This presentation will focus on the introduction to children's literature, particularly
on its definition. You might think children's literature could be easily defined as
books for kids, however there are many different definitions of children's literature
and even varying definitions for literature and children… one definition given to
children's literature is from lean brown and her colleagues which says that.
PPT - Children’s Literature is a good-quality trade books for children from birth to
adolescence, covering topics of relevance and interest or children of those ages,
through prose and poetry, fiction and nonfiction.
Understanding this definition requires further inquiry of its two main aspects,
CONTENTS AND QUALITY.
- let us first look into the content aspect of children's literature the content
of children's books includes amazingly diverse topics that are of interest to
children they express experiences of childhood both good and bad from
which children would draw their own realizations
another aspect to be considered is the quality children's books have been
everywhere in stores in drugstores and even in grocery stores and can be easily
accessed by anyone with this abundance of books an important pressing question is
are they really good children's books
A book is a good book for children if she/he enjoys reading it. So, this is facts
about children’s literature, if adult enjoys reading one particular book, but a
child didn’t, then it is not a good book. Good books can make the children’s
very imaginative and creative.
CHARACTERISTICS
1. REPITITION
You ever repeat something over and over in your head to
help remember it? That's exactly what's going on in
children's literature: So children's stories are full of repeated
events, incidents, numbers, days—you name it. And of
course, it's all wrapped up in a bunch of pretty pictures and
a fun story. So children is not only reading, they are also
memorizing some important details of the particular book.
2. DIDACTISICISM
Children's literature isn't just written to entertain kids—it's
written to teach them. And we don't mean just teaching them
their ABCs or 123s; children's literature also helps children
learn right from wrong. And wrong from evil. Notice how the
bad guy in children's literature almost always gets punished
at the end? Yeah, there's a reason for that.
But of course, literature also teaches kids to…read.
3. Illustrations
Before kids can read, illustrations dramatize and
reinforce the story that's being told so they can follow
along even if they don't understand the words their
parents are babbling out loud.
In fact, some children's books are only pictures—after
all, they're worth a thousand words.
4. Optimism
In here, you may ask yourself, how things always end
with "happily ever after" in children's books? That
optimistic perspective is a big part of what we
consider to be children's literature. When we grow up,
we may realize that life doesn't always end happily.
5. Fantastic
In children's literature, people fly. They grow into giants. They
talk to animals. They cast spells and transform into magical
beings.
This emphasis on the fantastic, of course, reflects the
imagination of children. After all, when we're little, we live in
a world of fantasy. We don't know what's real from what's
not, and we believe that there may actually be a monster
hiding under our bed. (Spoiler alert: there's not…we looked.)
For children, the line between the real and the fantastic is a
pretty thin one, and in children's literature, we'll find that this
line is also very thin. Be careful, or you might trip over it
without even realizing.
6. Innocence
If nothing else, kids are innocent—and as they grow
up, they lose that innocence. This exploration of
innocence is one of the defining characteristics of
children's literature. How innocent are we, exactly?
What's good about that innocence? What's dangerous
about it? Children's literature seeks to answer these
questions by showing kids out in a strange world,
encountering new things and new people and figuring
out how to handle it all.
7. Action
And that's why children's books are full of action: kids are
much more able to understand actions (someone fell!
someone yelled! someone ate a piece of cake!) than
emotions and thoughts (someone…feels something very
specific and hard to define?).
Whatever emotions we find in children's literature tend to be
quite basic (and the younger the audience for a book, the
more basic these emotions will be): we're talking sadness,
fear, anger, happiness…not existential angst.
But for the most part, children's stories focus on
things happening. Characters don't just sit around and chat
all day—they do things.
Lastly, children are truly creative, imaginative and idealistic.
According to the study of Donna Norton 2010. Giving children access to all
varieties of literature is extremely important for their success. Educators,
parents, and community members should help students develop a love and
passion for reading. Not only is reading literature important in developing
cognitive skills to be able to succeed in a school or work setting, but it is
valuable for other reasons as well. Although there are countless values in
exposing children to literature.
