I’m
a Dr. Seuss fan, and Richard Scarry books are first rate, and “llama llama red
pajama” gets curtain calls from the kids I know….
Someday
soon I’m going to try this 17th century blockbuster on them:
Orbis Sensualium Pictus (often called
Orbis Pictus) by John Amos Comenius, the pioneering Moravian educator who was one of the earliest advocates of
universal education for boys and girls.
OpenCulture.com mentions that, after its publication in 1658, Orbis Pictus became the most popular elementary textbook in Europe.
It
begins with a sentence that sets the tone for this transparently didactic work:
“Come,
boy, learn to be wise.” It contains about 150 woodcut pictures that
illustrate scenes from everyday life in the late 17th century:
tending gardens, brewing beer, butchering animals, etc. There are lengthy
sections on philosophical and religious themes.
Comenius
wrote this durably spectacular book in Latin. Obviously it was meant to be read
by educated folks who could retell and pass on its guidance for everyday life
and its instruction for the good life.
Maybe
not as much fun as The Cat in the Hat,
but, it was a start.
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