Children Literature Essay

There are many different definitions of children’s literature and even varying definitions for literature and children! Before the nineteenth century, very few books were especially written for children. Since then, changing attitudes towards childhood and children’s development, along with the increased sophistication of print technology, have led to the development of children’s literature as a major industry. There is, however, no simple, straightforward definition of children’s literature that can be applied with equal validity at different times and in different contexts. Just as concepts of ‘child’, 'childhood’ and ‘literature’ have changed over time, so too have definitions of ‘children’s literature’. It is not a simple matter to define ‘childhood’ or ‘literature’. Some writers maintain that children’s literature differs from adult literature in degree only (Lukens, 1995); others (Lesnik- Oberstein, 1996) maintain that it differs in kind, that is, that the word ‘literature’ when used in the context of ‘children’s literature’ cannot necessarily be related in any straightforward way to the word ‘literature’ as used in other contexts. Thus, for example, Bottigheimer argues that children’s literature is “an important system of its own”. To complicate matters further, there are those who maintain that to be included in the category of ‘children’s literature’, writing must be of ‘good quality’. Thus, for example, Hillman would exclude from the category of ‘children’s literature’, writing that is “stodgy,” “too predictable,” or “too illogical.” Precisely how one determines whether a work meets these extremely vague criteria largely remains an open question.

Definitions of children’s literature can be assigned to three broad categ...

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...t are not produced in book format.

Townsend observes that “any line which is drawn to confine children and their books to their own special corner is an artificial one”, and therefore that “[the] only practical definition of a children’s book today—absurd as it sounds—is ‘a book which appears on the children’s list of a publisher”. Quote apart from the fact that, once again, the word ‘book’ appears in this definition, its usefulness is questionable. This definition would exclude works that appear in electronic format and are not listed in publisher’s catalogues. It would, however, include books designed for adults that have been adapted for children. In this respect, it can be aligned with the views of Weinreich and Bartlett who includes in his definition of children’s literature books originally written for adults that have been re-worked with children in mind.