Children 's Literature : A Good Or Fiction?

It surprised me at first that Contemporary Realistic Fiction is the most popular genre in children’s books. But after reading this it made more sense why contemporary realistic fiction is the most popular genre. It approaches the reality of children’s own lives. They can also connect to it so much easier than other genres.

In the modern world, children’s literature, fairy tales, and fiction books influence our childhood and early development. In the 1500’s and 1600’s no children’s literature for entertainment existed, they had educational books. As babies, toddlers, and preschoolers, my parents and teachers read us books after books. It is proven that reading to young kids is important for their imagination, vocabulary, and communication skills in early life.

Literature teaches kids to feel empathetic for each other. A story allows the reader to put themselves in the character’s shoes and gives us a different perspective on the character’s life. It also shows the reader not to judge someone by their cover because you never know what outside factors are affecting them. For example, Daphne's book is about a shy girl named Daphne, commonly known to others as Daffy Duck. She was raised by an impoverished, mentally ill grandmother, so the other kids would make fun of her. Instead of sympathizing with her, kids pitied her and called her names. “These are the experiences for a young person in which the sort of commonplace

    Over the years stereotypes and gender roles for women affected the archetypes they typically had in literature. They did not reflect on real life and were more enforced in

Children’s literature has existed for as long as there have been stories to be told to children. Stories, books, songs, poems are all made for children. Children’s literature does not have a definite definition of what it is; basically, it is anything a child reads (Lerer, 2008). Children begin to learn what reading and writing are used for before even knowing how the system works. Children recognise the function of written language by seeing examples of written language that are being used around them. Many children know the difference between reading and talking, they are aware that written language is used to do things in this world (Emitt, Zbaracki, Komesaroff and Pollock, 2015). Quintilian, John Locke, Saint Augustine and Doctor Seuss speculated on the ways children learn the Australian language and learn about their lives from literature (Lerer, 2008). In fact, Lerer states that “the history of children’s literature is inseparable from the history of childhood, for the child was made through texts and tales he/she studied, heard and told back,” (2008, p.1). Children’s literature nurtures an understanding of narrative structures and visual images played in storytelling, this helps develop

Ever analyzed a picture book before? The colors, shapes, and underlying message on every inch of the page create a story. A story that makes your brain tick and contemplate what exactly you’re looking at. These things are significant to the constant development of a human being, but the specifically to a child.

The genders roles in this book made the author make stereotypical assumptions. For example, soldiers are always portrayed as strong and brave, but most of the soldiers in this book were males and not females. This book made the stereotypical assumption that all males were stronger than

Children’s literature is an effective teaching tool for children but also a way for children to escape their daily lives through fantasy. Didactic material can be used to teach life lessons, manners and morals where subversive and fantasy genres can allow children to release from daily expectations and allows an outlet for their large imaginations.

It is important to teach children about gender roles since it is something that society holds in regards, but most of the time in literature it is done unequally. The portrayal of gender in literature is based off of the expectations of society and places bias on gender. Boys are portrayed as strong, adventurous, independent and capable and often play the roles of fighters, adventurers and rescuers. Girls are portrayed as sweet, naïve, dependent, sensitive and emotional and play roles such as caretakers, princesses and mothers. The roles of gender portrayed in literature are often a reflection of the views of society and do not offer objective insight. Even though it is important to teach children about gender roles, the fashion in which it is done in does not allow children to see beyond those expectations. If a young girl is constantly read stories about a woman’s role as a housewife, homemaker and mother, she will assume that’s what is expected of her and will not know society will allow her to be anything she wants to be.

Gender stereotypes or abnormalities are not always apparent at first when reading a book. But it does become apparent when something is shown that is the opposite of what society thinks they should be. Gender is a serious issue that most people do not address because they only think of gender as what they were taught their whole lives. Then when someone does not meet these stereotypes they are seen as an outsider and are ostracized. This can be seen in the novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao when looking into the life of the main character Oscar.

Reading novels is an experience unlike any other. With the crack of a new book, the reader is transported into the pages, into a new land, ready to take on the role of protagonist. Each little girl has the chance to be a pirate-fighting hero, each little boy able to become the doting husband. If that sentence sounds strange, it is because society has socialized individuals to gender any and all activities, reading included. Elizabeth Segel drives this point home in her article “As the Twig is Bent… Gender and Childhood Reading,” which gives an in-depth analysis of gender in children’s book, and the implications it has for readers.

As teachers, whether it is a parent, caregiver, or school teacher, we each have the responsibility to teach children to read to succeed later in school. The article, “Building on Windows and Mirrors: Encouraging the Disruption of “Single Stories” Through Children’s Literature” by C. Tschida, C.Ryan, and A.Ticknor. is a good example on how stories separate by gender. According to Bishop, “Children have the right to read books that reflect their own images and books open less familiar worlds to them.( Bishop, 2012,p.9) So our society thinks that we will make it easier by having kids read books that shows kids how they should see the world according to what other people want them to see. For instance the story about Cinderella, Cinderella is

This charming story reverses the typical roles within a children’s book. With underlying issues of stereotypes, independence and empowerment, it fills children with imagination and teaches them the importance of being strong, smart, and the realization that beauty comes from within.

Although many view children's fiction as suitable only to children, and an embarrassingly immature pursuit for a serious person, children' stories mold the way we think. They allows us to look at very complex and difficult issues in a safe and playful way, and they give us the freedom to imagine the unimaginable.

“Men are strong and do all the work, women aren't as smart as men, women can’t do as good of a job as men, girls are not good at sports,”(YourDictionary). These are stereotypes that are commonly present however, they are not always true. Stereotypes are created when you generalize something about a group of people. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, many of these stereotypes were the societal norm and where the expectation of a group. In Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women and Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, gender stereotypes are represented by both male and females characters alike. The women in the novels care for their children and families children, the men receive higher educations, the girls learn their future domestic tasks and are given husbands