, simple watercolor illustrations, repetitive basic stories, and altruistic American values that have been criticized for their narrow depiction of the “ideal American family")?

The very first Dick and Jane story was published in 1930 in a Primer! The Elson-Gray Reader was published and distributed by the Chicago-based Scott-Foresman Publishing Company. In 1924 Scott-Foresman Publishing Company hired Zerna Sharp as their educational consultant and she joined with William Scott Gray (the Gray half of Elson-Gray), the director of the Curriculum Foundation Series, to create Dick and Jane.

I mean, she looks real cute and jaunty in this hat and coat combo, right? Plus she was a boss consultant for kids’ education. I’d want to be her friend.

Sharp oversaw the story subject matter, the image placement, and even the iconic outfits, making sure the children were dressed in current fashions from the latest Sears & Roebuck catalogs. Born in Indiana, she taught first grade for 10 years and was a principal for one before being onboarded as a consultant. Sharp never had children, but said she considered Dick and Jane her children, and she certainly put in the work.

No jaunty hat for you, William.

William Scott Gray, an educator and massively influential literacy advocate, was the author of the stories (but Zerna Sharp reads like the boss and is given creator credit for Dick and Jane). Gray was a firm supporter of the Look-and-Say method of reading, (yes, the debate was alive and well in the 1930’s) where emphasis is placed on learning whole words by sight before learning basic phonic skills. Dick and Jane are Look-and-Say books.

OK, Eleanor — everyone just looking hella chic in their hats and coats in this era.

Eleanor B. Campbell was the first illustrator of the series. Her watercolors captured children in activities they took part in every day, actions and activities that were familiar to the young reader. This illustration tactic was meant to support learning to read by allowing children to guess words based on the familiar activities in the pictures. A popular theory of the day promoted by Edmund Huey’s 1908 book The Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading suggested that understanding content and intention was more important than accurately reading a word.

"Even if the child substitutes words of his own for some that are on the page, provided that those express the meaning, it is an encouraging sign that the reading has been real, and recognition of details will come as it is needed. Reading to be truthful, must be free of what is on the page." Edward Huey, 1908

This thinking argued that if a page had the word “horse” and the child guessed “pony” they were successfully reading. Unfortunately for this method, pictures eventually are no longer a part of books. How is one supposed to guess content on the page when there isn’t a picture of horse to help us incorrectly guess the word pony?

Structurally, each primary Dick & Jane early reader book introduced only one new word per page, and no more than five words per story. The books are repetitive on purpose, both to help young children learn new words through exposure and allegedly because once when Zerna was on a walk on the Chicago lakefront, she heard children shouting “Look! Look!” to one another as they played.

The Elson-Gray Readers stopped being published in the 1940s, but Dick and Jane were such a popular approach to reading they became their own Reader series, and by the 1950s eighty percent (!!) of school children were learning how to read with Dick and Jane.

Claaaaasic. Couldn’t help myself.

Dick and Jane, like the Primers before, were used as tools not only to teach reading but to instill young children with an idealized morality. Looking back at it now, some 90 years later, it is easy to point out how problematic Dick and Jane were, with images and storylines that supported the limited homogenous and patriarchal ideals of the era.

When faced with criticism for their content, Zerna Sharp replied: ''It never bothered the children. That's all an adult's viewpoint.''

Though I believe content matters, and we should be bothered on behalf of our children, I wonder if it is Zerna we should throw under the bus. She was an independent woman with a powerful name, a cute hat, and a successful career — a bit of a trailblazer in her own right. She never married, never had children, loved to travel, and was passionate about education. I think I’d want to hang out with her IRL.

Did you know the series had books for grades 1 through grades 9?! I can’t even imagine what grade 9 Dick and Jane looked like.

When the series went through revisions in the 1960s, the books introduced more phonics instruction, likely in response to Rudolf Flesch’s Why Johnny Can’t Read (more on this coming soon!) and because of researchers and reading specialists like Jeanne Chall, whose commitment to studying reading science introduced phonics back into the classroom curriculum. In 1965 Dick and Jane became the first primary Reader series to introduce a Black family to readers.

Though the look-and-say method has fallen out of style, and Dr Suess revels in his Cat in the Hat kicking Dick and Jane to the curb, we still had a full 40 years of reading fun with Dick and Jane.

RESOURCES

https://www.nytimes.com/1981/06/19/obituaries/zerna-sharp-91-dies-in-indiana-originated-dick-and-jane-texts.html

https://clintonhistorymuseum.org/2019/11/22/notable-clinton-countians-zerna-addis-sharp/

https://www.parkerphonics.com/post/a-brief-history-of-reading-instruction

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_and_Jane

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FROM THE STAX

All this talk of picture-based reading made me think of our favorite Graphic Novel series for young readers. Graphic Novels are such a different reading experience from standard picture books or illustrated chapter books. They have so much action in every square, with the story being told alongside the action in each panel, with plenty of action happening on every page.

ZITA THE SPACEGIRL SERIES by Ben Hatke

Zita and her best friend Joseph find a strange pit with a mysterious remote at the bottom. Despite Joseph warning her not to, Zita pushes the button and unwittingly tears a hole between her universe and another parallel place in time and space. When Joseph gets sucked into another dimension, will Zita be brave enough to go save her friend? And once she does, what adventures will await her?

Robot and mice friends, space travel, battles against evil galactic hearts, humorous foes, there is nothing I do not love about these books. Since I discovered the first book about ten years ago I have tirelessly promoted this graphic novel series to all my favorite people. With a female protagonist who uses her bravery and her loyal heart to save her friend and the universe, this is the kind of hero action I love to promote.

Get the entire set here

Or start with the first book, second, or third (I recommend reading them in order, but I am a stickler for the rules)

OWLY by Andy Runton

Owly is a little owl with a whole lot of heart. Often these tales start with Owly frightening off new potential friends (he is a predator after all) before convincing them that he is a friendly owl with a heart of gold. Join him as he builds a birdhouse for an endangered bluebird, makes a garden to feed the hummingbirds, or faces his fears when he spots an unusual animal in the night.

Owly truly has my heart. Not only will these books help your budding naturalist have a better appreciation of how to care for nature, but they will also teach your young child about facing their fears, helping their friends, and understanding how to be kind even when you may not feel like it. I wish I could be a little more like Owly.

Get the first, second, or third book here! The series has six books total, but I haven’t read them all.

PEA, BEE, AND JAY by Brian “Smitty” Smith

Pea goes out to explore the farm and is dared by the other veggies to venture to the big red tree in the distance. Despite the rain clouds and against his mother’s warning, Pea heads out on an epic adventure and bumbles (see what I did there) into some unusual friends along the way! The three friends help one another out through each adventure with an adorable amount of charm, giggles, and puns along the way.

This is one of those books my kids loved so much that I had to put it on their birthday list right away so we could have them all. I love how much these stories make them laugh and how cute and friendly all the characters are. There aren’t any scary bad guys or any battles, they are just plain fun books full of unlikely friendships and silly jokes. My kids also want stuffed animals of all the characters so they can imagination play the stories…we found bees and jays but if anyone knows a good place to get a cute pea, LMK.

Start with the first, second, or third book here! There are six total in this series so far but we have only read the first three.

MIGHTY JACK SERIES by Ben Hatke

Jack is bummed that he has to spend a summer at home watching his non-verbal little sister instead of helping his mom out with the finances by finding a job. At the farmers market, he makes a deal with an uncanny man named Piper (if you read Zita first, this is a familiar character) for a packet of unusual seeds. With help from a new neighborhood friend, they spend the summer growing a very unusual garden, which is all fun and games until the garden starts taking them hostage.

I nearly jumped for joy when I saw Mighty Jack on our library shelves. Aimed at a bit older crowd, this series is full of daring adventures (again across the universe battling some pretty ugly giants and monsters), honest mistakes, a bit of love and jealousy, and the message that true bravery sometimes means making hard decisions. My eldest loved it for the sword and the battles, my youngest for the magical dragons and garden seeds.

Buy the whole series here or start with the first, second, or third.

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What are your favorite graphic novel series for early readers? I have heard great things about The Wild Robot by Peter Brown but haven’t checked it out yet!

Do you remember what books you learned to read with? Mine was a copy of Stone Soup that is now sitting on my kid’s bookshelf.

That is all of this week! Don’t forget to share this publication with a friend and help spread the word and the love. Thanks for being here and happy reading y’all!