Weeks 1-3 :

Children and
Children’s
Literature
Jerwin C. Recitas, LPT
Instructor
Learning Outcomes
• Expound on children and
adolescent literature
and its historical
development, in
relation to today’s
rich repertoire

• Recognize how language

development can be
achieved through the
use of children and
adolescent literature
Why do
we READ?
• Escapism, Imagination
• Experience “the lived
fusion with the text”
• To learn
• Reading is a
biologically
unnatural act yet
wonderful act {Maryanne
Wolf, Proust and the Squid}

• Consider your brain

on books
Writers on Reading
• “We read to know that
we are not alone.” ―
William Nicholson

• “A word after a word

after a word is
power.” ― Margaret Atwood

• “A reader lives a
thousand lives before
he dies... The man
who never reads lives
only one.” ― George R.R.
Martin
Writers on Reading
• “You must write, and read,
as if your life depended
on it.” ― Adrienne Rich

• “We read books to find out

who we are. What other
people, real or imaginary,
do and think and feel...
is an essential guide to
our understanding of what
we ourselves are and may
become.” ―Ursula K. Le Guin
The child
and his world of books
• “The world of books is a kind
of world where children will
find joy in living.”

a) books add immeasurably to

richness in living
When life is absorbing,
they can enhance ours sense of
its significance
When life is difficult,
they can give us momentary
release from troubles or a new
insight into our problems. -
source of information, comfort or
pleasure.
The child
and his world of books
b.) Books help
children directly or
indirectly to meet
their Basic Drives or
Needs (acc. May Hill Arbuthnot in
Children’s books)
What is
children’s
literature?
What is children’s literature?
For there to be
Children’s Literature,
there must be:

-Children
-Literature
What is children’s literature?
Children – the concept of
childhood, the recognition
that children have needs,
interests and capacities
that are different to
adults

Literature – the conscious

creation of literary
material specifically for
those needs, interests and
capacities.
How is Children’s Literature defined?
To consider:
• Audience
• Children’s books are books
that have the child’s eye
at the center.
• Context—children’s
experience and
understanding of the world
around them
• Content—children read for
adventure, enjoyment,
vicarious experience,
insight into human behavior
How is Children’s Literature defined?
• Children’s literature is
often defined in
different ways

-Books written by children

-Books written for
children
-Books chosen by children
or books chosen for
children
-It is often illustrated
It is tricky to define
what constitutes
children’s literature
because not all books
that children read
were intended to be
for children. Books
about children might
not necessarily be
written for them.
However, the content of
children’s literature is
limited by children’s
experience and
understanding. Its
uniqueness lies in the
audience that it
addresses, and authors
of children’s books are
circumscribed by the
experiences of childhood
which are vast and
complex. (Kiefer, 2010)
The idea of a child
• 1693: John Locke’s
Thoughts concerning
Education
• The mind at birth is
a blank page upon
which lessons of
life are to be
impressed.
The idea of a child
• Therefore, a child…
-Has a distinctive nature that
is NOT adult

-Has a need for protection

against the evils of the world

-Has a need for nurture and

support

-Should be gradually trained

and allowed to discover

-Should be allowed a time for

innocent joys and play
Thus, children’s literature...
• Should be different to adult
literature

• Should reflect those elements

of a child and childhood:
innocence and joy, protection
and nurture, gradual learning

-childish fantasy (often

drawn from folk and fairy tales)
-serious moralising (as
warning and teaching)
-dressed up in a format
designed for ‘little’ readers:
size, pictures, language, etc.
Children’s Children’s literature is for
readers and listeners up to
Literature about age twelve and is often
illustrated.

-twelve is a bench mark to the

children to enter the different
phase
-children’s literature are
suitable for primary school
children
-simple sentences
-children love to see
illustration
-illustration is to attract
them to read
Children’s Children’s literature is
Literature the good-quality written
work with the purpose of
entertainment and
information intended
primarily for children
from birth to
adolescence, covering
topics of relevance and
interests to children
that appropriately
reflect the experiences
and the realms of
childhood, through prose
and poetry, fiction and
nonfiction.
Children’s Good quality
– the personal and academic
Literature values to children
- moral values and insight into
human condition

With the purpose of

entertainment and information
– enjoyed by children
- messages within the text

Intended primarily for children

from birth to adolescence
- to address, entertain and
delight children of those age
- may have dual audiences of
children and adults
Children’s Covering topics of
relevance and interests to
Literature children
- about the experiences of
childhood that are good
or bad, set in the past,
present or future
- be relevant and common to
children today
- the source of literature
is life itself
- enjoying birthday
parties, losing a tooth
for the first time,
getting a new pet
- topics like Mummies and
Dinosaurs
Children’s Appropriately reflect the experiences
and the realms of childhood
Literature -limited by children’s experience and
understanding
-the emotional and psychological
responses should be inside the realms
of childhood
- told in a forthright, humorous, or
suspenseful manner
- much is known, but little is
explained

Through prose and poetry, fiction and

nonfiction
-purely entertaining, with no
instructional purpose like textbook
- myths, fairly tales, lullabies,
fables, folk songs
Other meanings associated with
children’s literature
• The imaginative shaping
of life thought into the
forms and structures of
language (Huck’s 2007).

• Children’s literature may

be considered an
aesthetic experience; a
reconstruction of past
experience, an extension
of experience, or the
creation of a new
experience.
Other meanings associated with
children’s literature
• Children’s Literature
is also called
juvenile literature.
It consists of the
stories (including in
books)and poems which
are enjoyed by or
targeted primarily at
children.-wikipedia
www.switotwins.com
Other meanings associated with
children’s literature
• Written works that
express in simple form
the universality of truth
and clearness of purpose–
characteristic of great
literature that would
endure and find a place
in children’s regard.The
body of written works and
accompanying
illustrations produced in
order to entertain or
instruct young people.
(Encyclopedia Britannica)
Other meanings associated with
children’s literature
It can be categorized in different
ways

By Genre
•Picture books
•Traditional Literature
•Fiction
•Non-Fiction
•Biography or autobiography
•Poetry and verse

By Intended Age
•Picture books – ages 0-5
•Early Readers – ages 5-7
•Chapter books – ages 7-12
•Young Adult – ages 12-18