finale

 1. The arguments against children's and young adult literature go as follows: We don't know, we don't respect, we don't understand, we can't afford, so we don't teach. It's hard to even take these arguments seriously as genuine educational concerns. Children and YA literature opens up vast doorways that lead to things like creative freedom, open mindedness, knowledge of the self and much more. As humans we often revile parts of our past and praise parts of our past, this category of literature gives students an opportunity to reflect in an unbiased constructive way. In the case for Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacquelin Woodson, we have a book that follow the life of a young girl with a brown complexion growing up in the 1960s told via a collection of poems. The book speaks on family matters, social issues, African American history, coming of age, and more. It teaches about poetry and novel story telling simultaneously. If one of the concerns is only teaching the greatest literature that automatically this book must be included somewhere in that list. And that goes for all Children's and YA literature, I can't say every book in the category is deserving but every book deserves a shot, every book should at the very least be considered. One of the arguments states the problem is that this is just something "we don't know". The real problem is that educators have forgotten their role as students, when someone stops being a student they lose any potential for growth and that is not something that should be passed on to anybody. 

2. From worlds of fantasy and wonder tales, myths and folklore to realism, philosophy, psychology, and poetry, the umbrella on Children's and YA lit is vast, seemingly endless. To fully encapsulate this category of literature in a short definition is difficult. It begs us to ask the question, what makes a book about dragons love for tacos a children's book? Or, what makes a book about the holocaust a book for young adults? First thing is the central characters, Children's and YA books all have characters that are close to the age of their intended audience. This isn't always the case as we often find children's books with characters of all age levels, Perfect Season for Dreaming by Benjamin Alire Saenz is about an elderly mans and his dreams. But for the sake of my attempt at a definition I will stick to the stories that follow characters in their younger years. In YA lit we usually see these characters put through difficult situations, whether it be more psychological like in Aristotle and Dante Discover the Universe, Environmental like in The Book Thief and Persepolis, or maybe its a more specific threat like in The Girl Who Drank the Moon and The Graveyard Book. The language of these books is kept simple, especially in children's books we don't see words that are too difficult to understand or hold meaning that would be potentially harmful to its reader. In YA literature we see some more challenging word choices, but the sentence structure is kept simplistic or otherwise easy to read and understand. Even in a book like Brown Girl Dreamingby Jacquelin Woodson, each line of poetry is easy enough to understand that an early reader could pick up this book and be able to read it on their own. And that is something we can use to help us in our definition of Children and Young Adult Literature, these are all book that hope to get children and young adults reading on their own. I think this is why we generally see more of an emphasis on action rather than drama, kids want to read about great adventures. Which leads me to my next point, Children's and YA Lit should be able to inspire kids. This is a very broad point, but a crucial staple in what make a good children's and ya book. Whether it inspire creative thinking, adventure, bravery, being yourself, meeting people, overcoming obstacles, reaching your goals, or other it's crucial that these books inspire kids in a positive way. Book in this category have an incredible amount of freedom, as I previously mentioned fantasy we have incredible books about dragons eating tacos. More on the subject we have books about a Lorax or Whos from whooville, children's lit especially has the power to completely make up new words that could be accepted today, many speculate Dr.Suess was the originator of the word "nerd". Similarly books like The Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit have their very own language complete with its own words, type, and grammar spoken by the characters of the books. Hopefully my attempt to define Children's and Ya Lit has helped to build a further understanding of what makes a book in this category, its a vast umbrella of stories with seemingly no limit to its potential.