Defining Children's Literature

Children's Literature and Folklore – Defining Children’s Literature

The one thing most people think of when they think of Children’s Literature is wholesome and harmless stories that teach lessons or at least keep children entertained. Books like Harry Potter, Goosebumps, and The Cat in the Hat are just some that come to mind. Stories like these are commonly accepted as being part of Children’s Literature, however, there are exceptions that make defining it more difficult. Horror stories for children can often be grotesque and violent and could even scare an adult. Comics and manga that are in their age range could involve violence as well along with sexually explicit characters and themes. This is also true in the fairy tales of old where children were allowed to read certain stories that adults read as well. There are even some parents out there who will make their children read sacred religious texts such as the Bible to instill in them lessons that adults find appropriate. With so many various kinds of Children’s Literature out there, how can we define it?

To start off with, Children’s Literature is a genre defined by adults and not children themselves, they only repeat what they are taught about it. The fairy tales of old that people today associate with children were stories primarily told for adults with children added in later. Stories such as Bluebeard, Little Red Riding Hood, and Donkeyskin by Charles Perrault are examples of classic fairy tales that aren’t primarily for children. Even stories meant for children like The Little Mermaid, The Red Shoes, and The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Anderson are violent or at the very least disturbing. Fairy tales usually have a moral at the end to justify what happened in the story. These morals are usually what make the story suitable for children in the minds of the adults from before.

Using fear and violence in a story to teach a moral or lesson about reality isn’t a new or uncommon tactic by writers or people who market ideas. An article on violence and fear says, “fear and violence in folk and fairy tales have a legitimate reason to be prevalent in our increasingly violent and fearful culture. Exposing children to controlled violence in books allows for healthy discourse and provides a means to discuss fears and insecurities in the real world” (Boudinot). Learning lessons through fear is natural to humans so people replicate that through the stories they tell. This is a sort of safe way to teach children the harsh lessons of life without them having to experience similar events to the stories they read. One of the other genres used to instill fear in both children and adults is the political genre.

What modern political party doesn’t other the opposing side? What political party doesn’t speak of doom and gloom when it comes to not getting what they want? Political parties will play up their motives and goals so they can get support behind their party. Even if they don’t deliver everything they promise, they’ll remind the public what will happen if they go to the other side. What better group of people to instill loyalty in than children? Political books targeted to children involves them in a very adult situation that they probably don’t fully comprehend yet. There is not a single child who is interested in the current politics of today unless it is pushed on them by their elders. The parents of children will try to buy them colorful and interesting looking political books in the hopes that their child will not politically identify with the other side. Political books of the other side might also be boycotted and deemed not suitable for children. As an example, Thump: The First Bundred Days by Timothy Lim, Mark Pellegrini, and Brett Smith, was heavily criticized by a liberal media that wanted the book to disappear from existence because the Democratic Party views Trump as nothing but evil. Despite this, the book ended up selling well with four and a half star rating on Amazon from two-hundred and forty-three reviews. Politics isn’t the only adult topic that adults will push in Children’s Literature.

Religion is another major one, and how can you blame people? A person’s religion and who they consider God dictates their morality and view of how reality should work. It may not be that obvious because of how secular the world is now, but this is the reality of religion. Writers will write their religion into their stories if they don’t outright write explicitly religious stories. As an example, the popular series, The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien is a heavily Catholic-inspired story. One article notes that, “Tolkien’s deeply Catholic Christian sensibilities and beliefs certainly inform his writing as they did his fife. He mentions in another letter to an editor that the “Valar,” the angelic beings whose greater history lies behind that of the novels’ Middle-earth, are “beings of the same order of beauty, power, and majesty as the ‘gods’ of higher mythology, which can yet be accepted by a mind that believes in the Blessed Trinity” (Munro, 2). These religious themes and morals in Children’s Literature suggest that children are able to learn deep lessons about the nature of morality and religion even if it is just the basics.

Children are taught about religion and the nature of morality at an early age if they grow up in a devoutly Catholic family. It is a teaching of the Catholic Church that the age of reason is about the age of seven. When a child is this age, they are able to make drastic decisions that may even corrupt and damn their soul to Hell if they aren’t careful. The Virgin Mary, known for her mercy and love, came to three children at Fatima, Portugal and showed them the suffering souls of Hell so they could be motivated to make sacrifices for sinners for their salvation. Here we see a gentle but powerful figure in Catholicism using fear and what could be considered for adults to children. If someone like the loving Virgin Mary would show literal Hell to children, then what’s stopping writers from writing similarly terrifying imagery into Children’s Literature?

As a Catholic writer, I have delved into writing stories for all audiences, which includes children. Some of the stories I’ve written such as A Sacrifice for the Family is considered appropriate for young children despite the main idea of the story being the tradition of sacrificing the third child in the family for the success and happiness of the family. The cover shows off the hill on which the third child is brought to with a river of blood flowing from the top with countless graves scattered around the hill, and yet, it is considered okay because there is little violence in the story. Of course, this story could be considered more for young adults, but both sections are close to one another at the local bookstore, so who’s to say a young child won’t pick up the story anyway? Children are naturally curious and drawn to things that look interesting.

Some of the stories I write are inspired by children’s fiction such as the old fairy tales, but stories like Immortalized in Death is considered for adults because of the high levels of violence and disturbing imagery. On the other hand, the story From Hatred to Love is considered okay for children even though it’s a story with two adults. From what I can tell, it doesn’t matter if the story stars a child or an adult as its main character. I’ve talked to a few of my readers on this topic and they’ve told me that as long as there isn’t too much violence and nothing explicitly sexual in the story then it’s okay for children. This is one general way of defining Children’s Literature that I found to be most common, however, there are exceptions to be found outside of America.

Japanese manga and anime are notorious for its sexual and violent content even in the things that children consume. Series like Dragonball, Pokémon, Sailor Moon, and Yu-Gi-Oh are popular among children especially when they first came out. Dragonball is known for its high-intensity levels of violence and sometimes crude humor with Goku using his penis as a fishing rod in one of the first volumes. Even though the Pokémon series is made for children, it still has dark elements such as Pokémon that steal children (Drifloon), Pokémon that are the spirits of children who died in the forest (Phantump), and a Pokémon that sings joyfully as it devours its prey (Gourgeist). In terms of sexual content, Sailor Moon has sixteen-year-old girls dress in miniskirts and transform by being naked and enwrapped in light. This could be chalked up to the age of consent being sixteen in Japan, but the country has vending machines that sell used panties and shops that sell sexual products in plain sight, so there’s that as well. Japan and what they show to children might just be their way of defining what is appropriate for children. It could also be a refusal to go along with updated standards or an unwillingness to change because they don’t see a problem with what they currently put out.

In order to properly define Children’s Literature, this paper has gone over several examples that should give a proper definition. From fairy tales, Children’s Literature can have violence and be scary as long as it teaches a lesson. From the political genre, it depends on who’s politics are being taught. From the religious genre, children are taught by what the religion’s God dictates they can learn. From my experience as an author, it’s whatever adults or writer’s themselves dictate. From current Western modern standards, it has to have low levels of violence and little to no sexual reference or content, but on the Eastern side, it can be almost anything except for the most violent and sexual stories.

Taken all together Children’s Literature is defined as whatever the governing literature body of adults say it is. For a more consistent definition, Children’s Literature is a genre consisting of various genres that can have lots or no violence at all. It may have sexual themes, hint at them, or pass over them entirely. Current and past political ideas can be expressed as well as religious ones whether they’d be on the surface of the book or in-between the lines. The most consistent thing is that Children’s Literature is entertaining and a genre that teaches lessons, however, if we put all of this together, what truly separates Children’s Literature from adult stories if the only thing that separates it is a thin movable line that stops high levels of sexual themes and violence? Children may never have a genre that’s completely consistent, but one thing is for certain. Children will be taught and shown what adults or rather older children deem good for them.

Works Cited

Boudinot, David. “Violence and Fear in Folktales.” The Looking
Glass: New Perspectives on Children's Literature, 2005, www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/ojs/index.php/tlg/article/view/31/35.

Munro, Rebecca. “The Art of The Lord of the Rings: A Defense of the Aesthetic.” Religion & the Arts, vol. 18, no. 5, Dec. 2014, EBSCOhost, doi:10.1163/15685292-01805002.