Working Rough Draft

A Very Rough Draft of Essay

I am not sure of where I want to take this essay but here is a hint of where my thoughts are at…

There is only one way to describe children’s literature as whole and that is whimsical. The whimsical element is something that is necessary to include into every child’s book. The books that our class has read and studied this semester are especially good examples. Each book has a portal in which the characters enter, and once inside the new world that the portal opened up the most fantastical things happen. Is the reason why these elements are built-in is because without them would the mind of a child still be capable of understanding or be entertained by the story? I’m not quite sure of the correct answer but when I think of adult literature I don’t see the stories containing such whimsical and capricious elements. I know that a story has the potential to be an escape from reality. One of the most interesting gifts that literature offers is the transition into a fictional world, where the reader is taken into history or the future or even a made up world. The idea of being able to escape into a fictional world for a couple of hours is fabulous and could be just what the doctor ordered.

Creating that fictional world is the hardest task especially when it comes to children’s literature. The translation of an idea into a story for such a specific audience is tough. When the main audience is children the author is expected to focus on the mind of a child as a reference point therefore, there are several things that need to be studied. For example one of the aspects would be the character archetypes of the protagonists and antagonists. Another important task is to study the difference between the male and female characters and how their actions and emotions represent what a child should be doing, feeling or learning etc.
Are the children supposed to take these parable -like lessons that can be learned from these stories and then incorporate them into their own lives? What exactly is the point of children’s literature?

Please Note: I am going to add and revise shortly.