Thoughts on children’s literature through time

I have looked at how children’s literature from past and present reflects the age it was written in; the beliefs and values of that time period are mirrored through the fictional novels for children. I have studied in depth the chronology and typology of children’s books, beginning with 18th century chap books, solely used for educational rather than entertainment purposes, through to the early twentieth century where we began to see awards given to children’s authors thanks to the influence of psychology. In more recent years fantasy has been an increasingly popular children’s fiction genre, which has led to a growing prominence of social realism.

I am interested to learn more about ‘cross-over’ fiction, which is literature which appeals to all ages, be that children, young people or adults. This idea of ‘cross-over’ fiction is perhaps an area I want to think about demonstrating my multimodal text; I want there to be some form of appeal for adults as well as children. I feel the best way to do this would be to exhibit a degree of social realism into my text, so that my reader will experience something more thought provoking and challenging.

Nowadays, it seems literacy is no longer about paper. Children have access to a wide range of technology, utilising a variety of modes to create more comprehensive and enhanced forms of literature.