{"product_id":"the-education-of-things-elizabeth-massa-hoiem-9781625347565","title":"The Education of Things: Mechanical Literacy in British Children's Literature, 1762-1860","description":"\u003cp\u003e By the close of the eighteenth century, learning to read and write became closely associated with learning about the material world, and a vast array of games and books from the era taught children how to comprehend the physical world of \"things.\" Examining a diverse archive of popular science books, primers, grammars, toys, manufacturing books, automata, and literature from Maria Edgeworth, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Anna Letitia Barbauld, \u003ci\u003eThe Education of Things\u003c\/i\u003e attests that material culture has long been central to children's literature. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Elizabeth Massa Hoiem argues that the combination of reading and writing with manual tinkering and scientific observation promoted in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Britain produced new forms of \"mechanical literacy,\" competencies that were essential in an industrial era. As work was repositioned as play, wealthy children were encouraged to do tasks in the classroom that poor children performed for wages, while working-class children honed skills that would be crucial to their social advancement as adults. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Elizabeth Massa Hoiem\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1625347561\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781625347565\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Massachusetts Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/29\/2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 328\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.27lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.06h x 6.06w x 1.02d","brand":"Elizabeth Massa Hoiem","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44616568668415,"sku":"9781625347565","price":99.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_28903e02-018a-4396-8370-f4dfd3405116.jpg?v=1703021059","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-education-of-things-elizabeth-massa-hoiem-9781625347565","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}