9.2: Children's Literature

chapter 9.1: children's literature 

Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are enjoyed by children. Modern children's literature is typically classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader.

Children's literature can be traced to stories and songs, part of a wider oral tradition, that adults shared with children before publishing existed. The development of early children's literature, before printing was invented, is difficult to trace. Even after printing became widespread, many classic "children's" tales were originally created for adults and later adapted for a younger audience. Since the fifteenth century much literature has been aimed specifically at children, often with a moral or religious message. The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are known as the "Golden Age of Children's Literature," because many classic children's books were published then.

definition:

The International Companion Encyclopedia of Children's Literature notes that "the boundaries of genre... are not fixed but blurred". Sometimes, no agreement can be reached about whether a given work is best categorized as literature for adults or children. Some works defy easy categorization.  

classification:

Children's literature can usually be divided into categories, either according to genre or the intended age of the reader.

BY GENRE

A literary genre is a category of literary compositions. Genres may be determined by technique, tone, content, or length. According to Anderson, there are six categories of children's literature (with some significant subgenres):

• Picture books, including concept books that teach the alphabet or counting for example, pattern books, and wordless books

• Traditional literature, including folktales, which convey the legends, customs, superstitions, and beliefs of people in previous civilizations. This genre can be further broken into subgenres: myths, fables, legends, and fairy tales

• Fiction, including fantasy, realistic fiction, and historical fiction

• Non-fiction

• Biography and autobiography

• Poetry and verse

BY AGE CATEGORY

The criteria for these divisions are vague, and books near a borderline may be classified either way. Books for younger children tend to be written in simple language, use large print, and have many illustrations. Books for older children use increasingly complex language, normal print, and fewer (if any) illustrations. The categories with an age range are these:

• Picture books, appropriate for pre-readers or children ages 0–5

• Early reader books, appropriate for children ages 5–7. These are often designed to help children build their reading skills

• Chapter books, appropriate for children ages 7–12

  • Short chapter books, appropriate for children ages 7–9

  • Longer chapter books, appropriate for children ages 9–12

• Young adult fiction, appropriate for children ages 12–18

 

brainstorming: 

In order to write a good book for children, you must do the following:

• Use funny words.

• Do not use inappropriate language.

• Use a readable font (large enough for everyone to read).

• Use bright colors while drawing a picture to catch the child's eye.

• Keep the reader interested in the book.

• Make sure that the theme of the story is clear and understandable so the children can relate to what is happening in the story and be interested in what happens next.

• Write about something you learned or experienced when you were in that children's age group you want to write about.

• Make the characters' characteristics interesting and clear.

• Ask children's opinions and suggestions on what you are writing. Use some children's interests.

• Make sure that the pictures depict this very well

• Depending on your race you may have different ideas than others. Try to add that into your writing. Religion may also change your writing.

• Include the different aspects of the people (genre, environment, background and such)

• Use easy pictures so children can understand.

example: The Land of Nod

From breakfast on through all the day 

At home among my friends I stay, 

But every night I go abroad 

Afar into the land of Nod. 

All by myself I have to go, 

With none to tell me what to do— 

All alone beside the streams 

And up the mountain-sides of dreams.

 

The strangest things are there for me, 

Both things to eat and things to see, 

And many frightening sights abroad 

Till morning in the land of Nod. 

Try as I like to find the way, 

I never can get back by day, 

Nor can remember plain and clear 

The curious music that I hear.

 

student example(s):

<Provided by student(s) someday>

 

questions / activities / exercises.

<Students might be assigned – as part of the final project? – to create questions and activities and exercises for chapters that do not contain those pieces quite yet.>

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\(^{95}\)Wikipedia contributors. "Children's literature." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 3 Jun. 2019. Web. 22 Jun. 2019. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.

\(^{96}\)"Writing a Good Book for Children." Wikibooks, The Free Textbook Project. 5 May 2014, 18:37 UTC. 22 Jun 2019, 14:33 <https://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php...&oldid=2646527>. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.

\(^{97}\)Edited by Dickinson, Joshua. Readings in Children’s Literature. Compiled from Copyright-Cleared Materials Available on Project Gutenberg or the Web. 03 Nov 19. Email: [e-mail]