Taxonomy, Historiography and Bibliography of Nigerian Children’s Literature

 This article is published by the Zamfara International Journal of Humanities.

Adah Abechi Agada*1 Ugochukwu Ogechi Iwuji, Ph.D*2

1  Department of English, Federal College of Education Katsina

2 Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Owerri,

1 bechagada@gmail.com 07035603505 2 ugoiwuji@gmail.com 08068781712

Abstract: This paper investigates tripartite issues of taxonomy, history and bibliography which are germane to Nigerian Children’s literature. These basic and foundational issues have over time escaped the concerns of researchers in the field, creating an epistemological hiatus that may need to be plugged. Children’s literature is steadily emerging as a vibrant area of literary discourse. Nigeria now boasts of researchers who have gone prolific in the genre unlike what the reality used to be. It is heartwarming that a lot of universities in Nigeria now possess well-developed Children’s Literature units a reliable manpower. In the past, it was difficult for instance to see graduate researches in Children’s literature. However that trend now belongs to the realm of the past as many graduate researchers are identifying with the field as it is gradually appearing to be the future of Literature, especially in a world where postmodernist and anti-essentialist poetics are fast gaining grounds. Accordingly, this paper is intended to enlarge epistemic boundaries in Children’s literature by identifying tripartite issues of taxonomy, historiography and bibliography which are at the core of the field. This will further arm researchers with relevant epistemic development that will further boost the corpus of studies in the field. It is also remarkable to establish that most scholars in the field are arguably not quite conversant with the taxonomic and bibliographical paradigms in Children’s literature, a reason why a research such as this is an interventionist one. The methodology deployed in the research is analytical and hermeneutic in line with the qualitative research in the humanities.

Keywords: Children’s literature, literary discourse, taxonomy, historiography and bibliography

Introduction

_The tripartite issues of taxonomy, historiography and bibliography in Nigerian Children’s Literature need to be interrogated to expand knowledge forms in literary studies.

Taxonomizing Children’s literature, for instance, is important as it arms researchers with valid classifications of the literature into genres and age levels. In categorising Children’s literature by age, the research will attempt to state a number of age brackets and the range of Children that fall within it. Beyond this, the study also presents historical milestones in the formation of what is today known as Children’s literature, from a global and regional point of view. Among other benefits, this type of study will add value to the study of Children’s literature by apprising researchers with the historical overview of the writers and works that have so far boosted the corpus of Children’s literature in Nigeria.

Age Categorisation in Children’s Literature

A discourse on the age categories of Children’s literature presupposes an epistemic encapsulation of the term ‘child.’ A child is a young person being below the age of puberty or below the legal age of majority (Shavit, 1986, p.3; https://en.oxforddictionaries.com). This implies that a child is a person who is relatively inexperienced and unexposed to the knowledge of the world and even himself. Similarly, Merriam-Webster a child is “a young person especially between infancy and youth” (www.merriam-webster.com). If the youthful age begins at fifteen, it means a child according to the assertion above is a person between zero and fifteen years. Meanwhile, the definition of a child as “a boy or girl in the period before puberty” (www.yourdictionary.com), calls to question on the actual period of puberty in a given country. For the sake of this study, we shall take a child as a person from zero to fourteen (0-14) years of age. Yet, this study may not be ignorant of the seeming difficulty in the general encapsulation of the word ‘child’ because for overarching reasons, some adults are children at heart. In addition, the effects of modernity have made supposed children adults at heart. While we are not keen in exploring this emergent concern in Children’s literature, it may not be unsafe to postulate that writers of Children’s literature and planners of Children’s curriculum should factor these dynamics with time.

 

Segun (1992, p.35) makes a case for the categorisation of children according to age levels thus: “The age levels widely accepted by children’s specialists are: preschool (0-4), very young children (5-7), middle age children (8-12), adolescents (13-15) and young adults (17-18).” While this categorisation is meant to guide the writer of Children’s books among others, it however committed the error of subsuming Young Adult Literature under Children’s literature. Even though it may also be arguable that seventeen and eighteen year olds are children, it may not be safe in the study of Children’s literature, as persons on that age range are already exposed to wider ranges of experiences and conditions. For Wilson-Tagoe (1992, p.18) a child is not more than twelve years. Thus he categorises them based on their experiences:

At 4-5 years, 7-8 years and 9-12 years, children present different levels of development, maturity and interest as well as different relations to the written language. At 7-9 years, the child’s mind is not just impressionable but also stores experiences capable of building up associations when properly stimulated. At age 9-12 years, as the child approaches adulthood, his psychology, understanding and interest become mature and distinctive more than his linguistic skills and conceptual powers have by now developed sufficiently to enable him derive aesthetic pleasure from his reading.

Significant in the above excerpt is the recognition that a child is a being that is not up to the pubescent age. The implication therefore is that children’s writers should be able to factor the psychology of the child in the each age range being written for hence he advises further that “All writers of Children books must of necessity be aware of these peculiar characteristics and should not allow their own tastes and preconceptions to influence how a child will react to a particular book” (p.19).

 

Meanwhile Ikhigbonoareme (1992, p.62) does not believe a child should be more than fourteen years as he posits “whenever we talk of Children’s literature, we are thinking of children in Elementary/Primary schools within the age range of 6 – 14 years…” This presupposes in the Nigerian context that children are beings from nursery to Junior secondary school. Meanwhile, Mayesky (2006, p.9) makes a bifurcation between young preschool children and older preschool children as according to her:

 

Young preschool children, two to four years of age have a limited interested span. Even the most interesting activities hold their interest for only approximately 10 to 15 minutes…Older preschool children and kindergarteners (four to six years of age) have begun to develop better-small-muscle control in the fingers, hands and wrists (p.329).

 

The import of the assertion above is to guide writers in the area of form and content so as to write what could appeal to children according to the demand of their ages, a fact that is at the core of Children’s literature.

 

Markedly, the age categorization done by Huck et al (1989, p.73) appears somewhat comprehensive and practical as it acknowledges the textual needs of the ages. For ages 1 and 2, the troika assert that “they enjoy rhymes, songs and lullabies; like simple, bright illustrations” as they have “rapid development of senses” (p.73). For ages 3, 4 and 5, which they call preschool and kindergarten, they posit that they are interested in “words, enjoyment of rhymes, nonsense, and repetition and cumulative tales” as they have “rapid development of language” (p.74). Meanwhile for ages 6 and 7 which they call the preliminary stage, the trio observes that “children prefer short stories; may enjoy or prefer stories; may enjoy a continued story provided each chapter has a complete episode” (p.76), as the children now have an increased attention span. Ages 8 and 9 are regarded as the Middle Elementary where children discover reading as an enjoyable activity as they gradually attain independence in reading skill. The last but one stage they call Later Elementary which includes ages 10 and 11 whose characteristics of rapid physical development imply that they read books that guide the understanding of growth and gender roles. Lastly, Huck et al (1989, p.83) classify ages 12 and 13 as belonging to the Middle School where children are at the verge of puberty, which implies they read “books that provide insight into feelings, concerns, guidance need to balance students’ desire for frank content with lack of life experiences” (p.83). What Huck and her colleagues have done above is to analyse the psychology of children according to ages while highlighting their characteristics in order to guide criticism and curriculum developments. They have also succeeded in defining children as beings that are not above thirteen years of age.

 

Having discussed the categorization of Children’s literature by age, we shall devote the next subsection to the discourse of categorization by genres or types. Temple et al (2009 p.15) define genre in literature as responding to the rules of play in a game where “If you know the genre you are reading, you know what kinds of actions and realities to expect, and which ones are not allowed”. In essence, they postulate further that “Genres in literature are categories of writing recognised for their patterns of organization, their style and their effects on readers” (p.45) They identify genre as one of the elements of a literary work in addition to theme, setting, characterization, plot, stance of the implied reader, point of view, the author’s style, voice, tone, and mood; intertextuality, all of which could be summarised as form and content.

 

Genres in Children’s Literature

 

Iwuji (2015, p.5) postulates that Children’s literature follows the same tradition as the mainstream literature in the identification of genres. However, the only difference is the subdivisions or subtypes under each genres of prose, play and poetry. While this research adopts this recommendation, it will go further to identify the various subgenres. For the sake of lucidity, this study will create and adopt a tabulated schema which will guide its discourse on the categorization the genres in Children’s literature.

 

To conclude this section, a succinct encapsulation of some of the terms above is necessary. Folktales have been defined as all forms of oral or written narratives handed down through the years. Huck et al (1989, p.83) categorise Folktales to include cumulative tales, pourquoi tales which explain certain animal features or fairy tales where animals act and talk, wonder tales or fairy tales of magic and the supernatural and realistic tales that are actually grouped as folklore. However, Diala-Ogamba (2015, p.56) defines folktales as “traditional tales passed down from generation which “provide answers to some cultural spiritual, psychological and supernatural beliefs of the people.” Meanwhile, fables are stories with a moral which according to Smith (1967) have become an integral part of Children’s literature, just as Huck et al (1989, p.83) see them as brief didactic tales where animals speak like human beings. Other forms of prose as listed above may include legends and epics which tell awesome stories about famous people; myths which tell stories of origin and creation, adventure stories which engage children with tales of struggles and conquests; fantasy tales which enthrall children’s minds with the imaginary world and real world placed on a parallel; while science fiction are works that project scientific knowledge (Temple et al, 2009).

 

In the poetic genre, Nursery rhymes play on words for musical effect which captivates young children and aids them in linguistic acquisition and development. Some of the fundamental Nursery rhymes in English literature according to Huck et al (1989) include Leslie Brooke’s Ring O’Roses and Kate Greenway’s Mother Goose etc. In Nigeria, Literamed Publications, one of the leading Children’s literature publishers has a rhyme title, Classic Nursery Rhymes by Adamu Elam, which can provide a rich pleasurable experience for children. Meanwhile, narrative poems relate an event or episode in a long tale. Narrative poems could be found in most anthologies including the primary texts of this research. Ballads, meanwhile, provide narrative poems that adopt use of dialogue, repetition, refrains and rhythm (Majorie, 1982). In the case of lyric poetry, Huck et al (1989, p.463) point out that “most of the poetry for children is lyrical” as it “sings its way into the minds and memories of its listeners.” One attribute of lyrics, however, is that they express intense personal feelings, and are often descriptive, an example of which is William Blake’s poetry. Meanwhile, Limericks presents a nonsense form of poetry that is simply written for entertainment. Another vast area of Children’s poetry is nature verses which according to

 

Mayesky (2006) produces nature-smart children. Finally, the dramatic genre in Children’s literature appears to be largely unexplored by writers. Ukala (1992) laments the state of the dramatic genre in Nigerian Children’s literature as the genre has suffered perennial neglect from writers and critics alike. This may be the reason adult plays are now introduced to children in Nigeria, works such as Ene Henshaw’s This is our Chance, Zulu Sofola’s The Wizard of Law, Ola Rotimi’s The Gods are not to Blame, Soyinka’s The Lion and the Jewel amongst others. They have become classics for children the way Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, Swift’s Gullivers Travels and Dickens’ Great Expectation have been for commonwealth countries before being displaced by cultural activism. Meanwhile, the only subgenre of drama modeled in the table below is the story play where popular stories are dramatised by children for pleasure and role-play. However the richness of drama, its spontaneity and role modeling cannot be ignored in Children’s literary world.

 

Bibliography of Nigerian Children’s Literature Bibliographical studies seem to be an emergent tradition in the development of Nigerian literature in general and Children’s literature in particular Yet, bibliographical studies are veritable means of gauging the tempo and trend of literary productivity over time. Thus, it serves as a resource pool for scholars to be abreast of the existence of literary resources at a particular era. Hunt (1999, p.124) highlights the importance of bibliographical studies thus:

 

For good criticism, it is sometimes said, you need good texts to criticise. Many classic (and not so classic) children’s books exist in corrupt versions. There are hundreds of substantial collections of children’s books around the world, which could yield invaluable I nformation on the history of children’s literature – and history in general

 

– and yet they remain largely uninvestigated.

 

The excerpt above validates our earlier position that a bibliographical study serves as a resource pool for scholars. Accordingly, a scholar looking for a work to criticise may not have to sweat for long before finding something concrete to appraise if there are bibliographical studies in his area of interest. Implicated also in the above excerpt is the fact that a bibliographical study reflects the historiography of a given literary epoch. Thus its non-existence could potentially endanger a historical overview of a given literary practice. Another significant highlight above is the attention a bibliographical study gives to works that had hitherto remained uninvestigated due to a number of factors bordering, perhaps, on the mode or site of publication. In this regard, many Children’s works have remained uninvestigated in Nigeria due to their site of publication. Markedly, Hunt quotes Alderson (1977, p.203) on the centrality of bibliographical studies thus:

 

Now while I do not wish to suggest that a more professional grasp of bibliographical skills will itself enable the study of Children’s books to gain greater maturity, there can be no doubt that scientific bibliography is able to play as important role in supporting the very varied activity that is taking place among Children’s books as it does in the field of literary studies elsewhere…Impliedly, all that I have been saying so far is the contention that at the nuts-and -bolts level, there is much elementary bibliographical work still to be done.

 

Encrusted in the above text is the critical role of bibliography in Children’s literary development and in the general development of literary studies. Two significant observations are made by Alderson in the foregoing excerpt bordering on the role and timelessness of bibliographical studies. In the first instance, he notes that a good bibliographical study goes beyond making Children’s works gain more grounds to gauging the level of activities varied in the field, thus re-affirming our earlier stand on the role of bibliographical studies. Furthermore, Alderson observes the need for more work to be done in bibliographical studies, in apparent reaction to the lack of attention scholars pay to it. However there seems to be much commitment to bibliographical studies in the West as pointed out by Hunt (1999, p.125): “In the case of Children’s literature, resources are of course, directed towards education and librarianship as well as literary and bibliographical studies,” just as he also notes that the “core books in the area are ageing and increasingly in need of revision as detailed bibliographical work changes the historical map.” This attests to the premium attached to scholarship in general and bibliographical studies in particular in the West. Thus Hunt re-echoes the historical relevance that bibliographical studies give literary scholarship.

 

In Africa, however, bibliographical studies are still a budding area of study. In Nigeria, for instance, there may be little or no work done in the field since this researcher could not lay hands on any. The lone work which only broaches aspects of bibliographical studies is Akachi Ezeigbo’s “50 Years of Children’s literature in Nigeria: Prospects and Problems,” a conference paper delivered at Garden City Festival of Arts, Portharcourt in 2011. Even though the crux of the paper is largely on the problems and prospects of Children’s literature in Nigeria from independence to 2011, it makes a perfunctory attempt at hinting on an aspect of Children’s literature historiography thus:

 

Children’s literature was first imported to Nigeria from Europe, specifically United Kingdom and later from USA. Before Nigerian Children read books written by Nigerians, they had read the classics from Europe – the famous folktales and fairy tales collected ad popularized by the German academics, the Brothers Grimm and the Dannish authors are C. S Lewis (British),

Mark Twain (American), Enid Blyton and so many others including the renowned contemporary British author. There is no doubt that writing for children has been a serious business in the West for decades if not centuries. Indeed, reading material for the young and the production of it are viewed with all seriousness in the West. Can we say the same about Nigeria? How has Children’s literature fared in Nigeria since independence (Ezeigbo, 2011, p.2).

The foregoing validates the earlier position of this research on what had formed the reading material of Nigerians before the foray of the likes of Ekwensi and Achebe in Children’s literature practice. Some of the classics included Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, Dicken’s Oliver Twist, Swift’s Gullivers Travels etc, which at best entertained young African readers, and at worst alienated them from their culture. Ezeigbo also tried in highlighting some founding personages of Children’s literature in Nigeria to include Cyprian Ekwensi, Chinua Achebe, Mabel Segun, Flora Nwapa, Eddie Iroh etc. While her treatise may be lacking in inclusiveness, it however gives a hint of the bibliographical development of Children’s literature in Nigeria. After all, bibliographical studies are a continuum and require a periodic review as observed by Hunt (1999, p.128):

 

[…]             it is clear that in academic, historical and bibliographical terms, there is an immense amount of work to be done in collecting, clarifying and documenting the often bewildering output of Children’s literature.

How successful the bibliographies are in his endeavour may well provide an accurate barometer for the progress and status of children’s literature studies as a whole.

 

The foregoing extract is lucid in its attempt at further elucidating the place of bibliographical studies in the matrix of Children’s literature. Even though the volume of output on Nigerian’s Children’s literature may not be as “bewildering” as it is in the West, the need to provide a bibliographical data on it is as critical as it is timely.

 

It is noteworthy to acknowledge some pioneer writers whose works gave birth to modern Nigerian Children’s literature. In 1927 for instance, William Baikie published Azundu which was a major reader for Igbo children who went to school between the period of its publication and well after independence. There was Pita Nwana’s Omenuko which has been saved from extinction by Professor Ernest Emenyonu who had to graciously translate it from Igbo to English and publish it in African Heritage Press, New York in 2014. Onuekwusi (2016, p.195) hints that:

 

The publication in Igbo language in 1933 of Pita Nwana’s Omenuko was a literary milestone that established the father of the novel in Igbo Language. A translation of this first Igbo novel into English by Ernest Emenyonu, Professor and Chair, Department of African studies, University of Michigan, Flint, USA, opens it up to the world, especially critics and scholars.

 

There was Ruwan Bagaja Kuramin Sani Kukum co-authored by Abubakar Imam published in two volumes in 1955. According to Sani in Darah (ed) (2008:227): “Alhaji Abubakar Imam is probably the earliest and most famous modern Hausa writer to emerge from northern states of Nigeria. Imam was a teacher, journalist, editor, novelist, and politician.” Sani also hints that Imam authored seventeen books in Hausa which ranged from creative works, travelogue, religion, biography, journalism, etc. Also, there was D.O Fagunwa’s Ogbo Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmale published in 1931 which according to Onuekwusi cited in Emenyon (ed) (2016) was translated into the Forest of a Thousand Demons: a Hunter’s Saga in 1968 by Wole Soyinka. These literary efforts though in indigenous languages were no mean feats, a reason why need to be captured in any worthwhile bibliographical study on Nigerian Children’s literature.

 

The First Generation Nigerian Children’s Literature (1960– 1985)

 

The first name that easily comes to a researcher’s mind in the bibliography of Children’s works is Cyprian Ekwensi, a writer who was said to be knowledgeable in the three main languages of Nigeria, having been born in the north of Igbo parents and worked in the west. Sackeyfio (2016, p.8) affirms that Cyprian Ekwensi “is a pioneering figure in Children’s literature” having stated at the wake of independence that “Nigeria as an emergent nation state must produce books to replace the family gathering under the moonlight tree…” It bears saying that Ekwensi had started writing well before 1960. For instance, Segun (1992, p.26) posits that “In 1947, Cyprian Ekwensi broke new grounds when his book Ikolo, the Wrestler and other Igbo Tales was first published in London by Nelson.” He also published in When Love Whispers, but for purpose of this study the following Children’s works by Ekwensi effectively began the literary tradition – modern Children’s literature: An African Night’s Entertainment (1948), reprinted in 1960, The Leopard’s Claw (1960), The Drummer Boy (1960), The Passport of Mallam Ilia (1960), Rainmaker and other Stories (1965), Samankwe and the Highway Robbers (1975), Rainbow-Tinted Scarf and other stories, The Motherless Baby (1980), Coal Camp Boy (1973) and Trouble in Form Six (1966).

 

Ekwensi is noted for over thirty publications for adult and children alike. It is telling that he began the tradition of writing for children in a grand note with an almost unassailable prolific propensity. It is only Olajire Olanlokun (of blessed memory), a second generation writer who would match Ekwensi in literary productivity. Ekwensi was closely followed by Onuora Nzekwu and Michael Crowther with the publication of Eze Goes to School in 1963, Nkem Nwankwo, Tales out of School (1963). Apparently buoyed by the new grounds broken by the duo, Achebe must have taken to Children’s writing, for in 1966 he published Chike and the River. According to Emenyonu (2001, p.240) “Chinua Achebe must have perceived the abysmal neglect of Children’s literature in Nigeria…Nigerian children were still tied to foreign literatures whose stilted imagery bizarre backgrounds, content, reference points and messages were alien to the Nigerian environment.” Thus, Achebe the author of the iconic Things Fall Apart and No Longer At Ease took a pleasant detour to the world of children’s writing and successively churned out How the Leopard Got His Claws (1972), The Flute (1977) and The Drum (1977).

 

There was Mabel Dorothy Segun who authored My Father’s Daughter and My Mother’s Daughter (1986). She also co-authored Under the Mango Tree (I &II) (1980). Segun was instrumental to the formation of the Children’s Literature Association of Nigeria (CLAN) in 1977 and book fairs for Children (Onuekwusi 2007, Ukala 1992). Other children’s works by Segun include Olu and the Broken Statue and Youth Day Parade (1983). Similarly, there were Anezi Okoro’s One Week One Trouble (1972), Kola Onadope’s The Boy Slave (1966) and its sequel The Return of Shettima (1972); and Call me Michael (1981).

 

Teresa Meniru was a notable first generation Children’s writer. Nnolim (1989, p.105) hints thus: “Teresa Meniru has remained from beginning to end, a writer of Children’s books.” Born Teresa Ekwutosi Meniru, her works include: The Carver and the Leopard (1971), The Melting Girl and other Stories (1971), Unoma (1976), Unoma at College (1981), The Drums of Joy (1981) and Footsteps in the Dark (1982).

 

Martina Nwakoby was famous for her A Lucky Chance (1980), Quiz Time (1980), A House Divided (1985) and Ten in the Family (1987). According to Okonkwo in Otukenefor and Nwodo (eds) (1989): “Martina Nwakoby’s fiction is deeply rooted in Nigerian social life.” In the mold of Nwakoby is Helen Ofurum who authored Ijeoma Comes to Stay (1982) and A Welcome for Chijioke, for there is a similarity between Nwakoby’s Chisa in her A Lucky Chance and Chijioke, Ofurum’s hero. Rosemary Uwemedimo, still in the mold of Nwakoby and Ofurum wrote Akpan and the Smugglers (1971) and Boma and His Friends (1977). Mary Okoye in the same vein authored Kukoro-Koo (1980) and Mr Ude’s New Bus, just as Charry Ada Onwu authored Ifeanyi and Obi, One Bad Turn and Catastrophe. Audrey Ajose’s fiction is adventuristic as seen in Yomi’s Adventures (1964) and Yomi in Paris (1966). In this period, Anne Akpabot published Aduke makes her Choice (1966) and Sade and her Friends (1967), and Rose Anizoba wrote The Adventures of Mbugwe the Fog (1965).

 

Remi Adedeji was prolific in the 70s and 80s with the publications of The Fat Woman (1973), Papa Ojo and His Family (1973), It is Time for Stories (1973), Four Stories about the Tortoise (1973), Stories My Mother Told Me, Tunde’s First Day at School (1983) and Moonlight Stories (1986). Unfortunately Adedeji’s works have not received a robust critique commensurate to her productivity. The same goes to Christie Ajayi who published Ade, our Naughty Little Brother (1974), The Old Story Teller (1975), Akin Goes To School

(1978), Alli’s Bicycle (1982), Emeka and His Dog (1982), The Book of Animal Riddles (1982) and Tinu’s Doll.

 

Flora Nwapa too was notable in the 80s for Children’s literature, especially after setting up her own publishing outfit which later transited from Flora Nwapa and Co. to Tana Press, where she published Emeka, Driver’s Guard (1972), Mammywater (1979), Journey to Space (1980), The Miracle Kittens (1980) and The Adventures of Deke (1980). In her mold were Ifeoma Okoye who published Adventures of Tulu, the Little Monkey (1980), Only Bread for Eze (1980), Eme Goes to School (1979), No Supper for Eze (198); Naiwu Oshahon’s Right on Miss Moon (1981), Madam Universe Sent Man (1981), Odu and Onah (1981), The Land of Spirits (1981) and Ada and the Hunchback Child (1981) and Ageu Ada’s Spider’s Land. Mamman Jiya Vatsa started a noble career in Children’s literature (especially poetry) with the publications of Children’s Rhymes (1970), ABC Rhymes (1977), The Bird that Sings for Rain (1977), Children’s Stories and Riddles in Verse (1980) and Arise, Arise My Country (1985), including Stinger the Scorpion (1979) among others. There were also Dayo Ogunniyi’s A New Poetry Book for Primary School (1975); Nathan Nkala’s Mezie the Ogbanje Boy (1985), Nathaniel Okoro’s The Twin Detectives (1979) and Eddie Iroh’s Without A Silver Spoon (1981).

 

Conclusion

 

On the issue of taxonomy, the study has identified two parallels of age and genres to be at its heart. Accordingly, the study acknowledges that age 14 is the age limit of any typical literature for children. Thus, works for ages 15 to 18 may be categorized as Young Adult Literature or Adolescent Literature, a vast area of study in need of diligent research in Nigerian literature. The other component of taxonomy in Children’s literature explored in this chapter is the issue of genres where the study lucidly tabulates a schema consisting of the genres and subgenres of Children’s literature. This gives way to a guided historiography of Children’s literature taken from an inductive and deductive perspective with the purpose of exploring the epochs in the literature. Finally, the paper breaks new grounds by painstakingly embarking on a bibliographical research of first generation Children’s literature writers. In the main, this will help to spur more interest in other generational paradigms.

 

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