Dick and Jane
Encyclopedia
Dick and Jane were the main characters in popular basal reader
s written by William S. Gray
and Zerna Sharp
and published by Scott Foresman
, that were used to teach children to read from the 1930s through to the 1970s in the United States. There is controversy as to plagiarism of another work, however, with Gray accused of copying Fred Schonell
's similar Dick and Dora readers found in his Happy Venture Playbooks. Gray's main focus was to develop the Curriculum Foundation Series of books for Scott, Foresman and Company. His vision was to tie "subject area" books in health, science, social studies, and arithmetic (each discipline having its own series of graded texts also published by Scott, Foresman and Company) with the vocabulary mastered in the basic readers, thus vastly improving readability in these same areas. The main characters, Dick and Jane, were a little boy and girl. Supporting characters included Baby (or Sally), Mother, Father, Spot (originally a cat in the 1930s but a dog in later editions), Puff the cat, and Tim the teddy bear. They first appeared in the Elson-Gray Readers used in the 1930s which themselves were heavily revised and enlarged editions of the Elson Readers originally produced by William H. Elson in the 1920s. The books relied on the whole word or sight word reading method, (not to be confused with whole language) and repetition, using phrases like, "Oh, see. Oh, see Jane. Funny, funny Jane," but they did not totally ignore phonics
. Phonetic analysis was part of each reading lesson, although not to the degree one would associate with learning to read by pure phonics. For this reason, they came to be used less and less as studies supported phonics as a more effective method of gaining literacy
. . Texts in the primary grades emphasized Learning to Read but in fourth grade and above the focus was Reading to Learn with content becoming very important.
The simple but distinctive illustrations for the books were done by artists Eleanor Campbell and Keith Ward. Robert Childress
did the illustrations during the 1950s. Richard Wiley took over the illustrations in the 1960s, and was the first to include African American characters in the book series.
Black characters and characters from other races and cultures were not introduced until 1965, when Dick and Jane books were already declining in popularity. In 1955 Rudolf Flesch
criticized the Dick and Jane series in his book, Why Johnny Can't Read, and the push for multiculturalism, and stronger presentation of other races and cultures was partially a reaction to the cultural homogeneity of the series.
First editions of the books are now worth as much as two hundred dollars. The books were reissued in 2003 by Grosset & Dunlap
, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) and over 2.5 million copies were sold, but this time the publishers had warned against using them to teach reading to children. Related merchandise, such as shirts and magnets, also gained wide popularity, particularly among people who had never been exposed to the original series but were familiar with catch phrases like "See Spot run!"
The title of one of the books, Fun with Dick and Jane, was used for a 1977 film
and its 2005 remake
.
In the mid-1950s, the texts for grades four, five and six were split into two books each (as was originally the pattern with the lower grades in the series) with the naming pattern adding The New in front of the title for the first book and More in front of the title for the second book in each grade, e.g. The New Days and Deeds and More Days and Deeds.
In the late 1950s, the texts for grades seven and eight were re-packaged into a Basic Reading and Literature series consisting of Book 1 (for seventh grade) and Book 2 (for eighth grade) without any of the contents' changing from the original late 1940s versions. As an alternative to this more literary approach for these two grades, entirely new texts were published with shorter, simpler readings with the titles of Parades and More Parades for the seventh grade and Panoramas and More Panoramas for the eighth grade. Focusing on targeted reading and word attack techniques, a soft-cover workbook Basic Reading Skills was published for the junior high (seventh and/or eighth grade) to be used independently much as the Think And Do books were used in conjunction with the graded texts at the elementary school level. In 1960, Wide Wide World was published for the seventh grade and held a wide range of longer literary selections from authors such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Emily Dickinson and Rudyard Kipling.
In the middle 1960s, the New Basic Readers underwent heavy revision. The books had a larger page size, new updated artwork, some shortened stories from previous editions and a very large portion of new stories. Dick, Jane, and Sally also were a bit older and a bit more sophisticated. Teaching procedures also were slightly different - the vocabulary control was looser and more phonics was added. Helen M. Robinson became the head author. The earliest materials were released in 1962. The 1962 Established edition titles were: We Read Pictures, We Read More Pictures, Before We Read, Sally Dick and Jane, Fun With Our Family, Fun Wherever We Are, Guess Who, Fun With Our Friends, More Fun With Our Friends (All Grade 1), Friends Old and New, More Friends Old and New (grade 2), Roads to Follow, More Roads to Follow (grade 3), Ventures (4), Vistas (5), Cavalcades (6), Dimensions (7), Challenges (8). In 1965, an integrated edition was added as an alternative to the established editions. This multi-ethnic edition changed the title of the 1st and 2nd pre-primers to Now We Read and Fun With the Family to reflect the addition of an African-American family. These three children were Mike, Pam, and Penny. The content of the 1962 edition was somewhat altered to include this new family in the first grade. The other books retained the 1962 titles, yet reflected numerous multi-ethnic groups for those school systems which chose this version. The 1965 edition books were available in two covers- one featuring characters as in previous books and the other a child-art edition which did not feature any characters. Many people refer to this second cover as a "fingerpaint" cover, but the Scott, Foresman catalog listed it as "child-art". The Think-and-Do Book workbooks, which began with the Elson readers of the 1930s as Silent Reading Workbooks, were still very much a part of the 1950s and both editions of the 1960s books.
An experimental ITA (phonetic alphabet) version was launched of the multi-ethnic series in the 60's as well.
In 1966 two companion series were launched from grades one through seven to provide for individual differences – Wide Horizons for advanced readers and Open Highways for below-average readers. Initially the grades were indicated by Book 1, Book 2 and so on, but in later editions each grade had its own title in the series e.g. Rolling Along was the Open Highways book for the first grade, Splendid Journey for the third grade.
There were also Catholic
editions of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s series. Sally, Dick, and Jane was retitled Judy, John, and Jean to reflect the characters who were renamed after Catholic Saint
s. Groups of stories in each book were replaced by Catholic-oriented stories of the saints or portrayed moral choices. Some 1960s levels also hadSeventh-day Adventist
versions: these versions used the 1965 multi-ethnic characters, but retitled the books. For example, Now We Read became Friends to Know, Fun Wherever We Are became Places to Know. Versions with appropriate spelling changes also were published in English in Canada
by W.J. Gage. In lower grades French versions also were issued in the 1950s in Canada
as well as British English versions in paperback in the UK.
Some episodes in the original would certainly raise many eyebrows now; for example, consider the sequence in which the children are given zip-up laundry bags to play with.
Basal reader
Basal readers are textbooks used to teach reading and associated skills to schoolchildren. Commonly called "reading books" or "readers" they are usually published as anthologies that combine previously published short stories, excerpts of longer narratives, and original works...
s written by William S. Gray
William S. Gray
Dr. William S. Gray was an American educator and literacy advocate.-Life and career:Gray was born in the town of Coatsburg, Illinois on June 5, 1885. He graduated from High School in 1904 and began teaching in a one room school house in Adams County, Illinois...
and Zerna Sharp
Zerna Sharp
Zerna Addis Sharp was an U.S. author, writer and teacher. She became known for creating the Dick and Jane beginning readers, and many other readers for children. Sharp noted the reduced reading ability of children during her travels and urged a new reading format for primers...
and published by Scott Foresman
Pearson Scott Foresman
Scott Foresman is an elementary educational publisher for PreK through Grade 6 in all subject areas. It is owned by Pearson Education.-Company history:...
, that were used to teach children to read from the 1930s through to the 1970s in the United States. There is controversy as to plagiarism of another work, however, with Gray accused of copying Fred Schonell
Fred Schonell
Sir Fred Schonell was an Australian educationist, and vice-chancellor of the University of Queensland from 1960 to 1969....
's similar Dick and Dora readers found in his Happy Venture Playbooks. Gray's main focus was to develop the Curriculum Foundation Series of books for Scott, Foresman and Company. His vision was to tie "subject area" books in health, science, social studies, and arithmetic (each discipline having its own series of graded texts also published by Scott, Foresman and Company) with the vocabulary mastered in the basic readers, thus vastly improving readability in these same areas. The main characters, Dick and Jane, were a little boy and girl. Supporting characters included Baby (or Sally), Mother, Father, Spot (originally a cat in the 1930s but a dog in later editions), Puff the cat, and Tim the teddy bear. They first appeared in the Elson-Gray Readers used in the 1930s which themselves were heavily revised and enlarged editions of the Elson Readers originally produced by William H. Elson in the 1920s. The books relied on the whole word or sight word reading method, (not to be confused with whole language) and repetition, using phrases like, "Oh, see. Oh, see Jane. Funny, funny Jane," but they did not totally ignore phonics
Phonics
Phonics refers to a method for teaching speakers of English to read and write that language. Phonics involves teaching how to connect the sounds of spoken English with letters or groups of letters and teaching them to blend the sounds of letters together to produce approximate pronunciations...
. Phonetic analysis was part of each reading lesson, although not to the degree one would associate with learning to read by pure phonics. For this reason, they came to be used less and less as studies supported phonics as a more effective method of gaining literacy
Literacy
Literacy has traditionally been described as the ability to read for knowledge, write coherently and think critically about printed material.Literacy represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from print...
. . Texts in the primary grades emphasized Learning to Read but in fourth grade and above the focus was Reading to Learn with content becoming very important.
The simple but distinctive illustrations for the books were done by artists Eleanor Campbell and Keith Ward. Robert Childress
Robert Childress
Illustrator Robert Childress is known for his work in the classic Dick and Jane books for children. He used his wife and children as models for some of the characters.He studied architecture at Clemson University, graduating in 1936...
did the illustrations during the 1950s. Richard Wiley took over the illustrations in the 1960s, and was the first to include African American characters in the book series.
Black characters and characters from other races and cultures were not introduced until 1965, when Dick and Jane books were already declining in popularity. In 1955 Rudolf Flesch
Rudolf Flesch
Rudolf Flesch was an author , and also a readability expert and writing consultant who was a vigorous proponent of plain English in the United States. He created the Flesch Reading Ease test and was co-creator of the Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test...
criticized the Dick and Jane series in his book, Why Johnny Can't Read, and the push for multiculturalism, and stronger presentation of other races and cultures was partially a reaction to the cultural homogeneity of the series.
First editions of the books are now worth as much as two hundred dollars. The books were reissued in 2003 by Grosset & Dunlap
Grosset & Dunlap
Grosset & Dunlap is a United States book publisher founded in 1898.The company was purchased by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1982 and today is part of the British publishing conglomerate, Pearson PLC through its American subsidiary Penguin Group....
, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) and over 2.5 million copies were sold, but this time the publishers had warned against using them to teach reading to children. Related merchandise, such as shirts and magnets, also gained wide popularity, particularly among people who had never been exposed to the original series but were familiar with catch phrases like "See Spot run!"
The title of one of the books, Fun with Dick and Jane, was used for a 1977 film
Fun with Dick and Jane (1977 film)
Fun with Dick and Jane is a 1977 American film starring George Segal and Jane Fonda as an upper-middle-class couple who lose their jobs, fall through the cracks of society in the United States and then become high-class thieves to get back all they lost. The comedy was directed by Ted Kotcheff and...
and its 2005 remake
Fun with Dick and Jane (2005 film)
Fun with Dick and Jane is a 2005 remake of the 1977 American comedy film of the same name, directed by Dean Parisot and written by Judd Apatow and Nicholas Stoller. It stars Jim Carrey and Téa Leoni as Dick and Jane Harper, an upper-middle-class couple who resort to robbery after the company for...
.
Grade levels
- Grade 1 - Before We Read, We Look and See, We Work and Play, We Come and Go, Guess Who, Fun with Dick and Jane and Our New Friends
- Grade 2 - Friends and Neighbors and More Friends and Neighbors
- Grade 3 - Streets and Roads and More Streets and Roads
- Grade 4 - Times and Places
- Grade 5 - Days and Deeds
- Grade 6 - People and Progress
- Grade 7 - Paths and Pathfinders
- Grade 8 - Wonders and Workers
- Transitional 3/4 - Just Imagine
In the mid-1950s, the texts for grades four, five and six were split into two books each (as was originally the pattern with the lower grades in the series) with the naming pattern adding The New in front of the title for the first book and More in front of the title for the second book in each grade, e.g. The New Days and Deeds and More Days and Deeds.
In the late 1950s, the texts for grades seven and eight were re-packaged into a Basic Reading and Literature series consisting of Book 1 (for seventh grade) and Book 2 (for eighth grade) without any of the contents' changing from the original late 1940s versions. As an alternative to this more literary approach for these two grades, entirely new texts were published with shorter, simpler readings with the titles of Parades and More Parades for the seventh grade and Panoramas and More Panoramas for the eighth grade. Focusing on targeted reading and word attack techniques, a soft-cover workbook Basic Reading Skills was published for the junior high (seventh and/or eighth grade) to be used independently much as the Think And Do books were used in conjunction with the graded texts at the elementary school level. In 1960, Wide Wide World was published for the seventh grade and held a wide range of longer literary selections from authors such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Emily Dickinson and Rudyard Kipling.
In the middle 1960s, the New Basic Readers underwent heavy revision. The books had a larger page size, new updated artwork, some shortened stories from previous editions and a very large portion of new stories. Dick, Jane, and Sally also were a bit older and a bit more sophisticated. Teaching procedures also were slightly different - the vocabulary control was looser and more phonics was added. Helen M. Robinson became the head author. The earliest materials were released in 1962. The 1962 Established edition titles were: We Read Pictures, We Read More Pictures, Before We Read, Sally Dick and Jane, Fun With Our Family, Fun Wherever We Are, Guess Who, Fun With Our Friends, More Fun With Our Friends (All Grade 1), Friends Old and New, More Friends Old and New (grade 2), Roads to Follow, More Roads to Follow (grade 3), Ventures (4), Vistas (5), Cavalcades (6), Dimensions (7), Challenges (8). In 1965, an integrated edition was added as an alternative to the established editions. This multi-ethnic edition changed the title of the 1st and 2nd pre-primers to Now We Read and Fun With the Family to reflect the addition of an African-American family. These three children were Mike, Pam, and Penny. The content of the 1962 edition was somewhat altered to include this new family in the first grade. The other books retained the 1962 titles, yet reflected numerous multi-ethnic groups for those school systems which chose this version. The 1965 edition books were available in two covers- one featuring characters as in previous books and the other a child-art edition which did not feature any characters. Many people refer to this second cover as a "fingerpaint" cover, but the Scott, Foresman catalog listed it as "child-art". The Think-and-Do Book workbooks, which began with the Elson readers of the 1930s as Silent Reading Workbooks, were still very much a part of the 1950s and both editions of the 1960s books.
An experimental ITA (phonetic alphabet) version was launched of the multi-ethnic series in the 60's as well.
In 1966 two companion series were launched from grades one through seven to provide for individual differences – Wide Horizons for advanced readers and Open Highways for below-average readers. Initially the grades were indicated by Book 1, Book 2 and so on, but in later editions each grade had its own title in the series e.g. Rolling Along was the Open Highways book for the first grade, Splendid Journey for the third grade.
There were also Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
editions of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s series. Sally, Dick, and Jane was retitled Judy, John, and Jean to reflect the characters who were renamed after Catholic Saint
Saint
A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...
s. Groups of stories in each book were replaced by Catholic-oriented stories of the saints or portrayed moral choices. Some 1960s levels also hadSeventh-day Adventist
Seventh-day Adventist Church
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...
versions: these versions used the 1965 multi-ethnic characters, but retitled the books. For example, Now We Read became Friends to Know, Fun Wherever We Are became Places to Know. Versions with appropriate spelling changes also were published in English in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
by W.J. Gage. In lower grades French versions also were issued in the 1950s in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
as well as British English versions in paperback in the UK.
Some episodes in the original would certainly raise many eyebrows now; for example, consider the sequence in which the children are given zip-up laundry bags to play with.
Popular culture
- The title of the film Fun with Dick and JaneFun with Dick and Jane (1977 film)Fun with Dick and Jane is a 1977 American film starring George Segal and Jane Fonda as an upper-middle-class couple who lose their jobs, fall through the cracks of society in the United States and then become high-class thieves to get back all they lost. The comedy was directed by Ted Kotcheff and...
(and its remakeFun with Dick and Jane (2005 film)Fun with Dick and Jane is a 2005 remake of the 1977 American comedy film of the same name, directed by Dean Parisot and written by Judd Apatow and Nicholas Stoller. It stars Jim Carrey and Téa Leoni as Dick and Jane Harper, an upper-middle-class couple who resort to robbery after the company for...
) is a reference to the Grade 1 title of the book series. - A PBS children's television seriesChildren's television seriesChildren's television series, are commercial television programs designed for, and marketed to children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run in the early evening, for the children that go to school...
called Between the LionsBetween the LionsBetween the Lions is a PBS Kids' puppet show designed to promote reading. The show is a co-production between WGBH in Boston and Sirius Thinking, Ltd., in New York City, in association with Mississippi Public Broadcasting, in Mississippi. The show has won seven Daytime Emmy awards between 2001 and...
does a parodyParodyA parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of the books entitled Fun with Chicken Jane - In the SimpsonsThe SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
episode "They Saved Lisa's BrainThey Saved Lisa's Brain"They Saved Lisa's Brain" is the twenty-second episode of The Simpsons tenth season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 9, 1999. After writing a thoughtful letter to the Springfield Shopper, Lisa is invited to join the Springfield chapter of Mensa...
", the Comic Book Guy's t-shirt reads "C:/DOS C:/DOS/RUN RUN/DOS/RUN", similar to the catch phrases in the book series. - Many TargetTarget CorporationTarget Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...
commercials featuring target dog included the phrase 'see spot save', a take on of the famous 'see spot run.' - In the Disney animated feature film TarzanTarzan (1999 film)Tarzan is a 1999 American animated feature film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures on June 18, 1999...
one sequence set to music features a book with a page that says "See Jane, See Jane Run." - The book The Bluest EyeThe Bluest EyeThe Bluest Eye is a 1970 novel by American author Toni Morrison. It is Morrison's first novel, written while Morrison was teaching at Howard University and was raising her two sons on her own. The story is about a year in the life of a young black girl in Lorain, Ohio, named Pecola...
uses a Dick-and-Jane narrative in the beginning. - In a Calvin and HobbesCalvin and HobbesCalvin and Hobbes is a syndicated daily comic strip that was written and illustrated by American cartoonist Bill Watterson, and syndicated from November 18, 1985, to December 31, 1995. It follows the humorous antics of Calvin, a precocious and adventurous six-year-old boy, and Hobbes, his...
cartoon Calvin wrote a book report with the title "The Dynamics of Interbeing and Monological Imperatives in Dick and Jane: A Study in Psychic Transrelational Gender Modes."
See also
- Ant & BeeAnt & BeeThe Ant and Bee stories were a collection of small format hardback books produced in the United Kingdom in the 1960s and 1970s. They were reprinted by Trafalgar Square Publishing in the late 1980s and early 1990s. They were designed to teach pre-school children about the alphabet, shapes and colours...
- Janet and JohnJanet and JohnJanet and John are the main characters in a series of reading books for children aged 4–7 years.-Origin:Originally, these stories were published by Row Peterson and Company as the Alice and Jerry books in the USA....
- Peter and JanePeter and JaneThe Key Words Reading Scheme is a series of 36 English language early readers children's books, published by the British publishing company, Ladybird Books...
- Janet and MarkJanet and MarkJanet and Mark were a series of basic reading books from Harper and Row first published in 1966. They were not unlike the early Dick and Jane series...