ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the problematic situation of the Polish canon of children’s literature from a historical and educational perspective. It identifies three important and violent turning points in the history of Polish culture: the regaining of independence in 1918, the proclamation of the People’s Republic of Poland in 1945 and the end of communism in 1989. By comparing three Polish canons – from the interwar period, from the communist time and the present – the first part of the chapter highlights how these canons affected the development of the Polish literary system. The second part emphasizes the changes in Polish school education after 1999 which raised questions about the attitude towards the historical past and the future on the one hand, and the aims of canonical children’s literature on the other.
