The United States republic can be defined by its cultural, social, and political change. Historians like Linda Kerber contend that this moment magnified gender difference. This was in fact a time that gender expectations were further defined. However, representations of gender in children\u27s literature indicate that although some stories illustrated different roles and expectations for male and female readers, there were other stories that emphasized similarities between all children; Analogous to Susan Juster\u27s findings from this period that men and women described religious conversion experiences similarly, religious children\u27s literature detailed the spiritual commonalities of boys and girls. Gender was insignificant in stories that emphasized piety. Stories addressed salvation, heaven, obedience to God, and prayer. However, as stories became worldlier and addressed social morality over piety, gender difference became increasingly central to the proposed messages. Despite the role of gender in certain texts, religious children\u27s literature continued to emphasize human sameness
