A History Of Children’s Literature In The Philippines

Note: This piece by Maria Elena Paterno explores the history of Philippine children's literature. This is an excerpt from the book, Bumasa at Lumaya: A Sourcebook on Children's Literature in the Philippines.

Traditionally, children’s literature includes picture books, poems, short stories, plays, or novels written for children. The development of other media such as film, comic books, radio, television, and computer multi-media software and their popularity with children has expanded this original definition. Today, children’s literature refers to anything written and produced to suit the particular needs of a child audience. 

It is the only genre that is defined by its audience, and its categories read very much like the categories of adult literature: short story, novel, drama, poetry. The Picture Book used to be the only category of children’s literature that was exclusive to the genre, although in recent times, picture books (and even pop-up books) for  adult readers have come into vogue. 

Contrary to popular belief, folklore was not originally meant to be exclusively for children. Through the years, however, in the search for material to be published as children’s literature, folktales and legends have been retold. In their retelling, however, these were often censored, edited, sometimes even sanitized to suit the perceived needs of the child-audience at the time. 

The children’s story is often an oral experience. In this it is perhaps closest of all other genres to the oral tradition of literature. For what apparent difference is there, apart from the distance of hundreds of years, between the contemporary situation of a father telling a story to his son or daughter and that of the storyteller reciting tales to his tribal audience? 

Among indigenous Filipinos, not much of the literature was tailored specifically for the child. Mothers sang lullabies as they rocked their babies to sleep, and children traded riddles and sang at play. But when people gathered around a storyteller, it was a mixed audience of children and adults. There was no distinction, then, between the story for the child and the story for the adult. 

The coming of the Spaniards and a formal educational system did little to change this. Reading was taught through a syllabary, the caton, which also contained illustrated sentences, prayers and catechism. In a study of books for children in the Philippines from 1866-1945, Morton Netzorg concludes that there is “little evidence that children in the Philippines had reading matter intended to amuse as well as instruct.” (Netzorg 1985: p.5) 

Most reading material for children was imported from Europe. One book popular then was entitled El Amigo de Los Niños and contained the now famous fable of the moth and the flame that Rizal’s mother told to him when he was a child. 

Rizal himself retold stories for children between the years 1885-1890, while in Europe to study medicine and while writing the Noli Me Tangere. In October 1886, he completed the translation into Tagalog of five fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen. The manuscript was written and illustrated in his own hand, bound in leather and sent home, with a dedication to his nephews and nieces. Its audience was limited to the Rizal family until 1954, when it was published. 

In May 1889, “Specimens of Tagalog Folklore“ containing samples of Tagalog proverbs, puzzles and verses in both Tagalog and English was published in Trubner’s Oriental Record, a London journal. In July of the same year, a retelling of the folktale of the Monkey and the Tortoise, with illustrations by Rizal, was published in the same journal. Rizal also retold the legend of Mariang Makiling, published in the December 31 issue of La Solidaridad. 

The first decade of the new century brought a commitment of the USA, the new colonizer, to a more democratic system of primary instruction. The textbooks used in the classroom, the Baldwin Readers, were brought in from America and taught Filipinos that “A is for Apple.” It was replaced by the Insular Readers, written for Filipinos with Filipino characters and settings, but used to transmit American values to Filipino children. 

Pepe and Pilar (1930s) was a more successful attempt at “filipinizing” the content of beginning reading textbooks. Earlier, Camilo Osias adapted stories from all over the world and collected them in The Philippine Readers Series (1922-1934) with illustrations by Fernando Amorsolo. Like Pepe and Pilar, the Osias Readers were popular in schools all over the country. Still, they were textbooks, whose primary purpose was instruction rather than enjoyment, and they had little life outside the 

classroom. 

The prevailing idea of children’s literature at the time seems to have been as a vehicle for teaching or transmission of concepts, knowledge, and values. This conception of the children’s story may be the root of much of the didacticism that is associated with children’s literature. Luckily, a break from this traditional conception occurred in the early part of the century, with a series in a popular magazine called “Ang Mga Kuwento Ni Lola Basyang.” 

On May 25, 1925, Severino Reyes published his first story for children in Liwayway magazine under the pen name “Lola Basyang”. It was the first of about 400 stories written for each issue of the magazine, many of them retelling folktales or classics from other parts of the world. As the series title implied, many of the stories were familiar in tone, similar to the kind a child would hear from his grandmother. 

Many of the stories and books published for children in the years that followed, from post-war years to the 1960s, were collections of Filipino folklore. Iisang Daigdig (Daigdig ng Himala) (1949) by Juan C. Laya contained stories adapted mostly from awit and korido, and retold in prose. Once Upon A Time (1952) by Juan C. Laya and Emiliano C. Ramirez (1952), Tales of Long Ago in the Philippines (1953) by Maximo Ramos, Philippine Tales and Fables (1957) by Manuel and Lyd Arguilla, and Tales From the Mountain Province (1958) by I.V. Mallari were all retellings of Filipino folktales. 

The decade of the 60s marks the beginning of a conscious effort to create and produce a distinct body of literature for Filipino children. Ceres Alabado began the decade with the publication of The Little Lizard and Other Stories (1960). With a group of civic community leaders, she formed Pamana, which encouraged the writing of books for children with a yearly short story contest. Pamana also financed the publication of winning entries. 

The Pamana collection displays a variety of themes and concerns. It includes such stories as Makisig, the Little Hero of Mactan (1964) by Gemma Cruz, a story of a boy who warns his village of the arrival of the Spanish galleons and participates in Lapu-Lapu’s victory over Magellan. Horgle and the King’s Soup (1965) by Gilda Cordero Fernando is a fantasy in which a flying horse helps change a king’s evil ways by having him meet a kind lady monster. Once Upon A Hilltop (1968) by Isabel Taylor Escoda is based on archeological diggings at Santa Ana Church and tells about a friendship between a child and a dog that lasts until death. 

Even as she was encouraging the development of stories for children, Ceres Alabado continued to write and publish her own books. As an extension of her concern for the development of a distinctly Filipino children’s literature, she produced several short novels for young adults, among them Asog (1969) and I See Red In A Circle (1973). The earlier work presents the problem of leprosy and the role of science in rural areas. It is a narrative of a courageous little boy named Mariano who investigates the mystery of Mt. Asog. Another book, Kangkong 1896, (1969) is an intimate first-person account of the Philippine Revolution seen through the eyes of a young boy. The Rattan Gatherer (1975) is the story of an Aeta boy from Zambales who helps his parents support the family. 

On the initiative of Mrs. Alabado, who believed that every Filipino child should have access to books about his own culture written for him by his own countrymen, and that the main stumbling block to children’s book publishing was distribution, the Children’s Literature Association of the Philippines, Inc. (CLAPI) was organized in 1966. Membership was composed mainly of teachers and librarians. CLAPI has since then remained active in the promotion and propagation of Philippine children’s literature with its various conference-workshops in the regions and with the launching of Project Binhi—the establishment of children’s sections in public libraries. 

Also in the 1960s, one of the leading book publishers, Bookmark, experimented with children’s books, among them a picture book called Toby And The Christmas Bell by a young author named Marla Yotoko. But a combination of factors, among them the availability of inexpensive, imported books and a lack of awareness of the buying public forced the discontinuance of the children’s book line. Another attempt at an illustrated children’s book was Bert Florentino’s publication of Jose Garcia Villa’s Mirinisa and Other Stories. The stirrings of nationalism in the early 1970s opened an awareness of the importance of books and stories that played up Filipino values and traditions. In 1974, the Philippine Appliance Corporation (Philacor) sponsored the publication of a book series called The Young People’s Library. Its list of titles includes: Filipino Rites and Rituals, Filipino Myths and Legends, Games Filipino Children Play, Profiles In Achievement, Pagdiriwang I, Pagdiriwang II, and Filipino Arts and Crafts. The books were lavishly illustrated, printed in full color and hardbound. 

Also in the early 1970s New Day Publishers began a line of small affordable books for children. Titles include My Friends and The Haunted Cave by T. M. Zuniega, a five-book series called Tales of a Japanese Grandmother by Jean Edades and Yasuko Hashimoto, Philippine Folk Fiction and Tales by Teresita Veloso Pil, and Mandaya and Mansaka Tales by Vilma May Fuentes. 

In 1976, playwright Amelia Lapeña Bonifacio published Anim na Dulang Pilipino Para Sa Mga Bata, with illustrations by her six-year old daughter. The plays were influenced by observations of traditional Asian theater techniques. In the next year, Lapeña Bonifacio wrote and directed Abadeja: Ang Ating Sinderela, a full-length puppet play. This also marked the beginning of Teatro Mulat Ng Pilipinas, a children’s theater troupe. Since then, Amelia Lapeña Bonifacio has written and directed many other plays for children, most of them based on Asian folktales. 

In 1977, the Nutrition Center of the Philippines initiated a children’s book development project as part of its mental feeding program. Headed by poet-critic Virgilio Almario, the book project, called Aklat Adarna, started out with the aim of developing a Filipino consciousness by producing and marketing inexpensive books for Filipino children. Within a year’s time, the first 15 titles were introduced to the market. 

The Adarna books differed from all previous attempts at children’s book production by studying the needs of its readership and deriving from the study suggestions on themes and plots for stories and illustrations. The books were also distributed through a government network and therefore went almost directly to their audience. By 1980, the increase in volume of the Aklat Adarna books had prompted the establishment of the Children’s Communication Center to act as a resource, development, and production center for children’s materials. 

The Children’s Communication Center has published over 150 titles targeted at an audience with ages ranging from 3 to 10 years. There are eight subseries: Aklat Ng Karanasan, Aklat Ng Tahanan, Aklat Ng Aliw, Aklat Ng Lahi, Aklat Ng Kasaysayan, Aklat Ng Bayani, Aklat Ng Karunungan, and Aklat Ng Salin. Printed on newsprint and therefore in limited colors, the Aklat Adarna series is nonetheless clever and imaginative, with a light fresh approach to the teaching of Filipino values, often with amusing insights on the Filipino way of life. It also made the children’s book more accessible to many families, thus establishing the beginnings of a real Filipino children’s book market. 

Crucial also to the development of Filipino children’s literature was the training and exposure provided by Aklat Adarna to writers and illustrators who would later become notable personalities in the field: Rene Villanueva, Gloria Villaraza Guzman, Jess Abrera Jr., Ibarra Crisostomo, and Albert Gamos, among others. 

The Philippine Board on Books for Young People (PBBY) was established in 1983 to encourage the development and distribution of books for children, the development of children’s libraries, and the training of those involved in children’s literature. The founding members were Carol L. Afan, Larry Alcala, Virgilio Almario, Angelica Cabañero, Lucrecia Kasilag, Cristina Lim-Yuson, Linda Ma. Nietes, Serafin Quiason, Gloria Rodriguez, the late Alfrredo N. Salanga, and Renato Villanueva. Through the Board’s efforts, the third Tuesday of July was proclaimed National Children’s Book Day. It is still celebrated in schools across the nation. 

One of the important activities of the PBBY has been to sponsor a yearly competition for writers and illustrators of children’s books. The Illustrator’s Prize was first awarded in 1984, and the Writer’s Prize, later renamed the Alfrredo Navarro Salanga Award, was first awarded in 1985. 

Other institutions took up the cause. In 1982 to 1983, Mr. and Ms. magazine sponsored a writing contest for short stories for children in English and Filipino. The stories were printed in the magazine, and the ten best works of the these two years were selected. 

Other significant events occurred during the decade of the 80s to promote the development of children’s literature in the country. The first was the production of a Filipino version of the popular American children’s television show Sesame Street, called Calle Sesame, in 1983. Calle Sesame was practically a clone of its U.S. counterpart, with only minor changes and concessions to its Filipino child audience. A year later, this was replaced by a show with similar objectives and formatting, but with a more definite Filipino identity, as evident in the puppets used and in the distinctly Filipino setting. The name of the show was changed to Batibot, and slowly the format and theme of the television show grew away from Sesame Street, until it achieved an identity of its own. 

Batibot and other children’s television shows might be credited with helping to develop an audience (and therefore a market) for children’s literature in the country. Many shows include a storytelling segment that features folktales, or teach preliteracy and beginning literacy skills. But perhaps their greatest contribution to the development of children’s literature in the Philippines is the promotion of a greater awareness of alternative means of education, namely, the idea that education is not confined to the classroom but can take place at home — with a television show, or with books and stories. 

Even academe had begun to take notice of children’s literature. The Creative Writing Center at the University of the Philippines, Diliman, sponsored its first summer workshop on writing for children in 1983. Another workshop was held in 1989. 

The latter half of the 1980s marks the beginning of legitimacy for children’s literature in the Philippines. Writing awards and writing workshops encouraged many to produce more works for children. Perhaps more importantly, leading publishers began children’s book lines for folk tales or original stories for children. 

The Cultural Center of the Philippines also supported the production of literature for children and continues to do so until today. It hosts and co-sponsors the PBBY Awards and in 1989 devoted an issue of Ani, its literary journal, to children’s literature. The issue was edited by Rene Villanueva and Karina Bolasco. The CCP has also established a children’s literature category in its Creative Writing Grants Program. 

In 1989, the Palanca Foundation opened a new category in its highly prestigious annual literary competition: the Short Story for Children, in both English and Filipino. Early winners of the Palanca Awards in this category include Rene Villanueva, Ramón Sunico, Maria Elena Paterno, Jaime An Lim, Alfred Yuson among others. 

The new decade promised much development in the field of children’s literature, with a conscious effort at integration of the knowledge gained in all areas of book production — writing, design, illustration, and marketing. 

In November of 1989 the Goethe Institut, in cooperation with the Children’s Communication Center, sponsored a workshop on children’s book design and illustration. The winner in a competition among the workshop participants was published in an impressive volume entitled Manik Buangsi with story by Virgilio Almario and illustrations by Albert Gamos. Two years later, a similar workshop with the German illustrator Reinhard Michl as resource person resulted in the formation of a group of children’s book illustrators called Ilustrador Ng Kabataan (INK). Members include Joanne de León, Robert Alejandro, Mel Silvestre, Felix Miguel, and others. The group has held exhibits of the members’ work and either participated in or sponsored workshops on book design and illustration, the most recent being a well-attended exhibit at the Shangri-La EDSA Plaza Mall (1994) and a workshop (UP College of Fine Arts, 1993) with the most famous expatriate Filipino illustrator, Jose Aruego, a recognized figure in the American children’s book industry. 

Also in the beginning of this decade, three publishing companies began to produce Filipino children’s books and market them. In 1990, Bookmark launched its Filipino Folktale series with three titles by Marla Yotoko Chorengel, The First Cashew Nut (ill. by Beth Parrocha), Why the Sky is High (ill. by Bernie Solina), and Bathala and the Gift of Rice (ill. by Ibarra Crisostomo). The books are handsome volumes, beautifully illustrated and in full color, and this time, it seemed, people were ready to buy them. Two more titles were released the following year. 

The Filipino Folktale series is Bookmark’s flagship series for children’s literature, planned in response to a general complaint from parents and educators that there was no Filipino children’s book that could compare with western counterparts. 

Bookmark also experimented with narrative poetry for adolescent and pre-adolescent readers with The Unicorn (1992) and Chun (1993) by Marivi Soliven. Both are original works, with The Unicorn tackling the theme of growing up and leaving behind “childish” things and Chun focusing on the issue of racial discrimination through the eyes of a child. 

Cacho Publishing House Inc. began its children’s book line with a cooperative effort with Batibot, the children’s television show. In 1990, it launched six titles that had the advantage of recall by parents and recognition by children since these stories first appeared in the story segment of the televisions show. The Aklat Batibot are thin and inexpensive books with soft covers, printed on coated paper with full-color illustrations. The first six titles are: Si Inggolok At Ang Planeta Pakaskas, Ang Pamilya Ismid, Sina Linggit Laban Kay Barakuda, Ang Alamat Ng Araw At Gabi, and Katuwaan Sa Batibot. Si Elephas At Estegodon, Ang Patsotsay Na Iisa Ang Pakpak, Makata-Makata, and 1, 2, 3 [Isa, Dalawa, Tatlo] Sama-Sama Tayo have since been added to the series. 

The Trampoline series, also launched by Cacho Publishing House in 1990, was conceived to move away from the “traditional” children’s book concept. Except for one, all the stories in the series are original tales, distinctly modern in the telling. The series was designed as a cooperative effort between writers, illustrators, and publishers. There is a deliberate attempt to use the modern children’s idiom, in text as well as in illustration. The first four titles include The Boy Who Ate Stars (by A. Yuson, ill. by B. Parrocha), Two Friends One World (by R. Sunico, ill. by J. de León), Kung Bakit Umuulan (by R. Villanueva, ill. by R. Alejandro), and Ang Unang Baboy Sa Langit (by R. Villanueva, ill. by I. Crisostomo). Additions to the series include Sampaguita (by M. Paterno, ill. by B. Taguiwalo) and Ang Nawawalang Araw (by R. Sunico, ill. by J. de León). 

Cacho Publishing House is also experimenting with small books with limited text and full-color illustrations that can be sold for less than the price of fast-food items. In 1993, it launched the first four titles in an environmental series, and more books of this type are being considered for production. The aim of such an experiment is to reach out to readers who have been unable to include children’s books in their normal budget. 

In 1991 came another significant development for the children’s book industry. The first book store to offer only children’s books and children’s educational materials, both local and foreign, opened in the second floor of the Quad II Mall in Makati. Called Young Minds, this bookstore was established by Rita J. Atienza who had begun to sell imported titles from her home as early as 1987. This bookstore has since promoted literacy and love for books quite aggressively. Some of its marketing initiatives have included: storytelling sessions of Philippine legends (1993), participation is school book fairs, Reading Mileage discounts for voracious readers, and most importantly, the I’m An Author competition. This competition en- courages elementary school children to write and illustrate their own books (in Filipino or English). Winning entries are exhibited in well-visited malls. It is quite encouraging that schools have been quite eager to support the competition. These schools include not only private and public schools but international schools as well. And the fact that Young Minds is expanding into the Shangri-la EDSA Mall in Mandaluyong and the Ayala Alabang Commercial Complex is just one more indication that the market for children’s books in this country not only exists but is growing. 

In 1992, another publisher with a strong children’s book program entered the market. Tahanan Books for Young Readers was founded by the husband-and-wife team of Reni Roxas and Marc Singer. The couple moved from the USA to start a publishing company which has as its aim: “to publish quality tradebooks for the Filipino family and supplementary curriculum materials for Filipino schools and libraries.” In September of the same year, they linked up with Bookmark and launched its first list of eight titles: Volcanoes of the Philippines (by M. Paterno), Super Boboy and the Great Villain Hunt (by R. Santos), and the Great Lives Series which features biographies of national heroes for young people. Emilio Aguinaldo, Andres Bonifacio, Juan Luna, Apolinario Mabini, José Rizal, and Gabriela Silang were the first heroes to be included in this series. Since then, Tahanan Books has added titles which include an alphabet book, collections of folk tales, historical speeches and science books which treat of geological and meteorological phenomena. These books also point to increasing attention being paid by today’s publishers to attractive designs and subject matter which is both interesting and relevant to the young reader. 

Children’s book publishing has become a viable business concern today, a feat in itself if one remembers that twenty years ago, children’s books did not survive in the market. Publishers seem to agree that their success in the field is due to a combination of several factors: 1. their market centeredness, meaning, publishers produce books to suit the needs of a market in terms of themes, concerns and price; 2. the development of a new generation of buyers who prefer locally-produced books over imported ones; and 3. the growing awareness of the craft and the building of professionalism in the areas of writing, illustrating, packaging, and marketing children’s books. To date, more and more groups are venturing into this field. 

This growth in children’s book publishing may be seen as part of a larger development in Philippine publishing in general. Participants in this growth have been writers, illustrators, book designers, publishers, teachers, and a new generation of parents and book buyers, all of whom are more aware of the demands of nationalism and the importance of a child-centered children’s literature. Obstacles remain to be sure. The national library system, normally the backbone of any reading culture, remains irrelevant and inefficient despite the good intentions of many of its members, encumbered as they are by bureaucracy and politics. Also, there is a palpable lack of support from the national government which sees books only as commodities to tax.

Where do we go from here? It seems that children’s book publishing in the Philippines, against all odds, has finally found its voice. As the various professionals involved in the creation of children’s books hone their talents and refine their visions, the growing audience for Filipino children’s books ensures that since more books are bought, more still will be created. As greater exposure is achieved, 

the quality and quantity of our Filipino children’s books can only become better.