Introduction
Why, this was all about him! And it was the Neverending Story. He, Bastian, was a character in the book which until now he had thought he was reading. And heaven knew who else might be reading it at the exact same time, also supposing himself to be just a reader (Ende 165).
The passage above comes from The Neverending Story, written by the beloved German children’s fiction writer Michael Ende in 1979 with an immediate success (Petzold 209). The Neverending Story inaugurated a pivotal paradigm in fantasy fiction for young adults in Germany. The scene in which the protagonist Bastian realizes that he, in fact, belongs to a story he was reading, is a significant moment of literary deception that transcends our previous method of one-way
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While addressing the reader-text relationship of children, Ende embraced the Romantic conception of creativity that emphasizes imaginative self amid the dehumanising modern world. The reading child is a common archetype in modern fantasy fiction in English-speaking countries, ranging from Roald Dahl’s Matilda to Lucy Maude Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables. A particular subset of metafictive texts: children's self-conscious books about storytelling, is prevalent as well, as pointed out by Claudia Nelson (22); however, Ende’s The Neverending Story act as a celebration of a child’s imagination and storytelling that transcend diegetic boundaries. This is especially the case with two contemporary works of German fantasy fiction enjoying as much cult following as Ende’s novel: Inkheart (2003) and The City of Dreaming Books (2004). What distinguishes these novels from other fantastical stories of travelling between two worlds, such as the ones by Philip Pullman, J.K. Rowling, or Neil Gaiman, are the …show more content…
The bookworm protagonists have graced the children’s literature around world across all genres, presumably from the pessimistic propositions of declining children’s readership. Although child readers in these works of fiction enjoy lifelike illusions with words by their reading experience, they are only at the receiving end of the book. Their joy comes from their consumption of literature and a temporary comfort, away from the unwelcoming reality. Matilda, for instance, begins reading on her own after her boredom due to her parents’ neglecting of her. Michael Ende brought a child reader’s role to a greater
In conclusion, critical evaluation of what makes a book good or bad depends on the selection criteria and agenda of those making the evaluation. The prizes have been criticised through the years and the selection committees have risen to this by changing the selection process, even if this change has been slow. Children’s Literature is in flux due to the ever-changing ideas and perceptions of childhood. Children’s books seen as prestigious today may become, like Blyton, unpalatable to the critics of tomorrow.
After a four week survey of a multitude of children’s book authors and illustrators, and learning to analyze their works and the methods used to make them effective literary pieces for children, it is certainly appropriate to apply these new skills to evaluate a single author’s works. Specifically, this paper focuses on the life and works of Ezra Jack Keats, a writer and illustrator of books for children who single handedly expanded the point of view of the genre to include the experiences of multicultural children with his Caldecott Award winning book “Snowy Day.” The creation of Peter as a character is ground breaking in and of itself, but after reading the text the reader is driven to wonder why “Peter” was created. Was he a vehicle for political commentary as some might suggest or was he simply another “childhood” that had; until that time, been ignored? If so, what inspired him to move in this direction?
Maurice Sendak: From Controversy To Success. “These are difficult times for children. Children have to be brave to survive what the world does to them. And this world is scrungier and rougher and dangerouser than it ever was before”—Maurice Sendak. Throughout the past fifty years, Maurice Sendak has been a challenging and inventive voice in children’s literature.
Griffith, John, and Charles Frey. Classics of Children's Literature. 6th ed. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005. 21-29, 322-374. Print.
What does one do when they are suddenly transported into a fantasy world? This is the predicament of Meggie, an 11 year old bookbinder’s daughter. In the book Inkspell, the exciting sequel to the book Inkheart, Meggie finds herself and her friend Farid in a magical world where giants and little glass men live! But this enchantment soon turns dark when she and her friend are suddenly hunted by the evil king the Adderhead, who is planning to take over the Inkworld, the magical world that has lured Meggie and Farid into it. Award-winning author, Cornlia Funke has woven an enchanting, fast-paced book that young readers will love.
Whalley, J. (2009) ‘Texts and Pictures: A History’ in Montgomery H and Watson N (eds), Children’s Literature Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan in association with Open University, pp.299-310
In the past two era’s, structure and fear played a role in children’s books. This era takes a new turn by focusing on protecting the children’s childhood. Imagination showed up in numerous books; Bartholomew and the Oobleck by Dr. Seuss, If I Ran the Zoo by Dr. Seuss, Charlotte's Web by E. B. White, Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson. The emotion continuously appears in those books. For this era in particular, imagination seems to be a bigger trend.
In Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows and Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden nature and its fantastical elements are crucial in making their novels the iconic children literary tales they are presently. However due to these fantastical elements both authors criticized for their romanticized view of nature and idealized depictions of childhood within nature. Scholarly critics Jacqueline Rose and Humphrey Carpenter argue that in creating idealistic narrative worlds both authors lose their ability to represent childhood in a realistic way and instead let their works become escape outlets rather than true depictions of childhood. In doing so these books are no longer true children’s literature, but simply ideals born out of an authors
It has always been amazing to realize how well the literature I read as a child has stayed with me through the years. It takes an exceptional writer to compose a narrative that maintains a storyline on the same level of a child's understanding; it takes everything short of a miracle to keep a child's interest. However, that undertaking has been accomplished by many skilled authors, and continues to be an area of growth in the literary world. Only this year the New York Times has given the genre of children's literature the credit it deserves by creating a separate best-sellers list just for outstanding children's books. Yet, on another level, children's literature is not only for the young. I believe that the mark of a brilliant children's author is the age range of those who get pleasure from the stories; the wider the range, the better.
... (eds), Children’s Literature Classic Text and Contemporary Trends, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan in association with Open University
The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Voices in the Park were published at either end of the twentieth century, a period which witnessed the creation of the modern picturebook for children. They are both extremely prestigious examples of picturebooks of their type, the one very traditional, the other surrealist and postmodern. The definition of ‘picturebook’ used here is Bader’s: ‘an art form [which] hinges on the interdependence of pictures and words, on the simultaneous display of two facing pages, and on the drama of the turning of the page’ (Bader, quoted in Montgomery, 2009, p. 211). In contrast with a simple illustrated book, the picturebook can use all of the technology available to it to produce an indistinguishable whole, the meaning and value of which is dependent on the interplay between all or any of these aspects. Moebius’s claim that they can ‘portray the intangible and invisible[…], ideas that escape easy definition in pictures or words’ is particularly relevant to these two works. Potter’s book is, beneath its didactic Victorian narrative, remarkably subtle and subversive in its attitudes towards childhood, and its message to its child readers. Browne’s Voices in the Park, on the other hand, dispenses with any textual narrative; by his use of the devices of postmodernism, visual intertextuality and metaphor, he creates a work of infinite interpretation, in which the active involvement of the reader is key.
Peter hunt’s ‘Instruction and Delight’ provides a starting point for the study of children’s literature, challenging assumptions made about writing for children and they are trivial, fast and easy. Children’s literature is a conservative and reading it just to escape from the harsh realities of adulthood. It’s probably the most exciting for all literary studies, and a wide range of texts, from novels and stories to picture books , and from oral forms to multimedia and the internet , so it presents a major challenge and can be considered for many reasons. It is important because it is integrated into the cultural, educational and social thinking for the success of the publishing and media, and it is important to our personal development. Things that may seem simple at fist, how children understand the texts, how these differ from the
Literature has been part of society since pen met paper. It has recorded history, retold fables, and entertained adults for centuries. Literature intended for children, however, is a recent development. Though children’s literature is young, the texts can be separated into two categories by age. The exact splitting point is debatable, but as technology revolutionized in the mid-twentieth century is the dividing point between classic and contemporary. Today’s children’s literature is extraordinarily different from the classics that it evolved from, but yet as classic was transformed into modern, the literature kept many common features.
Children’s literature is, as Peter Hunt argued, a ‘remarkable area of writing: it is one of the roots of western culture, it is enjoyed passionately by adults as well as children, and it has exercised huge talents over hundreds of years’. Children’s literature is good quality books for children from birth to adolescence, coating topics about importance and interests to children of those ages, through prose and poetry, fiction and non-fiction. Children’s literature is probably the most exciting and vibrant of all literary studies, and its wide range of texts, from novels to picture books, and from oral forms to multimedia and the internet, presents a huge challenge. The important theme in children’s literature is the tension between the popular and the prestigious, or in other
Literature has an enormous impact on a child’s development during the early years of his or her life. It is important for parents and teachers to instill a love of reading in children while they are still young and impressionable. They are very naive and trusting because they are just beginning to develop their own thoughts, so they will believe anything they read (Lesnik, 1998). This is why it is so important to give them literature that will have a positive impact. Literature can make children more loving, intelligent and open minded because reading books gives them a much wider perspective on the world. Through reading, children’s behavior can be changed, modified or extended, which is why books are so influential in children’s lives while they are young (Hunt, 1998). Literature has the power to affect many aspects of a child’s life and shapes their future adult life.