History Literature / DickAndJane

* HaveAGayOldTime: Let's just say we don't meet too many boys by the name "Dick" anymore...

* TokenFriend: After segregation was outlawed in the U.S., African-American characters Mike, Pam, and Penny were added as friends for Dick, Jane, and Sally.

* BlackBestFriend: After segregation was outlawed in the U.S., African-American characters Mike, Pam, and Penny were added as friends for Dick, Jane, and Sally.

Dick and Jane were the central characters of a series of books for beginner readers featuring short sentences and much repetition. Originally introduced in the 1930s, the books fell out of favour in the 1960s, partly due to changing ideas about reading education that would favour more challenging fare like the books of Creator/DrSeuss, who created ''Literature/TheCatInTheHat'' in create an alternative to Dick and Jane, and partly due to mounting criticism about the idealised world they depicted, but "Dick and Jane" remains a byword for the entire genre.

Dick and Jane were the central characters of a series of books for beginner readers featuring short sentences and much repetition. Originally introduced in the 1930s, the books fell out of favour in the 1960s, partly due to changing ideas about reading education that would favour more challenging fare like the books of Creator/DrSeuss and partly due to mounting criticism about the idealised world they depicted, but "Dick and Jane" remains a byword for the entire genre.

* ConstrainedWriting: Each book is written using only words from a specific vocabulary list chosen for to each educational level. It shows.

* NoNameGiven: The books refer to Dick's and Jane's parents only as "Father" and "Mother".

%%* BeigeProse: A famous example. The vocabulary was intentionally limited for beginning readers.
%%* BlackBestFriend: Mike, Pam, and Penny for Dick, Jane, and Sally.

%%* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: For educational rather than comedic purposes.

* BeigeProse: A famous example. Justified, as the vocabulary was intentionally limited for beginning readers.
* BlackBestFriend: Mike, Pam, and Penny for Dick, Jane, and Sally.
* CuteKitten: Puff the kitten (known as Mew in older books).
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: For educational rather than comedic purposes.
* HaveAGayOldTime / UnfortunateNames: Let's just say we don't meet too many boys by that name anymore...

* PreciousPuppy: Spot.
* ThemeTwinNaming: Pam and Penny.

* ThemeTwinNaming: Pam and Penny.

----
!!References in other works include:
* ''Film/FunWithDickAndJane'', a 1977 film (remade in 2005) which actually has nothing to do with the books apart from the title.
* ''Series/BetweenTheLions'' parodied the series with "Fun with Chicken Jane", featuring the adventures of Scot and Dot and their pet chicken, Jane, who was smarter than the pair of them put together and inevitably got [[BadlyBatteredBabysitter badly battered]] while rescuing them from some on-coming calamity that they couldn't evade themselves because they were too busy describing it in short repetitive sentences.
* A ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' strip has Calvin writing a book report titled "The Dynamics of Interbeing and Monological Imperatives in Dick and Jane: A Study in Psychic Transrelational Gender Modes".
* In the "Strangers Like Me" montage sequence of Disney's ''{{Disney/Tarzan}}'', Jane shows Tarzan a picture book in which the visible writing says "See Jane. See Jane run."
* ''Series/RedDwarf'', "Waiting for God": Lister starts learning the written language of the Cat people, and is shown reading an impressive tome -- which becomes rather less impressive when he demonstrates his new-found ability to Rimmer by reading it out loud: "See Dick run. Run, Dick, run..."
* ''Film/SeeSpotRun'', an unrelated screwball comedy movie that references Spot, Dick and Jane's dog.
* ''See Jane Date'', is a made for TV romantic comedy whose title references the style of the books.
* ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' had a strip of a wolf reading to her pups. "See the wolves chase Dick and Jane."
* In the online game Phrozenflame, the computer said, "c:\dos c:\dos\run run\dos\run". The same joke appears in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''.
* The final stage of ''VideoGame/EarthwormJim 2''? "See Jim Run. Run, Jim, Run." [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin It involved a lot of running.]]
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
** It's pretty clear that Lt. Uhura is reading a Dick and Jane while recovering from an alien mindwipe in the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "The Changeling". "See the dog. See the dog run. The dog has a ball. The ball is . . . blooie?"
*** And this is parodied with a direct reference in the ''Star Trek'' webcomic ''Webcomic/PlanetOfHats'':
--->'''Chapel:''' I'm retraining Uhura with Dick and Jane readers so she can resume her highly technical role next week.
** {{Parodied}} in ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' with a Ferengi (a [[StrawmanPolitical Strawman Capitalist]] species) and his child. "See Grok aquire. Acquire, Grok, acquire."
* ''See Jane Run'', a thriller novel with no connection beyond the title.
* The opening theme of the TV show ''Series/RaisingHope'' has sentences in the style of Dick and Jane: "See Grandpa work," "See Sabrina read," etc.
* ''[[http://www.amazon.com/Dick-Jane-Vampires-Laura-Marchesani/dp/0448455684 Dick and Jane and Vampires.]]''
* ''{{ComicStrip/BC}}'' had a series of Dick and Jane parodies. "See Dick take the test. See Jane take the test. See Dick copy Jane's test. See the teacher catch Dick. See Dick cleaning the latrine."
* The Wendy Cope poem "Reading Scheme" starts "Here is Peter. Here is Jane. They like fun." It then goes on - in the same style - to describe Mummy CheatingWithTheMilkman and Daddy chasing him off with a gun.

* BlackBestFriend: Mike, [[ThemeTwinNaming Pam, and Penny]] for Dick, Jane, and Sally.

* The Wendy Cope poem "Reading Scheme" starts "Here is Peter. Here is Jane. They like fun." It the goes on - in the same style - to describe Mummy CheatingWithTheMilkman and Daddy chasing him off with a gun.

* {{Black Best Friend}}s: Mike, [[ThemeTwinNaming Pam, and Penny]] for Dick, Jane, and Sally.

* {{Precious Pupp|ies}}y: Spot.

* ''SeeSpotRun'', an unrelated screwball comedy movie that references Spot, Dick and Jane's dog.

* It's pretty clear that Lt. Uhura is reading a Dick and Jane in the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "The Changeling." "See the dog. See the dog run. The dog has a ball. The ball is . . . blooie?"
** Also {{parodied}} in ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' with a Ferengi (a [[StrawmanPolitical Strawman Capitalist]] species) and his child. "See Grok aquire. Acquire, Grok, acquire."

* The opening theme of the TV show ''RaisingHope'' has sentences in the style of Dick and Jane: "See Grandpa work," "See Sabrina read," etc.

* ''FunWithDickAndJane'', a 1977 film (remade in 2005) which actually has nothing to do with the books apart from the title.

* TheFarSide had a strip of a wolf reading to her pups. "See the wolves chase Dick and Jane."
* In the online game Phrozenflame, the computer said, "c:\dos c:\dos\run run\dos\run". The same joke appears in an episode of ''TheSimpsons''.

The [[TransatlanticEquivalent UK equivalent]] was "Janet and John".

* BeigeProse

* UnfortunateNames