The Seasons, Stories For Very Young Children

The Seasons, Stories for Very Young Children is a children’s book by Jane Marcet, published in the 1830s. It belongs to the substantial body of educational and children’s writing that Marcet produced in addition to her more famous Conversations series on the sciences and political economy. Marcet had a serious interest in the education of young children and produced several books aimed at the youngest readers, of which The Seasons is one of the most charming.

The book is organised around the four seasons of the year. Each season has a short story or sequence of related stories that introduce young children to the changes in the natural world that mark the passing of the year. There are pieces about spring, with the return of birds and the appearance of new flowers and the lengthening of days. There are summer pieces about gardens, about country walks, about the small pleasures of long warm afternoons. There are autumn pieces about harvest, about the changing colour of leaves, about the activity of small animals preparing for winter. There are winter pieces about cold and snow, about the indoor life of a country household, about waiting for the return of warmer weather.

The stories are very simple. They are meant for children too young to read on their own and are meant to be read aloud by an older relative or governess, with the child following the simple plot and learning the basic vocabulary of the natural world along the way. Marcet had a clear gift for writing for young children. She does not condescend and she keeps the language plain without being dull. The settings are clearly drawn from her own observation of the English country house and garden world that she knew well from her own household and from those of her friends.

The book is short, perhaps a hundred and fifty pages in the typical printing, and is best read aloud over a series of evenings. For readers interested in early nineteenth century educational literature for young children, this is one of the more pleasant examples. It pairs naturally with Marcet’s other juvenile educational works, including her Willy’s Travels and her other small introductory books for the youngest readers.