South African children's literature has a relatively short history. Very few children's books were published during the previous century and at the beginning of this century. 

English Children's Books 
 
Children's books published in England have always been available to the English-speaking child in South Africa. Initially the small local market did not make it feasible to publish local children's books in English. English children's books written with a South African background or by a South African were usually published in England. Jock of the Bushveld (1907) written by Sir Percy FitzPatrick, and generally regarded as the first English South African children's book is a good example. Most of the earlier English children's books were British and reflected a colonial perspective. 

The first English children's book written by a South African and published in South Africa only appeared during the second half of this century. Only during the 1970s did local publishers realise the need for indigenous children's books in English and start exploiting the market. The author who probably single handedly brought about this change is Marguerite Poland with her Mantis and the Moon which was published in 1979. The rise in price of imported children's books made the publication of indigenous material more competitive. The political changes during the 1980s resulted in the improvement of the quality of education of African children and the decision that they could receive tuition in English meant that a large potential market for English children's books arose. 

Some publishers specialise in this market. At the end of the 1980s English children's books were prominent in dealing with the political and socio-economic conditions in the country. The English children's book was more explicit than its Afrikaans counterpart with regard to criticism of apartheid. Authors like Lesley Beake, Dianne Case and Lawrence Bransby took the lead. 

Afrikaans children's books 
 
Afrikaans, the youngest Germanic language, developed from the Dutch language at the Cape. It also absorbed elements from other foreign languages such as French, German, English, Malay, and other Eastern and African languages. 

The young Afrikaans language initially had to struggle to survive as English and Dutch were predominant languages at the time. 

After the Boer War, Afrikaners had to struggle to preserve and promote Afrikaans because of England's policy of Anglicisation. Writers such as MER, Helena Lochner and CJ Langenhoven purposely wrote books in Afrikaans to provide the Afrikaner child with books to read in their own language. 

After the Second World War the Afrikaner came to power and Afrikaans became one of the official languages which empowered the Afrikaans Press. Afrikaans children's books of a much higher quality started appearing. A system of compulsory education for whites, free public library services and the urbanisation of whites created a market for the Afrikaans children's book. 

The publication in 1955 of Alba Bouwer's Stories van Rivierplaas (Stories of River Farm), and illustrations by Katrine Harries is generally accepted as a landmark in the modern history of the Afrikaans children's book. This resulted in a dramatic increase in both the quality and quantity of Afrikaans children's books that were published. 

Since the 1970s, and especially during the 1980s, there has been a greater openess with regard to the themes in juvenile literature similar to the South African children's books published in English. Urban life and changing life styles are addressed, as well as other issues with which young people are faced - such as religion, Aids and sex. 

Until fairly recently many more Afrikaans children's books were published than the total of all the books published in the other South African languages. 

As previously mentioned there was less motivation to publish English children's books. 

African children's literature 
 
Missionaries developed an orthography for many African indigenous languages in South Africa. Early Afrikaans and English children's books related African folktales which were collected, translated and published by early missionaries and travellers. These tales are now being translated back into the African languages. The missionaries published moralistic readers in the indigenous languages as part of the process of introducing the African people to Christianity. The African people of South Africa were exposed to missionary education and later to an inferior education system which was a result of the policy of apartheid of the South African government. There was no market for children's literature as the vast majority of the people lived in poor socio-economic conditions. Publishers were therefore reluctant to publish anything that was not prescribed by the educational authorities. Prescribed books chiefly consisted of readers and translations of Afrikaans and English works. 

It was expected that the change in government in the country and the elevation of the African languages to official status would lead to the development of children's literature in the African languages, but for several reasons this has not yet occurred. The rise of African consciousness and nationalism in the battle against apartheid has led to the identification of English as the language for education and freedom. Many African children prefer to read in English, and many African authors prefer to write in this language. Also surveys of library usage amongst African children indicate that the majority only read for the purposes of formal education and the minority for recreation. 

Some publishers nevertheless try to publish children's books of a high quality in African languages, but due to a shortage of indigenous writers most books are translations from English or Afrikaans. 

Conclusion 
 
As a result of the small local market, few original books with full colour illustrations are published. Collaboration with overseas publishers and the simultaneous publication of a book in various indigenous languages is often the only way to make a publication viable. Also publishers of children's books concentrate on the publishing series, beginner and second language readers.

South African Children's Literature
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