children's literature

sisyphus

fairy tale

children's book

bear

caterpillar

hunger

children's entertainment

Goldilocks

is not about ensuring that a child understands all that's happening below the surface of a story. Even though the child may not be able to define or verbalize it, they sense there's something more than meets the eye. They're aware of a richness of texture, or meaning and emotion -- a richness that, in a great book, is inexhaustible.

Children may not understand all that's happening below the surface of a story. It doesn't matter. Because even though they may not be able to define or verbalize it, they sense there's something more than meets the eye; on an almost subliminal level, they're aware of a richness of texture, or meaning and emotion -- a richness that, in a great book, is inexhaustible. And the child may well come back to it again and again, perhaps long after he's stopped being a child.

is at its best when it's exploring issues beyond what children understand. Just as a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, so too should a child’s.

I believe that children in this country need a more robust literary diet than they are getting. …It does not hurt them to read about good and evil, love and hate, life and death. Nor do I think they should read only about things that they understand. '…a man’s reach should exceed his grasp.' So should a child’s. For myself, I will never talk down to, or draw down to, children. (from the author's acceptance speech for the Caldecott award)

is bringing a child news of the infinitely varied nature of life. 

When you read to a child, when you put a book in a child's hands, you are bringing that child news of the infinitely varied nature of life. You are an awakener.

is often violent, but the normal child can handle it. It is the adults that can't. Alice in Wonderland should not be allowed to circulate indiscriminately among adults who are undergoing analysis.

Her constant orders for beheading are shocking to those modern critics of children's literature who feel that juvenile fiction should be free of all violence and especially violence with Freudian undertones. Even the Oz books of L. Frank Baum, so singularly free of the horrors to be found in Grimm and Andersen, contain many scenes of decapitation. As far as I know, there have been no empirical studies of how children react to such scenes and what harm if any is done to their psyche. My guess is that the normal child finds it all very amusing and is not damaged in the least, but that books like Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz should not be allowed to circulate indiscriminately among adults who are undergoing analysis.

is to be held to a higher standard than other literature for the same reason that we take extra care with children's food.

Kid's books should be just as good as any other books. No. They should be held to a *higher* standard than other literature for the same reason that we take extra care with children's food.

has a simple single-word formula for excellence; namely, imagination. Imagination for the child is the miraculous, freewheeling device he uses to course his way through the problems of every day.

The qualities that make for excellence in children's literature can be summed up in a single word: imagination. And imagination as it relates to the child is, to my mind, synonymous with fantasy. Contrary to most of the propaganda in books for the young, childhood is only partly a time of innocence. It is, in my opinion, a time of seriousness, bewilderment, and a good deal of suffering. It's also possibly the best of all times. Imagination for the child is the miraculous, freewheeling device he uses to course his way through the problems of every day....It's through fantasy that children achieve catharsis.

is at its best when it appeals not only to the child in the adult, but to the adult in the child.

Good children's literature appeals not only to the child in the adult, but to the adult in the child.

children's literature, n.Definitions

children's literature