The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21).
VOLUME XVI. Early National Literature, Part II; Later National Literature, Part I.
§ 8. Later Books of Information
The informational path trod first by Goodrich and Abbott grew to be the main road for future juveniles. Today the How To Make books are perhaps the most distinctive, as they are among the best-selling. What probably remains the most distinguished treatment for young children of foreign life and scenes and of nature was given by Jane Andrews (1833–87) in her Seven Little Sisters (1861) and Stories Mother Nature Told. She was the pioneer of the great crowd of present-day nature writers for children and still compares in dignity and interest of treatment with all her successors. Of these, those who steer warily between the scientific and lifeless and the sentimental and the superficial are still living. In less philosophical or imaginative setting, the books of actual adventure by Paul du Chaillu deserve mention.