- President of the Chamber of Deputies Laura Boldrini Legislature Parliament - Upper house Senate of the Republic

dark grey)– in the European Union  (green)  –  [Legend]
Location of  Italy  (dark green)
– in Europe  (green & dark grey)
– in the European Union  (green)  –  [Legend]
Capital
and largest city    Blason ville it Rome.svg Rome
41°54′N 12°29′E
Official languages    Italiana
Demonym    Italian
Government    Unitary parliamentary constitutional republic
 -     President    Giorgio Napolitano
 -     Prime Minister    Enrico Letta
 -     President of
the Senate    Pietro Grasso
 -     President of the Chamber of Deputies    Laura Boldrini
Legislature    Parliament
 -     Upper house    Senate of the Republic
 -     Lower house    Chamber of Deputies
Formation
 -     Unification    17 March 1861
 -     Republic    2 June 1946
Area
 -     Total    301,338 km2 (72nd)
116,347 sq mi
 -     Water (%)    2.4
Population
 -     2012 estimate    59,685,227[1] (23rd)
 -     2011 census    59,433,744[2] (23rd)
 -     Density    197.7/km2 (63rd)
511.6/sq mi
GDP (PPP)    2013 estimate
 -     Total    $1.805 trillion[3] (11th)
 -     Per capita    $29,598[3] (34th)
GDP (nominal)    2013 estimate
 -     Total    $2.068 trillion[3] (9th)
 -     Per capita    $33,909[3] (27th)
Gini (2011)    31.9[4]
medium
HDI (2013)    Increase 0.881[5]

n ages 7–9. Longer chapter books, appropriate for children ages 9–12. Young-adult fiction, appropriate for childre

The criteria for these divisions are vague, and books near a borderline may be classified either way. Books for younger children tend to be written in simple language, use large print, and have many illustrations. Books for older children use increasingly complex language, normal print, and fewer (if any) illustrations. The categories with an age range are listed below:
Picture books, appropriate for pre-readers or children ages 0–5.
Early reader books, appropriate for children ages 5–7. These books are often designed to help a child build his or her reading skills.
Chapter book, appropriate for children ages 7–12.
Short chapter books, appropriate for children ages 7–9.
Longer chapter books, appropriate for children ages 9–12.
Young-adult fiction, appropriate for children ages 12–18.
Illustration[edit]

Pictures have always accompanied children's stories.[8]:320 A papyrus from Byzantine Egypt, shows illustrations accompanied by the story of Hercules' labors.[39] Modern children's books are illustrated in a way that is rarely seen in adult literature, except in graphic novels. Generally, artwork plays a greater role in books intended for younger readers (especially pre-literate children). Children's picture books often serve as an accessible source of high quality art for young children. Even after children learn to read well enough to enjoy a story without illustrations, they continue to appreciate the occasional drawings found in chapter books.


A late 18th-century reprint of Orbis Pictus by Comenius, the first children's picture book.
According to Joyce Whalley in The International Companion Encyclopedia of Children's Literature, "an illustrated book differs from a book with illustrations in that a good illustrated book is one where the pictures enhance or add depth to the text."[1]:221 Using this definition, the first illustrated children's book is considered to be Orbis Pictus which was published in 1658 by the Moravian author Comenius. Acting as a kind of encyclopedia,Orbis Pictus had a picture on every page, followed by the name of the object in Latin and German. It was translated into English in 1659 and was used in homes and schools around Europe and Great Britain for years.[1]:220
Early children's books, such as Orbis Pictus, were illustrated by woodcut, and many times the same image was repeated in a number of books regardless of how appropriate the illustration was for the story.[8]:322 Newer processes, including copper and steel engraving were first used in the 1830s. One of the first uses of Chromolithography (a way of making multi-colored prints) in a children's b

ney for schools and libraries to buy science and math books and the non-fiction book market "seemed to materialize overnight".[1]:482

The Story of Mankind by Hendrik van Loon, 1st Newbery Award winner
The American Library Association began awarding the Newbery Medal, the first children's book award in the world, in 1922.[34] The Caldecott Medal for illustration followed in 1938.[35] The first book by Laura Ingalls Wilder about her life on the American frontier, Little House in the Big Woods appeared in 1932.[20]:471 In 1937 Dr. Seuss published his first book, entitled, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. The young adult book market developed during this period, thanks to sports books by popular writer John R. Tunis', the novel Seventeenth Summer by Maureen Daly, and the "Sue Barton" nurse book series by Helen Dore Boylston.[36]:11
The already vigorous growth in children's books became a boom in the 1950s and children's publishing became big business.[1]:481 In 1952, American journalist E. B. White published Charlotte's Web, which was described as "one of the very few books for young children that face, squarely, the subject of death".[20]:467 Maurice Sendak illustrated more than two dozen books during the decade, which established him as an innovator in book illustration.[1]:481 The Sputnik crisis, that began in 1957, provided increased interest and government money for schools and libraries to buy science and math books and the non-fiction book market "seemed to materialize overnight".[1]:482
Russia and USSR[edit]
In Russia, Russian folk tales were introduced to children by Aleksandr Afanasyev in his children's edition of his eight-volume Russian Folk Tales in 1871. By the 1860s, literary realism and non-fiction dominated children's literature. More schools were started, using books by writers like Konstantin Ushinsky and Leo Tolstoy, whose Russian Reader included an assortment of stories, fairy tales, and fables. Books written specifically for girls developed in the 1870s and 1880s. Publisher and journalist Evgenia Tur wrote about the daughters of well-to-do landowners, while Aleksandra Annenskaya's stories told of middle-class girls working to support themselves. Vera Zhelikhovsky, Elizaveta Kondrashova, and Nadezhda Lukhmanova also wrote for girls during this period.[1]:767
Children's non-fiction gained great importance in Russia at the beginning of the century. A ten-volume children's encyclopedia was published between 1913 and 1914. Vasily Avenarius wrote fictionalized biographies of important people like Nikolai Gogol and Alexander Pushkin around the same time, and scientists wrote for books and magazines for children. Children's magazines flourished, and by the end of the century there were 61. Lidia Charskaya and Klavdiya Lukashevich continued the popularity of girls' fiction. Realism took a gloomy turn by frequently showing the maltreatment of children from lower classes. The most popular boys' material was Sherlock Holmes, and similar stories from detective magazines.[1]:768
The state took control of children's literature during the October Revolution. Maksim Gorky edited the first children's, Northern Lights, under Soviet rule. People often label the 1920s as the Golden Age of Children's Literature in Russia.[1]:769 Samuil Marshak led that literary decade as the "founder of (Soviet) children's literature".[37]:193 As head of the children's section of the State Publishing House and editor of several children's magazines, Marshak exercised enormous influence by[37]:192–193 re