I would like draw the reference of the boy from the classic ‘The Little Prince’ written by Antoine de Saint Exupery. The boy had drawn a picture and asked the elders “What is this?” The elders replied with a casual glance of encouragement, “A snake”. The child had drawn another picture and shown the elders asking “What is this?” The elders took another quick look and returned a reply with an indulging smile “Elephant”. And then…the child painted one more picture and repeated the question “What is this?” The answer was swift “A hat!” The boy shook his little head “No! The snake has eaten the elephant”. There lays the yawning gap between what we are as elders and what we used to be decades ago!
That’s why it’s a different ballgame to write for children. We let out our first cry in harmony with nature. We land on earth without any fancy clothes or make-up and we are not ashamed of our nakedness. That’s because we are a seamless manifestation of this nature at that moment. We are as naked as the butterfly or the plant. We don’t blush. As we grow, we alienate ourselves from the ease of existence and recede into the reclusion of falsehood and privacy! We put on clothes, apply mascara, and wear perfume. We try to be someone else on account of our own worth…separate from the nature. So we simply go oblivious to our true identity. We assume the role of someone else. We call ourselves elders - solemn and serious; busy in important affairs! Hence, writing what children want, calls for either wearing the hat of a child for a considerable span or remaining true to the nature like a newborn. Both are challenging. Otherwise, we present a picture incomprehensible to transparent eyes of children Also, due to the general trend of past, whatever literature children study, from the very dawn of their consciousness of language, tries to impart some kind of moral. Every story tries to condition the child suitable to the conventional society built by elders! The challenge of a good writer is to lead children to unbound happiness without reason or purpose; allow them to flow with the waves of nature.
One can never explore an uncharted territory without venturing into the path never walked before. Venturing into the unexplored terrain demands breaking the convention…demands guts to think beyond…demands the courage to taste the flavor of reckless freedom. Hence, it’s crucial that children’s literature should insinuate the readers’ mind to float in the world of unbidden fantasy where nothing is impossible. A child empowered with such freedom of thought would take forward the civilization few steps ahead one day.
Language is another factor. The most challenging task of a writer is to write in simple language. Even if a so called learned elder can follow tongue twisters, children would not do because they don’t have to prove themselves. Hence, a writer for children’s literature has to muster fluid and easy language. The format in which the article is presented, the type, color and size of font do play a critical role. Ease of reading or viewing enhances the appeal anyway. Again, the hard reality that Children don’t have to prove their worth makes it imperative that the story or the article should be able to draw their attention. Some catchy graphic is essential. Long before children learn to interpret words, they capture expression and tone-color. Hence, more than the narrative, the flavor of the presentation makes its way into their consciousness.
Our identity, conscience, ambitions are aggregate of our memories. If at some point our memories are wiped off, we start life afresh. The ego dies and are born with memories. Ego is destructive but it’s hard to kill anyway. So…memories form the foundation of our personality. Literature for children actually set the root of the foundation brick by brick. In ‘Mysterious Flame of queen Loana’, Umberto Eco had shown how the man with a ravaged memory rebuilt his past with the help of the old forgotten books he had read in course of growing up. Hence, literature for children must be positive and innovative to carve a space in the pristine soul of the child.
In addition to all aforesaid factors, one must be careful to restrain from going overboard in stimulating the children’s mind to the extent that reality is confused with fantasy. An optimization of all these factors makes a good children’s literature. After all, our ethics, moral, conscience are rooted somewhere deep into the various myths we enjoyed listening from our grandparents. If the myths had any factual base or not is another subject of debate but definitely the purpose of myth is to make a profound impression of the message in the reader’s subconscious. Children’s literature must do the same… The biggest challenge finally remains in the fact that the judges of the literature are not influenced by the vagaries of life yet. The eyes and mind of the readers are still impartial and bold. The acceptance or rejection does not require explanation. No color of politics or other kind of influence works on the judges. Hence, children literature is a different ballgame.
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