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With the amount of children's literature available these days it can be hard to find quality books for children to read. In fact, the number of publications per year has increased drastically in just the last ten years (Keifer 25). This in and of itself makes it difficult for parents, and even some educators, to define exactly what texts qualify as children's literature, let alone uncover texts that will be beneficial to their children. So, with that being said, let's first explore a little of what children's literature is and how it can be defined.
Children's literature is best defined as a range of texts that are easily read and understood by children (from preschool to roughly ninth grade). Though, this is a very rudimentary definition and there is much more to this genre of literature that is not covered. Children's literature is also literature that kids can relate to and see themselves as being a part of. It helps them grow and develop into well-rounded individuals. In other words, it teaches children about many different things--life lessons, diversity, history, and basic skills to function in the world--by engaging them with language and sometimes pictures. Most importantly, though, this type of literature should help interest young people and make them enthusiastic about reading so that they carry a love of this necessary skill with them all throughout their lives.
If this isn't already enough to think about in relation to one genre that seems as though it should be so easily identified, there's more. One might notice looking at this blog that there are several sub-genres of children's literature. There are picture books, traditional literature, modern fantasy, contemporary realistic fiction, historical fiction, and biography. Each of these genres then has a more precise definition of its own. To make matters a bit more confusing, some of the genres crisscross each other making it possible for a piece of children's literature, like a picture book, fall into other genres. So, in essence, to truly understand children's literature, one must have an understanding of these sub-genres and how they are relevant to children and their appreciation of what they read.
For those just starting out in exploration of this genre, do not fear. The intent of this blog is to provide you with a simple guide to children's literature and its sub-genres. It will also show you recent works that appear within those genres so you have a reference point for future exploration. Finally, you will find some web pages in the resources section that may be of interest to you when it comes to looking for and selecting children's literature.
