Learning how to Feel

This insightful work explores how children's literature has historically served as a crucial emotional education tool, tracing the ways reading materials have taught young people to navigate feelings across different eras. The book examines how emotional learning was shaped by shifting social norms, political movements, and cultural transformations, revealing how stories became vehicles for developing emotional intelligence long before the term became popular. Through careful analysis of historical texts, it demonstrates how generations of children learned to interpret and manage their inner lives through the pages they read.

What makes this study particularly compelling is its focus on how emotional education was intertwined with nation-building, citizenship formation, and moral development, showing how feelings were never just personal but always political. Readers interested in the history of childhood, education, or emotional intelligence will find rich material here about how society shapes our most intimate experiences. The book ultimately reveals that learning to feel was never just about individual growth but about creating particular kinds of subjects, citizens, and moral beings through the subtle power of stories.