ABSTRACT
Numerous magazines also appeared during this period, although their lives were oen short. e most signicant developments in reading material for the young were, however, the shi in emphasis from text to image and the rise of the illustrated paper and comic book, which soon came to dominate the market. With this innovation the artistic and educational formulas that had become entrenched in the expectations of the middle-class purchasers of children’s books were set to change dramatically.5 e 1920s and 1930s saw the beginnings of changes that heralded a more fertile and innovative period in the production of reading material for the young. However, production was once more interrupted by the Second World War, in which the material problems and diculties in distribution were exacerbated by the presence of the German occupying forces in half of the country, including Paris, and the consequent requisitioning or displacement of some publishing rms.6 is chapter looks rst at some examples of the narrative genres surviving into the twentieth century, the measures taken to revive children’s literature with the development of new publishing strategies and new forms of narrative, and the impact of the two world wars on the development of children’s books. Chapter 6 will consider the role taken by the image in books for the young, including the rise of the picture book, the illustrated paper, and the bande dessinée in the twentieth century.
