1.0Digital Childhoodshttps://shcydigitalchildhoods.org/dirLayla Kochhttps://shcydigitalchildhoods.org/dir/author/lmkoch/rich600338<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="XM3JTwXlCc"><a href="https://shcydigitalchildhoods.org/dir/fun-reading-for-refinement/">Fun Reading for Refinement: A Preteens’ Guide to Letter Writing</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://shcydigitalchildhoods.org/dir/fun-reading-for-refinement/embed/#?secret=XM3JTwXlCc" width="600" height="338" title="“Fun Reading for Refinement: A Preteens’ Guide to Letter Writing” — Digital Childhoods" data-secret="XM3JTwXlCc" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script> /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(d,l){"use strict";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&"undefined"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),c=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display="none";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):"link"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute("src")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener("message",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute("data-secret"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+="#?secret="+t,e.setAttribute("data-secret",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:"ready",secret:t},"*")},!1)))}(window,document); //# sourceURL=https://shcydigitalchildhoods.org/dir/wp-includes/js/wp-embed.min.js </script> https://shcydigitalchildhoods.org/dir/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Bildschirmfoto-2025-08-15-um-15.30.25.png1508686Growing up with strict parents who value good manners, I have always had a close affinity with the history of manners in my journey of historical discovery. My attention is thus naturally drawn to various kinds of etiquette manuals, and, especially, to the epistolary world of children. For more than a decade, I have been collecting early epistolary primers for young readers, which helped regulate behaviors of social interactions through literary practices in the early twentieth century. According to my research, A Preteens’ Guide to Letter Writing (Tongzi chidu 童子尺牘, first dated 1915, hereafter A Preteens’ Guide) was presumably the