Children’s
Literature Definitions
Anthropomorphism:
The ascribing of human
motivation, characteristics or behavior to inanimate objects, animals or
natural phenomena.
Children’s literature:
literature that expresses and reaches the sensibilities and experiences
of children today.
Illustrated book:
a book in which the illustrations provide enhancement for the book. The
illustrations are not essential to the reader’s comprehension of the
book.
Narrative:
a literary form that creates a story told in a
setting (time and place),
with characters, and
action or plot, usually
to accomplish an objective (the main
character has a problem to solve), with events leading to a
climax. Often the story is told in chronological order. When the
narrative is imagined by the author it is called
fiction. When the narrative
is based closely upon actual happenings it is called a
true story.
Picture book:
a book in which the pictures extend and enhance the meaning of the book.
Traditional
Literature:
literature that comes from the oral tradition. No one knows who first
told or made up these stories. There are many forms of stories from the
oral tradition including jokes, riddles, fables,
pourquoi (why) tales,
talking beast tales, cumulative tales, folktales, tall tales, wonder or
fairy tales, epics, legends, and myths. Many
other types of stories exist from cultures around the world.
to be continued
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