John Newbery: the first of a kind

Today's quote, some history on children literature:

John Newbery expanded upon that meager foundation and established it solidly in the publishing world with the 1744 printing of A Little Pretty Pocket Book generally recognized as the first children's book written primarily for youngsters' enjoyment. In 1759 and 1761 he again stressed the importance of entertainment, this time through two nonfiction works, A Pretty Book of Pictures for Little Masters and Misses; or, Tommy Trip's History of Birds and Beasts; with a familiar Description of each in Verse and Prose, and The Newtonian System of Philosophy, adapted to the Capacities of Young Gentlemen and Ladies, and familiarized and made entertaining by Objects with which they are intimately acquainted. Newbery, however important historically, remained a lone figure in children's literature in the eighteenth century.-

 Abrahamson, Richard F, and Betty Carter. “What We Know About Nonfiction and Young Adult Readers and What We Need to Do About It.” Publishing Research Quarterly Spring (1992) : 41-54. Print.

So, that's where the Newbery medal, awarded annually by the American Library Association for the most distinguished American children's book published the previous year, got its name from.

Yet again, it's important to note that Newbery worked according his own philosophy of the bussiness very early on: one where the material was conceived as entertainment and enjoyement (as the quote says) and not as education as exclusive goal.
I like this guy.