Children's
Literature ' is a category of books the existence of which absolutely
depends on supposed relationships with a particular reading audience:
children'
Karin Lesnik Oberstein (1999) (p. 13)
When
we use the label 'children's book' we are usually referring to a book that
is written for children by adults; though there are notable exceptions, few
published books are actually written by children. But this crude definition
starts to unravel if we take into account books that were not intentionally
written for children but have been published in full and abridged versions
on children's lists such as Jane Eyre or Oliver Twist.
Conversely,
some texts produced in the first instance for children, such as J. K.
Rowling's Harry Potter sequence and Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials
trilogy, have been marketed for an adult readership - complete with adult
friendly covers. This has led to a fashion in publishing for 'crossover
books' - books that cross the adult-child divide. The term may be a new
one, but books which appeal to readers of all ages have been around for a
long time. Lewis Carroll's Adventures of Alice in Wonderland being just one
example. Certainly the books of childhood retain a special place in a
reader's heart and imagination.
It
is significant that of the final 21 most loved books in the BBC's Big Read
(2003) no less than 11 were written for children and others such as Jane
Eyre and Great Expectations have been appropriated by young readers, thus
confirming the view that the books we read when young continue to be
influential throughout life. To suggest that there are no differences in
writing for adults and children however, may diminish the importance of the
child reader. Anne Thwaites in conversation with Penelope Lively, at the
Annual IBBY conference 2003 suggested that adults and children differ in
the ways that they read the same books; citing Philip Pullman's The Amber
Spyglass she suggested that while adults appreciated Philip Pullman's
literary achievement they were less likely to weep at the denouement than a
teenage reader for whom events were a lived experience. A similar point is
made by Bettleheim when he argues that different traditional tales resonate
with readers as specific points in their development. Red Riding Hood ,he
argues, is an adolescent text, while Hansel and Gretel carries more meaning
for the newly independent child.
When
trainees begin to consider the differences between writing for adults and
children their concepts of childhood are exposed. This may well be the
first time they have considered childhood as anything other than a natural
state. When they express views such as, 'children don't like black and
white illustrations, they prefer full colour' or ' children's literature
shouldn't deal with the darker side of life and themes such as bereavement
are inappropriate', they are expressing particular views about childhood.
Implied within these statements are judgements about what books can do for
the reader.
The
idea of childhood also has an impact on the way adults are inclined to talk
about children and their books. They are often referred to as though they
are an homogenous entity. This is epitomised in comments such as 'It's a
great book but children won't like it.' If the same comment was made about
mature readers i.e. 'it's a great book but adults won't like it' it would
sound very silly. It would be natural to object that adults have varying
tastes and preferences and even if a book appealed to a small minority of
readers we would not dismiss it out of hand.
It
is now widely acknowledged in historical, anthropological and social
studies that childhood is not a natural phenomenon related to stages of
intellectual development or physical growth, neither is the recognition of
children by adults contingent exclusively on physical appearance (Stainton
Rogers). Although theorists differ in their interpretations, it is largely
accept that childhood is perceived differently at different times in
history and within different cultures, and that even within cultures
definitions and perceptions can vary. Childhood is therefore recognised
within a social context as a dynamic construct. (e.g. Mead, Wolfenstein,
Aries, Stone, Jenks, James and Prout )
In
the twenty-first century what it means to be a child in western cultures is
shifting. The idealised romantic image of the child as an innocent, that
has largely prevailed from the eighteenth century and is symbolised by
Joshua Reynolds' The Age of Innocence, no longer embraces what we know,
understand or feel about children ( if it ever did). We do not live in an
age of innocence and though it may be hard to acknowledge, childhood is not
an age of innocence either. When author Jacqueline Wilson was asked whether
her books are concerned with the loss of childhood innocence, she observed
that society has lost its innocence and that children are simply party to
this state of being (Esther BBC2 7/3/00).
Commentators
in disciplines across social sciences, humanities and the arts have
detected the shift. In her critique of visual representations of childhood,
Anne Higonnet (1998) writes:
"many
people have noticed how radically the image of childhood is changing, but
this change is virtually always understood as a distortion or even
perversion of a true, natural childhood. Such a negative interpretation
depends, however, on a conviction that the childhood we know is eternally
and universally valid, a conviction disproved by the evidence of history.
The eighteenth century did not discover a real childhood; it invented a
childhood consonant with new values. What happened in the eighteenth
century is happening again, on the same order of magnitude. Just as the
invention of Romantic childhood caused anxiety, resistance, and also
brilliant innovation in its time, so is the reinvention of childhood doing
now." (p.193)
Many
trainees will not have previously considered the possibility that
'childhood' is an idea that it is both synchronically and diachronically
constructed and that is a carrier of social, moral, cultural values. By
reflecting on images of childhood presented children's books from different
periods, trainees develop insights into historical constructions of
childhood. To begin with they might compare their favourite books of
childhood with books that are currently popular with young readers. They
can be invited to analyse the features that the texts have in common and
the differences, particularly those that reflect the period in which the
books were written. Taking the idea further, they might read a
pre-twentieth century book that continues to appeal to contemporary
children such as Treasure Island. Studying
an adaptation of the book, such as Disney's Treasure Planet will provide
further opportunity for looking at representations of childhood as the
changes made in the process of adaptation imply a particular view of the
child.
Trainees
specialising in English can extend this study by looking at texts that are
no longer common currency but were once written for and read by children.
Iona and Peter Opie The Oxford Book of Children's Verse for instance is an
excellent survey of the development of children's poetry from early
beginnings to mid twentieth century and Morag Styles' historical critique
From the Garden to the Street can be read as an illuminating companion
text. Children's Literature in the 1890s and 1990s by Kimberley Reynolds
might also provide a starting point for trainees thinking about these
issues.
An
approach to children's literature that explores representations of
childhood not only enriches the trainees' English/Literacy course but puts
literature at the heart of professional and education studies.
As
well as affecting the representation of the child as subject of children's
books, the concept of childhood also affects the way that children's
literature is written. Jacqueline Rose (1984) argues that:
'children's
fiction rests on the idea that there is a child who is simply there to be
addressed and that speaking to it must be simple. It is an idea whose
innocent generality covers up a multitude of sins… Peter Pan stands in our
culture as a monument to the impossibility of its own claims - that it
represents the child, speaks to and for children, addresses them as a group
which is knowable and exists for the book.' (p.1)
A
significant number of writers have written for both adults and children:
Nina Bawden, Penelope Lively, Helen Dunmore, Ian McEwan, Jill Paton Walsh,
Roger McGough, to name a few. When writers are asked to comment on how they
adjust their writing for different audiences various responses are given.
At one extreme some claim that they do not have a particular target
audience, child or adult, in mind, while others give carefully considered
answers about the differences. Fred Inglis (1981) takes issue with those
who claim there are no differences in writing for adults and children:
'It
is simply ignorant not to admit that children's novelists have developed a
set of conventions for their work. Such development is a natural extension
of the elaborate and implicit system of rules, orthodoxies, improvisations,
customs, forms and adjustments which characterize the way any adult tells
stories, or simply talks at length to children.' (p.101)
Nicholas
Tucker (1981) points out that while there is general concordance with the
view that writing for adults and children is different, pinpointing the
exact nature of the difference is not as easy as it seems. As Nodelman
(1996) illustrates with reference to Hemingway and Kipling, simplistic
statements such as' children's texts use much simpler language than adult
texts' do not hold up to scrutiny. And yet there persists a widely held
assumption that sophisticated vocabulary is beyond the reach of young
readers. The view does not take account of the fact that children under the
age of five are not put off by Beatrix Potter's uncompromising vocabulary
(e.g. soporific in The Tale of Peter Rabbit; affronted in The Tale of Tom
Kitten etc.) when the stories are read aloud to them In fact parents who
have shared these books with their children will attest to the fact that
children assimilate words into their personal vocabularies, delighting in
their sounds. The National Curriculum does not support a deficit view of
children's abilities to cope with new language and states that at KS1
children should have access to 'stories and poems that are challenging in
their length and vocabulary.
Peter
Hunt (1988) argues that implicit authorial control is a characteristic
marker of the discourse in children's fiction. This point is developed by
Barbara Wall (1991) in her thesis about the role of the narrator in
children's fiction. Writers, she claims, 'speak differently in fiction
when they are aware that they are addressing children….. this is translated
sometimes subtly, sometimes obviously into the narrator's voice.' (pp 2 -3)
An
obvious example of authorial intrusion can be found in the transferred
storyteller mode employed by Enid Blyton:
Anne
gazed out of her bedroom window over the moor. It looked so peaceful and
serene under the April sun. No mystery about it now!
'All
the same, it's a good name for you,' said Anne.' You're full of mystery and
adventure, and your last adventure waited for us to come and share it. I
really think I'll call this adventure "Five Go to Mystery Moor".'
It's a good name Anne. We'll call it that too!
Five Go to Mystery Moor
In
this extract it is easy to see that the reader is directed towards a
specific response. In other instances Blyton intrudes with a heavily
didactic tone to comment on the behaviour of the characters. John Stephens
(1992) expands on the idea of power in point of view, distinguishing
between perceptual and conceptual points of view. The perceptual point of
view refers to the eyes through which the story is seen - this is sometimes
referred to as focalizing. During the narrative the focalisation may shift
many times from narrator to character. The conceptual point of view is
interpretation that readers are guided towards based on the ideological
stance of the focalizer. Exploring Children's Literature Gamble and Yates
(2002) includes a chapter about narration and point of view with practical
activities and critical commentaries that trainees can work through. Once
they have grasped the idea that a power relationship between author and
reader is played out in the pages of a book, trainees can become attuned to
the sophisticated and subtle ways in which this relationship operates. By
developing their own knowledge about this important aspect of text they
will be better placed to help their pupils understand the differences
between author, narrator and character and the ways in which viewpoint
affects readers' responses.(NLS Y3 T1, T3; Y5 T2, T3; Y6 T1)
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