’A really big theme’: Americanization and World Peace — Internationalism and/ as Nationalism in Lucy Fitch Perkins’s Twins Series

Abstract

Although many American children’s series, from Jacob Abbott’s Rollo’s Tour in Europe books (1853–58) onward, have taken their protagonists to foreign shores, few are more essentially international than the Twins of the World books (1911–38) written and illustrated by Lucy Fitch Perkins. Consisting of 26 volumes, divided into geographical and historical series, the Twins books detail the lives of twin protagonists, usually a boy and a girl between five and twelve years old, from ‘more than twenty different countries and cultures’ (’Perkins, Lucy Fitch 1865–1937’ 199). Different books are targeted, according to grade recommendations given in school editions of the books, at readers ranging from the first through seventh grades. Books aimed at younger readers include episodic sketches of everyday adventures. Those geared toward older readers have more dramatic plots such as the French Twins rescuing their wounded father under German attack and revealing the schemes of two German spies; and the Italian Twins escaping and returning to their far-away home after being captured by Gypsies. The books highlight both the external differences of the target culture from mainstream American life, such as Japanese use of chopsticks to breakfast on soup and rice and their celebrations of separate holidays for boys and girls instead of birthdays, and the universal similarities in human behavior, emotion, and relationships. Each country is different, but the people and cultures are all attractive, all suitable objects of imaginative engagement for American children.KeywordsAmerican ChildSeries BookChild ReaderImplied ReaderAmerican ProtagonistThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.