Before the Victorian Era, there were basically two types of children's books: pious books preaching hellfire and infant damnation, and cheap, low-quality chapbooks. The 19th century, however, was focused much on family life, not religious piety, thus introducing many different types of juvenile literature.
One form of literature that became gained popularity in the Victorian Age was the fairy tale. Although it had been around for centuries, this type of writing was shunned during the 18th century because it was believed heretical by the Puritan beliefs that were so common during this period. In other parts of the ...