Zerna Sharp facts for kids

Zerna Addis Sharp (born August 12, 1889 – died June 17, 1981) was an American teacher and book editor. She is most famous for creating the Dick and Jane series of books. These books helped young children learn to read.

The Dick and Jane books were published by Scott, Foresman and Company. They told stories about fictional siblings named "Dick," "Jane," and "Sally," along with other characters. These books were very popular. They were used in schools across the United States and many other English-speaking countries for almost 40 years. The series included titles like Fun with Dick and Jane. It taught reading using the look-say method.

Zerna Sharp's Early Life and Education

Zerna Addis Sharp was born on August 12, 1889. Her parents were Charles and Lottie Sharp. She grew up in Hillisburg, Clinton County, Indiana. Zerna was the oldest of five children. Her father owned a general store in their town.

After high school, Zerna trained to be a teacher. She studied for one year at Marion Normal College. This school is now Indiana Wesleyan University. She also attended Columbia University in New York City later on.

Zerna Sharp's Career in Education

Starting as a Teacher

Zerna Sharp began her career as a teacher. She taught first-grade students for almost ten years. She worked in elementary schools in Hillisburg, Kirklin, and La Porte, Indiana. Sharp also became an elementary school principal.

Creating the Dick and Jane Readers

Zerna Sharp came up with the idea for the Dick and Jane readers. These books became very popular in classrooms. They were used for nearly four decades before new reading materials took their place. Sharp thought of the idea while working as a reading consultant. She was also a textbook editor for Scott, Foresman and Company. This publishing company was in Chicago, Illinois.

William Scott Gray hired Zerna Sharp. He was a director at Scott Foresman. He wanted her to create characters for new reading books. Sharp noticed that many children struggled with reading. She wanted to develop a new way to teach reading. Gray's research focused on making reading lessons more interesting for kids. He also wanted to help them recognize words better.

Sharp and Gray wanted children to easily connect with the book characters. They also wanted the characters to do everyday activities. Before Dick and Jane, reading books often had Bible stories or fairy tales. These stories used complicated language and had few pictures.

Zerna Sharp was not the writer or artist of the Dick and Jane books. But she designed how the books would look and what they would contain. She also chose the storylines from ideas submitted by others. The "Dick" and "Jane" characters first appeared in 1930. They became very famous in their own series of books.

Sharp worked with Gray to create these books. They used the look-say method. This method taught readers to memorize words by seeing them often. It focused less on phonics, which teaches how letters sound. Teacher guides also encouraged this method. They suggested using pictures to help understand words.

Developing Book Content

Sharp believed that the pictures and text should work together. She wanted stories that young readers would enjoy and understand easily. The text used words that repeated often. The watercolor pictures helped students understand the words visually. Sharp suggested that new readers should learn only one new word per page. Each story should introduce only five new words. The Dick and Jane books followed this rule.

Sharp worked with illustrator Eleanor B. Campbell. Campbell drew most of the pictures for the Dick and Jane readers. Sharp also named the characters in the stories. She oversaw how the pages were designed and illustrated. She even called Dick and Jane her "children." Their names were chosen because they were easy to say. To make the language sound real, Sharp watched children play. She listened to how they talked.

The Dick and Jane reading series taught reading skills. It also taught American middle-class values. The stories showed a typical American family. They were a white family living in a suburban home. The family had two parents, three children, and two pets. "Father" wore a suit and worked in an office. He also mowed the lawn and washed the car. "Mother" stayed home, did housework, and raised the children.

"Dick" was the oldest child. He was active and well-behaved. "Jane" was the second child. She was pretty and helped care for her baby sister, "Sally." The family dog was named "Spot." Their cat was named "Puff." Their suburban home had a white picket fence. The books were made for schools all over the country. So, the text and pictures did not show specific places like mountains or beaches.

Later Years and Legacy

Scott Foresman updated their readers in the 1960s. They wanted to keep the stories current. The 1965 edition was the last of the Dick and Jane series. It was the first to include an African American family. This family had two parents and three children: "Mike," "Pam," and "Penny." The Dick and Jane books were sold until 1973. They slowly disappeared from schools during the 1970s.

After retiring, Zerna Sharp traveled. She stayed involved in education. She lived in both California and Indiana. She made her home in Frankfort in her later years.

Sharp passed away on June 17, 1981, at age 91. She died at a nursing home in Frankfort, Indiana. She is buried in a local cemetery.

Zerna Sharp's most important contribution was the Dick and Jane readers. These books followed the McGuffey Readers, which were popular before them. In 1967, Scott Foresman started a new series called Open Highways. These books had more pictures and focused on different cultures. They also put more emphasis on phonics.

The Dick and Jane books that Sharp edited were known for their simple stories and watercolor pictures. They taught millions of students to read for four decades. Even with some challenges and criticisms, Sharp's characters became very well-known. "Dick," "Jane," and "Sally" became household names. The books are now seen as important parts of American culture. They are also popular items for collectors.