Children

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Childrens Literature

• A little nonsense now and then is relished
• By the wise man. --Willy Wonka

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Why Childrens Books?

• A bedtime story to help a child wind down
• Key for brain development
• Helps a child learn abstract thought
• Helps children imagine objects and create images
• Connects adult and child to magical places

There are many little ways to enlarge your
childs world. Love of books is the best of all.
--Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
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What is Childrens Literature?

• A book created for children right?
• Huckleberry Finn
• Grimm Fairy Tales
• Gullivers Travels
• Watership Down
• These books, all initially written for children,
  eventually gravitated to the adult world
• All of these stories are adult books that are
  read by children (or at least young adults)

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What Makes a (kids) Book Readable?

• Usually offers a fantastic realityan imaginative
  escapea playful playground
• Usually about a child (or an animal)
• Usually a simple conflict
• With a definite and clear resolution
• Compelling illustrations
• Yet still filled with all the elements of story

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Characteristics

• Focuses on action
• Optimistic
• Fantasy
• Pastoral Idyll
• Viewpoint of innocence
• Didactic

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Elements of Childrens Stories

• Theme
• Characters
• Setting
• Plot
• Dialogue
• Word Choice
• Simile
• Repetition
• Metaphor
• Alliteration
• Imagery (and images)

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Plot

• Simple Plot
• Build through Conflict
• Offer a dilemma (moral and ethical?)
• Provide closure

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Conflict

• Balance between idyllic and didactic
• Teaching how to be a mature adult in the world
• Retain childhood and innocence
• Examples/ Home Vs. Away
• Communal concern vs. self- concern
• Good vs. Evil

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• It is through literature that we most intimately
  enter the hearts and minds and spirits of other
  people. And what we value in this is the
  difference as well as the human similarities of
  others that way, as C. S. Lewis put it, we
  become a thousand different people and yet remain
  ourselves.     A. Chambers   

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Character

• Protagonist
• Little child
• Animal
• Inanimate objects

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Characters
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Traits of Protagonists

• Personal courage
• Caring for others
• Perseverance
• Resourcefulness
• A Belief in Others
• Optimism

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Word Choice

• Lemony Snicket
• Alligator Under my Bed
• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

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Lively Language

• Simple
• Sophisticated
• Lively
• Colorful
• Creative

• Alliteration
• Rhyme
• Challenging Word
• Simile
• Onomatopoeia
• Repetition

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Word Choice Activity
The big bear stood by the water. He looked at his
shadow in the big lake. He thought that he looked
nice. He went to take a drink of water. A fish
went by. The bear wanted to eat the big fish. He
ate up the fish and went away.
Revise the story by replacing precise, colorful
words with the red and underlined words.  Share
your new more interesting story.
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Theme
Acceptance, devotion, loyalty, and loss -- and a
spider and a pig!
Engaging the Enemy
Nazi occupation and the escape to freedom!
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Common Themes

• Snugness
• Smallness
• Scariness
• Lightness
• Aliveness
• According to Feeling Like a Kid by Jerry Griswold

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Where Ideas Begin

• Many people will try to write like Dr.
  SeussThey try and they try, it just isn't much
  use
• Trust yourselfyour siblingsyour cousinsthe
  books you read as a child
• What Do Kids Like?