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Children’s Literature Doesn’t Matter.

Who cares about children’s literature?

Children’s literature isn’t important.

Not only is it easy to write, the content is simplistic and the target audience isn’t particularly discerning.  Real writers pen works for adults: novels full of multi-syllabic words and sophisticated, philosophical themes.

Unfortunately, these are relatively common opinions.  The worth of children’s literature is rarely regarded as meaningful or significant, and the value of children’s literature is often overlooked.

Children’s literature is just as important, if not more so, than adult literature. Both reading and writing literature for children has the ability to offer insight, power, discovery, and help in processing and understanding emotions and events. Furthermore, “We should also take children’s literature seriously because it is sometimes subversive: because its values are not always those of the conventional adult world” (Lurie, xi). Because children are in the process of growing, and they “lack experience in the world, they are able to accept the possibility of many things that adults know are impossible” (Paul, 16).

Children’s literature isn’t important; it is vital. It has the unique ability to make the impossible possible.

Reading Matters:

That the reading and writing of children’s literature are so disregarded and undervalued is a severe detriment to our society. Well-written children’s literature is crucial to developing healthy perspective, positive growth, and an open mind. Through reading, children can learn that there are “alternative ways of being in and thinking about the world” (Meek-Spencer, 547). This mindset is crucial for growth and development both of an individual as well as of a society, as “our society can only grow stronger as we teach our children to be stronger” (Trites, 138).  It is through reading and learning that this growth is nurtured – by illustrating, sometimes literally, a range of perspectives, possibilities and potentials.

Children especially are in need of relevant literature because well-written children’s literature develops and strengthens a child’s cognitive and imaginative skills at a time when they are most open to learning. Experiencing a variety of perspectives helps to “make abstract ideas concrete, inviting young readers to consider complex philosophical, theological, and political questions in uniquely accessible ways” (Baker, 125). Children’s books can also provide and illustrate coping mechanisms for dealing with changes, and things unfamiliar, of which there are many during childhood. The stories and concepts found in children’s literature frequently “help (children) through hard times and let them know they’re not alone” (Paul,192).  Books can help create “a place apart from the demands and stresses of daily life, a sanctuary in and from which the child can explore the many worlds” (Parravano, 6), and it is in this place a child can develop methods to help them both“understand and control the world” (Lurie, 202).

A well-developed imagination is a necessity in order to shape and understand the world.

While creativity should be “kindled and honored and treated with respect” (Lamb, 218), “the problem is, from early childhood, most of us are taught that imagination is inferior to intellect – that creativity is inferior to logic” (Lamb, 217). Children’s literature encourages creative thinking and problem-solving, opening the doors to a limitless array of possibilities.  Reading “stretches the imagination, intellect, and emotions in ways that enhance, rather than discourage, children’s engagement with real life” (Baker, 125), which can lead to a more imaginative and intelligent society.

Children are an essential audience because they have such potential to shape the future – after all, “without a thoughtful, educated, and well-read population, how can we solve the many problems – environment, health care, schools, wars – facing us?” (Paul, 242).  Through children’s literature, children learn that “what’s going on in their everyday lives matters” (Hepperman, 239) and they “emerge on the other side of the book as more capable, confident human beings” (Smith, 173). Words, stories, and ideas are “entering their minds, maybe making them see the world in a new way, maybe becoming part of them” (Levine, 155). Seeing the world in new and different ways allows children the opportunity to improve their situation and society by improving their minds.

Writing Matters:

Just as reading children’s literature grows and develops a child’s mind, writing children’s literature allows an author to grow and develop the mind of a child in themselves.

While “most people think writing for children is easier than writing for adults” (Lamb, 2), authors of children’s literature deserve just as much praise and recognition for their work, for they are “the first step up the ladder to create lifetime readers” (Paul, 242).

An author needs to utilize the same principles and fundamentals of the craft, and also translate these essentials into something applicable and appealing, to the viewpoint of a child – not an easy task!

In addition, children’s authors need to appeal to a more diverse audience, one that is composed of a multitude of subdivisions. Adult literature has a range of genres, but children’s literature consists of the same genres for a diverse variety of subdivisions of children’s literature, primarily based on age and developmental levels; from picture books to early readers to young adult.

It takes a great deal of skill in the craft of writing to appeal to an audience from which one is so far removed, and it is “the particular gift of some writers to remain, in a sense, children all their lives: to continue to see the world as boys and girls see it and to take their side instinctively” (Lurie, 14). This gift is one that has the potential to, through changing lives, change the world.

“When you write a book for a child, you give him or her words – you give a voice to the voiceless. You open new worlds, introduce new ways of thinking and lift that child closer to the light. This is the power and purpose of story. And this is the gift the storyteller can give” (Lamb, 5).

Writing helps both the reader and the writer find their voice. And at what better time than when you are a child do you need help discovering your own voice?

Both reading and writing not only embolden people to discover and use their unique voices, they “deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul” (Lamott, 237).

Reading and writing are both severely undervalued, but never more so than when it is the literature for children literature that is being written and read. It is unfortunately typical of an adult to see a children’s book as only a teaching tool for direct conceptual learning.

The potential of children’s literature is so much greater.

“Don’t think of books for young people as tools; try instead to treat them as invitations into the reading life – that life can be a rich place” (Sutton, xiv).

Literature can teach cognitive and emotional understanding, encourage creativity and empathy, and increase awareness and acceptance of different points of view.  Children’s literature allows both readers and writers the strength and ability to “appeal to the imaginative, questioning, rebellious child within all of us, renew out instinctive energy, and act as a force for change” (Lurie, xi).

Literature for children matters immensely if we want to foster a future of kindness, respect, and harmony. And I hope we do.

Works Cited:

Baker, Derirdre F. (2010). Your Journey Is Inward, but It Will Seem Outward. In  R. Sutton and M. Parravano (Editors), A Family of Readers.  (pp. 124-132). Crawsfordville, IN: Candlewick Press.

Heppermann, Christine. (2010). Telling the Truth. In  R. Sutton and M. Parravano (Editors), A Family of Readers.  (pp. 239-244). Crawsfordville, IN: Candlewick Press.

Lamb, Nancy. (2001). The Writer’s Guide to Crafting Stories for Children. Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer’s Digest Books.

Lamott, Anne. (1994). Bird by Bird. New York: Anchor Books.

Levine, Gail Carson. (2006). Writing Magic. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.

Long, Joanna Rudge. (2010). What Makes a Good “Three Little Pigs”?. In  R. Sutton and M. Parravano (Editors), A Family of Readers.  (pp. 76-82). Crawsfordville, IN: Candlewick Press.

Lurie, Alison. (1990). Don’t Tell the Grown-Ups: The subversive Power of Children’s Literature. New York: Nack Bay Books.

Meek Spencer, Margaret. (2003). What More Needs Saying about Imagination? In Reading Research Quarterly (Vol. 38, pp. 546-551).

Parravano, Martha V. (2010). Overview. In  R. Sutton and M. Parravano (Editors), A Family of Readers.  (pp. 1-6). Crawsfordville, IN: Candlewick Press.

Paul, Ann Whitford. (2009). Writing Picture Books. Cincinatti, Ohio: Writers Digest Books.

Smith, Vicky. (2010). Know-How and Guts. In  R. Sutton and M. Parravano (Editors), A Family of Readers.  (pp. 172-179). Crawsfordville, IN: Candlewick Press.

Sutton, Roger. (2010). Introduction. In  R. Sutton and M. Parravano (Editors), A Family of Readers.  (pp. i-xviii). Crawsfordville, IN: Candlewick Press.

Trites, Roberta S. (1997). Waking Sleeping Beauty: Feminist Voices in Children’s Novels. University of Iowa Press, ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/pensu/detail.action?docID=1021700.

What is the use of stories that aren’t even true?

What IS the use of stories that aren’t even true?

The oft-asked question in Salman Rushdie’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories is, “What is the use of stories that aren’t even true?”

While Rushdie’s book is described as an example of a more comical and light subdivision of the fantasy genre, each form of fantasy contains within it a variety of aspects that resonate within additional fantastical categories. Rushdie’s question can be applied to and answered through any genre of fantasy.

There is truth in every fictional story, and the uses of fictional stories, while dependent to some extent upon author intent and reader response, are, in fact, infinite.

If fictional stories had no use, why would anyone write fiction or fantasy? 

Storytellers may not be aware of their subtexts, attitudes, or perspectives about the purpose or benefit of their words and stories, but that does not mean they are not present.  While ideas about use may vary and differ, each author must believe that their storytelling will be put to some use or another.  These uses are often subjective, multifaceted, and numerous.  Just as an author may communicate many different ideas, meanings, and uses, readers may also interpret or superimpose many different ideas, meanings, and uses.  C.S. Lewis communicated tenants of Christian theology through many of his works, but he also reiterated the use of fantasy as a way for readers to address real-life issues, through a fantasy world to explore “emotional dilemmas (they) feel faced by in their everyday lives” (Rustin, 1987, p. 40).  The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is clearly representative of the important use of fantasy as a tool to address cultural, societal, emotional, and psychological needs, understanding, and development – a prevalent perspective about fantasy’s value and use.

The primary, overarching importance of the use of children’s fantasy literature is the idea that the genre addresses and fulfills vital “psychological, cultural and aesthetic needs which are disregarded by most other forms of contemporary literature” (Oziewicz, 2008, p. 66). 

Fantasy allows the fears and worries of society to be addressed and explored, as well as providing a great deal of “potential as an emotional survival strategy” (Bharat, 2015, p. 305).  In addition, “stories can be a cohesive force in constructing a community” (Mukherjee, 1998, p. 175), a force that allows communities to overcome obstacles and experience positive growth and development.  Lloyd Alexander’s “The Grammar of Story” emphasizes this importance by detailing the ways in which words and storytelling can work magic.  Rushdie’s narrative in Haroun and the Sea of Stories provides valuable political and cultural implications about the intrinsic value and power of words and stories. This is just one narrative that articulates the importance of stories and storytelling and the ways in which they can be applied to resisting terror and oppression by conquering fears through living life instead of through grand, cosmic acts of courage.

Through the creation of a fantasy narrative such as this, an author can invent their own logic and use and incorporated it into each aspect of the story, so it has a sturdy base: “We don’t dig the foundation after the house is built” (Alexander, 1981, p. 10), and the fantasy world must have “identifiable and workable laws underpinning it” (Yolen, 1996, p. 173).  While each work of fantasy is unique, they are all bonded by their structure and interconnected in their capacity to encourage imaginative exploration and address very real concepts, dilemmas, and threats, such as the “tyranny of fear” (Bharat, 2015, p. 304).  New fears are constantly arising, and all types of fantasy literature can help to confront and explore these fears through large societal battles of terrorism and oppression as well as smaller, but no less important, battles of personal conflict, growth, and development.

Conflict is the dynamic element of any story, and the fate of the world can be affected by cosmic, mythopoeic quest and conflict as well as by the conflict-response behavior of a single person, as revealed through interactions with themselves, others, and the world around them.

While each fantasy story may be categorized according to a general consensus of its overall purpose, use, or tone, each fantasy story is an amalgam of diverse components that draw on a variety of ideas about the truth of untrue stories.  “What is the use of stories that aren’t even true?”  The use of Rushdie’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories is to answer this very question, and in many ways, this is the use of every work of fantasy literature.  Storytellers create illusions, and the truth in that illusion is “how thoroughly it convinces us of its reality; how strongly it resonates in our emotions; how deeply it moves us to new feelings and new insights.” (Alexander, 1981, p. 4).

Truth is not always convincing, and a fantasy story can help a reader to recognize and understand the truth in the world around them.

‘Untrue’ fantasy stories are incredibly valuable in an infinite number of ways.  Each fantasy genre, and each fantasy story, has unique and distinctive qualities.  In mythopoeic fantasy, adventure has momentous scale and consequences. However, while lighter fantasy genres may seem to lack cosmic battles of good versus evil, the adventures and battles still have consequences that are momentous to the characters experiencing them.

While mythopoeic fantasy suggests big answers to big questions, small answers to small questions are just as substantially cosmic to those affected by them.

A child can have an adult adventure that articulates hope for all humanity by the simple act of articulating the hope of one human. 

One human is a part of humanity, and the truth is that one child can change the world.

References

Alexander, Lloyd. (1981). The grammar of story. In Betsy Hearne and Marilyn Kaye (Eds), Celebrating children’s books: Essays on children’s literature in honor of Zena Sutherland. (pp. 3-13). New York: Lothrop, Lee, and Shepard Books.

Bharat, Meenakshi. (2015). Creative fear in Salman Rushdie’s Haroun and Luka: The ‘safe house’ of children’s literature. In Marvels & tales. (pp. 304-323).

Lewis, C.S. (1950). The lion, the witch, and the wardrobe. New York: Harper Collins.

Mukherjee, Meenakshi. (1998). Politics and children’s literature: a Reading of Haroun and the Sea of Stories. In Ariel: a Review of international English literature. (pp. 163-177).

Oziewicz, Marek. (2008). One earth, one people: The Mythopoeic fantasy series of Ursula K. Le Guin, Lloyd Alexander, Madeline L’Engle, and Orson Scott Card. New York: Simon Pulse.

Rowling, J.K. (1999). Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. New York: Scholastic.

Rushdie, Salman. (1990). Haroun and the sea of stories. New York: Penguin.

Rustin, Margaret and Michael. (1987). Narnia: an Imaginary land as container for moral and emotional adventure. In Narratives of love and loss: Studies in modern children’s fiction. (pp. 40-58). New York: Verso.

Strimel, Courtney B. (2004). The politics of terror: Rereading Harry Potter,” In Children’s literature in education. (pp. 35-52).

Yolen, Jane. (1996). Turtles all the way down. In Sheila Egoff et al. (Eds) Only connect: Readings on children’s literature. (pp. 164-174). New York: Oxford University Press.

Ella Enchanted and Being an Ordinary Hero

One of my ultimate favorite fantasy books as a child, and still today, is the reworked fairy tale, “Ella Enchanted” by Gail Carson Levine.  It retells the classic literary fairy tale of Cinderella with some new twists: Ella is, in fact, under a fairy’s gift (curse) to always be obedient.  The tale is a familiar one, but provides more depth and detail about the protagonist and her own journey to discover herself and break the curse herself.  In addition, it answers that question that was always infuriating to me about the size of Cinderella’s feet – surely there was more than one girl in the kingdom whose feet could fit the glass slipper!  Well, in this story, Ella has fairy ancestry, and fairies have significantly smaller-than-average sized feet, so THERE!  Levine’s attention to details such as these really grounded the story and made it more believable to me – it was definitely logical and made sense within the framework she created and expanded upon. While it certainly shares many patterns and characteristics with both more traditional fairy tales as well as reworked fairy tales, this is by far my favorite retelling of Cinderella.  I like that it addresses the real-life issues of the importance of being strong by making your own decisions, standing up for what you believe in, and the worth of sacrifice in relation to love and the protection of those you love.

“Ella Enchanted” provides a universe that is similar to one children have already experienced, but includes a great deal more in the way of explanations, possibilities and self-driven opportunity.  It is a great example of a way to challenge a reader to see beyond more simplistic explanations and search for new perspectives and explanations.  A retold fairy tale is a great example of this, because the concrete universe has already been established, and by telling the same tale from a new perspective, new questions can be unearthed, alternate mindsets discovered, and previously unconsidered horizons can be expanded.  This particular retelling is also consistent with the idea of concepts carrying over from the fantastical worlds to the real ones.  In “Ella Enchanted,” Ella is a real girl with a flaw that she has to work to overcome.  This is certainly a concept that is applicable to many people.  While Ella may not fit the traditional archetype of ‘hero,’ she is still heroic.  She becomes, through her own strength of will, her own knight in shining armor – in the process, saving herself, her prince, and the entire kingdom.  If someone as seemingly average and insignificant as Ella can create such a vast and positive impact, surely this will inspire those who read about her to feel hope and optimism that they, too, can overcome significant challenges and obstacles to create a positive impact on themselves and the world around them.

Fairy tales have been around for a long time.  And with each retelling, they have continued to change and grow ever since their inception.  “Ella Enchanted” is a distinctive example of 21st century fantasy with an alternate world that is still attached to a familiar and long-standing one.  While it may lack the grandeur of Tolkien, or the epic tragedy of Rowling, it is accessible in its realism and its message – one that, while not political or catastrophic, speaks to the more personal internal battles that still must be fought and are no less important than those larger-than-life clashes between good and evil.  “Ella Enchanted” has no evil villain to be abolished or grand quest to be completed.  There are good characters and bad characters, but the main struggle is simply one between a girl and the unwarranted chance restrictions and conditions to which she finds herself bound.  Ella is ordinary, but she is strong.  And it is that kind of inner strength and conviction that is an amazing resource in struggling through such challenges as anxiety, depression, and insomnia.

Read it.  Or else.

(If you were Ella, you’d HAVE to obey me, but as it is, you have the freedom of choosing.)

I’ve had this copy for NINETEEN YEARS! I think it looks pretty good considering how many times I’ve read it!
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