Dick and Jane are the two protagonists created by Zerna Sharp for a series of basal readers (primers) written by William S. Gray to teach children to read. The characters first appeared in the Elson-Gray Readers in 1930 and continued in a subsequent series of books through the final version in 1965. On January 1st, 2026, the first book entered the public domain in the US. These readers were used in classrooms in the United States and in some other English-speaking countries for nearly four decades, reaching the height of their popularity in the 1950s, when 80 percent of first-grade students in the United States used them. Although the Dick and Jane series of primers continued to be sold until 1973 and remained in use in some classrooms throughout the 1970s, they were replaced with other reading texts by the 1980s and gradually disappeared from school curricula.
The Dick and Jane series was known for its simple narrative text and watercolor illustrations. For a generation of middle-class Americans, the characters of "Dick", "Jane", and their younger sister "Sally" became household words. The Dick and Jane primers have become icons of mid-century American culture and collector's items.
Despite criticisms of the stereotypical content that depicted white, middle-class Americans and the "whole-word" or "sight word" (look-say) method of teaching reading on which these readers are based, they retain cultural significance for their impact on literacy education in the mid-twentieth century.
Origins The predecessors to the Dick and Jane primers were the phonics-based McGuffey Readers, which were popular from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, and the Elson Basic Readers. William Scott Gray (1885–1960), director of the Curriculum Foundation Series at Scott, Foresman and Company and dean of the University of Chicago's college of education, co-authored with William H. Elson the Elson Basic Readers (renamed the Elson-Gray Basic Readers in 1936), which Scott Foresman published in Chicago, Illinois. (via Google Books) Gray's research focused on methods to improve reading instruction using content that would be of interest to children and develop their word-recognition skills.
Zerna Sharp, a former teacher, came up with the idea for what became the Dick and Jane readers for elementary school children while working as a reading consultant and textbook editor for Scott Foresman. She worked with Gray to develop the readers after noting the reduced reading ability of children and urged the use of a new reading format for primers. In addition, Sharp developed the main characters of "Dick" and "Jane", the older brother and sister in a fictional family that included "Mother", "Father", and a younger sister named "Sally", their pets, "Spot" (originally a cat in the 1930s, but a dog in later editions), and "Puff", their cat; and a toy teddy bear named "Tim". Sharp named the characters, selected and edited the storylines from ideas that others submitted, and supervised production of the books. Gray and others wrote the Dick and Jane stories; illustrator Eleanor B. Campbell did most of the early illustrations.
"Dick" and "Jane" originally appeared in Elson-Gray Readers in 1930. Before the appearance of the first Dick and Jane stories, reading primers "generally included Bible stories or fairy tales with complicated language and few pictures." After the Elson-Gray series ended in 1940, the characters continued in a subsequent series of primary readers that were later revised and enlarged into newer editions, with two additional authors: May Hill Arbuthnot, an editor, and A Sterl Artley, a reading expert. The Dick and Jane readers were widely used in classrooms in the United States and in some other English-speaking countries—but not in the United Kingdom where home-grown equivalents like Janet and John or Ladybird's Peter and Jane series were read—for nearly four decades and reached the height of their popularity in the 1950s, when 80 percent of first-grade students in the United States were learning to read though these stories. The 1965 edition, the last of the Dick and Jane series, introduced the first black family as characters in a first-grade reader. Although the Dick and Jane series of primers continued to be sold until 1973 they remained in use in some classrooms throughout the 1970s. By the 1980s, the Dick and Jane stories had been replaced with other reading texts and gradually disappeared from school curricula. However, some ideologues believe they continue to serve as a model for restrictive reading practices in classrooms.Peterson, Shelley Stagg. "From Dick and Jane readers to leveled books: moving forward or reaching back?" Canadian Children's Book News, vol. 31, no. 1, winter 2008, p. 2. Gale Literature Resource Center, http://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A197803225/LitRC?u=knox61277&sid=bookmark-LitRC&xid=81e8a3a9. Accessed 19 Nov. 2023.
Content and illustrations William Gray and Zerna Sharp worked together to develop readers that incorporated the whole-word or look-say method of word recognition (also called sight reading). The Dick and Jane primers introduced new readers to one new word on each page and only five new words in each individual story. Gray and Sharp also wanted children who read the books to be able to readily identify with the characters. Sharp chose stories where the characters participated in typical children's activities.
The Dick and Jane primers taught reading as well as American middle-class values to school-aged children. The storylines described the lives and experiences of a stereotypical American middle-class, white family in their suburban home. "Father" wore a suit, worked in an office, mowed the lawn, and washed the car. "Mother" stayed at home, did housework, and raised the children. "Dick", the oldest of the family's three children, was active and well-behaved; "Jane", the middle child, was pretty and carefree. She also helped care for "Sally", the baby of the family.
The texts and illustrations for the Dick and Jane primers were intended to work together to help young readers understand the story. The texts introduced a repetitive pattern of words; the illustrations provided visual reinforcements to help convey the meaning of the words. 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.Geoff Pursinger (December 2, 2009). "The man who 'killed' Dick and Jane." The Times. The Dick and Jane beginning readers became well known for their simple narrative text and watercolor illustrations. Because the primers were intended for nationwide distribution, the text and illustrations intentionally lacked references to specific regional geographical features such as mountains, rivers, lakes, plains, or the seashore.
Books published in the series Grade 1 – Before We Read, We Look and See, We Work and Play, We Come and Go, Guess Who, Fun with Dick and Jane, Go, Go, Go, and Our New Friends Grade 2 – Friends and Neighbors and More Friends and Neighbors Grade 3 – Streets and Roads, More Streets and Roads, Roads to Follow, and More Roads to Follow Transitional 3/4 – Just Imagine Grade 4 – Times and Places Grade 5 – Days and Deeds Grade 6 – People and Progress Grade 7 – Paths and Pathfinders; Parades Grade 8 – Wonders and Workers; Panoramas Grade 9 – Helpful in Ways
Scott Foresman made changes in their readers in the 1960s in an effort to keep the stories relevant, updating the series every five years.
In 1965, Scott Foresman became the first publisher to introduce an African American family as characters in a first-grade reader series. The family included two parents and their three children: a son, Mike, and twin daughters, Pam and Penny.
In 1967, two years after Scott Foresman retired the Dick and Jane series, the company launched its Open Highways series, which included heavily illustrated classic children's stories and poems, as well as placing greater emphasis on multicultural content and phonics training in its subsequent readers.
Adaptations The Dick and Jane readers inspired other publishers to adopt a similar format, but Scott Foresman's Dick and Jane series were the market leaders until the early 1960s, In Catholic editions of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s series (including the Cathedral Basic Readers and the New Cathedral Basic Readers), the "Sally", "Dick", and "Jane" characters were renamed "Judy", "John", and "Jean" to reflect the names of Catholic saints. Another series, published by Ginn and Company, featured characters named "David" and "Ann". Groups of stories in each book were replaced by Catholic-oriented stories of the saints or portrayed moral choices. Some 1960s grade-level readers also had Seventh-day Adventist versions that used the 1965 multi-ethnic characters with revised book title. For example, Now We Read became Friends to Know and Fun Wherever We Are became Places to Know. W. J. Gage published British English language versions in Canada with appropriate spelling changes. In lower grades French language versions also were issued in the 1950s in Canada, with the main characters renamed Jeanne, Paul, and Lise in these editions.
Teaching methodology For three decades (roughly 1940 to 1970), the whole-word or look-say method (also called sight reading) on which the Dick and Jane readers were based remained the dominant reading method in American schools. Phonics-based reading methods came into fashion in the 1970s. The whole-language movement developed in the 1980s. Other methods were also in use for shorter periods before they were replaced as well.The whole language approach included children’s literature, writing, and other communication activities. See: The look-say method used a controlled vocabulary and taught readers to memorize the words through repetition, placing less emphasis on teaching phonics Texts in the Dick and Jane readers repeated words within phrases such as Oh, oh!' said Jane. 'It is Baby!' 'It is Baby!' said Dick. Baby said, 'See, see! Pretty, pretty kitten.' Dick and Jane laughed. 'Funny, funny Baby,' said Dick."Elson, William H. and William S. Gray, More Dick and Jane Stories, 1934, Scott, Foresman and Company, https://archive.org/details/moredickjanestor00elso/page/6/mode/2up?q=funnyLuke, Allan. Literacy, Textbooks, and Ideology: Postwar Literacy Instruction and the Mythology of Dick and Jane. Falmer Press, 1988, https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED308483 Teacher's guides accompanying the texts also encouraged adoption of the whole-word (look-say) method of identifying the meaning of words from the illustrations and repeating words introduced in the text.
For this reason, the Dick and Jane readers came to be used less and less as studies supported systematic phonics as a more effective method of developing foundational literacy skills.
Criticisms According to the history of the Institute for Juvenile Research, psychologist Marion Monroe developed methods for early childhood reading programs, which led to the Dick and Jane stories.Beuttler, Fred and Bell, Carl (2010). For the Welfare of Every Child – A Brief History of the Institute for Juvenile Research, 1909 – 2010. University of Illinois: Chicago
In a 1986 interview, Dr. Seuss said, "I think one of the happiest things I've done is getting rid of Dick and Jane". In a 2006 interview, George R. R. Martin criticized Dick and Jane and credited comic books for sparking his childhood interest in reading:
Impact on students