The Parent's Assistant

Dr. John Senior included The Parent’s Assistant on his “Thousand Good Books” list, recommending it as a foundational work for revitalizing Christian culture. Maria Edgeworth has been described as ‘the first English classic writer for children.’ The Parent’s Assistant was her first collection of moral tales and plays for children. Her stories, part of canonized British children’s literature, have stood the test of time. They are simple tales for the youngest readers—stories to demonstrate the rational pleasures of choosing hard work, generosity, self-reflection, and duty over selfishness, carelessness, or self-indulgence. The tales are spun in a way that children can easily imagine and examples of virtue are painted as are not above their conception of excellence, or their powers of sympathy and emulation. Maria Edgeworth (1767-1849) was a prolific Anglo-Irish novelist noted for her children’s stories, and for her writings on education, which were collaborations with her father Richard Lovell Edgeworth.