Microsoft Word final-current Developments at the Intersection of British Children-online-version doc

1.4.2
 
What is “Children’s Literature”? 
In its rather short life,
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literature intended for children has witnessed periods in which 
defining its target group may have been easier than today. For example, the common practice 
of banishing fantasies and fairy stories to the nurseries automatically defined its main 
readership, namely children. In his famous essay “On Fairy Stories” (1938),
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Tolkien 
denounces
this very state of affairs
and demands a reversal. According to him, fairy tales are 
much more suitable for adults rather than children and should not be excluded from 
respectable “high literature”.
Besides a restriction on account of the affiliation with a certain genre or topic there is 
another way of forming target groups. Guiding age suggestions on book covers and shop or 
library shelves attempt a pre-selection of readers. It remains to be seen in how far arbitrary 
recommendations in form of specifications such as “ages 9-12” are practical and in keeping 
with the times. In addition to genre and age ranges, educational aspects influence content and 
intended readership. By definition, values and traditions are conveyed, designed to teach 
children how to become a full member of society. Literature for adults may hand down a 
similar essence, but not as explicitly instructive as that for children. Adults have already 
developed their behavioural patterns and should not require intensive direction. Since books 
for children
are handy instruments for socialisation, it would appear that they can easily be 
misused for indoctrination and patronising. Whereas nowadays these methods are scorned,
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open moralising and indoctrination used to be perfectly natural practices in a book intended 
for children.
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For temporal key features of the history of children’s fantasy see chapter 2. 
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Cf. J.R.R. Tolkien. Tree and Leaf. New York: HarperCollins, 2001. 
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The extreme opposite of total neutrality and lack of influence, however disposed, is just as undesirable and 
“arguably impossible”. Compare Peter Hunt. An Introduction to Children’s Literature. Oxford et al.: Oxford 
University Press, 1994, p. 3.

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Today, despite occasional strong objections, it is mostly agreed that there is such a 
thing as literature for children. Still, opinions are divided on as to what it encompasses 
exactly. Despite innumerable attempts at laying down the exact meaning of the term 
“children’s literature” and its components, critics and scholars still have not reached an accord 
on a satisfying definition. Almost ironically, one consensus has been reached, though: An all-
embracing, universal and lasting definition has not been found yet.
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This unsatisfactory situation
is the point of departure for the current discussion. The 
focal point of the debate is constituted by central questions to which it is a matter of finding 
satisfying answers. As these questions are thematically and textually interlinked, new or re-
definitions have far-reaching implications on other issues at stake. Thus, a consensus on the 
main components would facilitate laying down more precisely the cornerstones of the term 
“children’s literature”.
Possibly the most contested question is whether children’s literature does have a 
literary quality comparable to that of literature for adults or whether it is just a preliminary 
stage of it. This immediately entails the next questions. If children’s literature is therefore 
negligible, then why all this fuss? Can it be classed as an earmarked gateway literature and 
instrument for socialisation without any aesthetic qualities of its own?
If children’s literature does possess literary quality of its own, does it nevertheless 
deviate from that of literature for adult and if so, in how far and why? Is it completely 
separable from adult literature? Could it therefore be classed as a literature in its own right? 
Or is this splitting not permissible and children’s literature constitutes one of several 
subgenres of national literature? Central to this debate is the recurrent question whether 
literature for children is indeed essentially different from that of adults.
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Here, opinions are 
divided, too. Naturally there exist numerous differences, i.e. linguistic, stylistic etc. Besides 
the age of the target group, textual features play a role in attempts at a definition of children’s 
literature. Traditionally, texts intended for children are characterised by a fair amount of 
transparency. Preference is given to shorter sentence length, a manageable choice of 
vocabulary as well as a clear structure. Furthermore, a great majority of books for children 
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Compare statements on this score by Susanne Gaschke. Die Welt in Büchern: Kinder, Literatur und