Once Upon a Time Children's Literature

Children's literature is a kind of literature whose aim is to fulfill particular needs of a specific audience that is children. Nevertheless, there are still some debates about what exactly children's literature is, and what are the characteristics that define it. In a more general way, children's literature defines a specific type of literature that gathers all the books designed to be read by children, as well as all the books children fancy reading. A difference should be made between these two categories. Indeed, there are books that have precisely been written for children, the ones that most of the time cover both an educational purpose and a notion of delight, for the greatest pleasure of children, but there are also books that were not intended to be read by children, such as Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift (1726) for instance. They were not initially written for children, but without any expectation, were loved by them. The books used at school by teachers in a purely educational purpose should also be taken into account. They are different from the ones children read at home, notably because there are less appreciated by them, but nevertheless very useful for their educational development.

It is a common thing when asking people what they think children's literature is, to hear them answer picture books. They are not completely wrong to think so, since picture books are a form of children's literature exclusively reserved for children, but even if they are not wrong, other kinds of children's books must also be taken into account when talking about the genre of children's literature. It includes fairy tales, fables, novels and so many different genres. Yet, above all, it is the relationship children's literature maintains with the specific audience represented by children themselves that creates its strength. Nevertheless, this enthusiasm for children's literature and this preoccupation with children's wellbeing is quite new at once in social, cultural and literary history. As soon as society began to consider children differently, as a separate group of people with specific needs, children's literature made its appearance in the world of literature. Yet, children's literature being a genre of literature not so common, children's writers must fight to make the rest of the world understand that writing, reading or studying children's literature is not easier than any other kind of literature, but is different. Besides, children's books should not be considered as books for children only, because a lot of adults like reading or rereading books they loved or disliked when they were young. It may also happen that, as adults, they would not appreciate a book they loved during their childhood for the same reason they used to do so. Indeed, the characteristics that make us like or dislike a book may change according to our age.

Children's literature is so important in the intellectual development of children that some conventions must be respected. Indeed, even if not so many people admit that children's literature was an essential component of their education when they were young, they have been influenced by their early readings. This is why some aspects of life, such as death, violence or sex for instance, must be avoided or blurred in children's books in order to protect the innocence of childhood.

In order to understand better what children's literature is, we are going to analyse the genre in three different parts. At first, I am going to develop the evolution of childhood and children's literature through time, by analysing how the two are connected to each other and how they have slowly been accepted by society. Then, in a second part, I am going to consider the notion of children's literature itself, by developing the conventions required by such a specific genre of literature, notably by analysing the different characteristics that define the genre, and also by defining the importance of the concept of reading aloud . Lastly, in a third part, I am going to analyse the importance of children's literature in childhood education, notably by making a point on its benefits for language acquisition and its development, but also for the expansion of critical literacy, and how it helps children to develop their writing and reading skills.

What is childhood? The idea of what a child is, and the notion of childhood differs from one culture to another. These two notions have changed over time and have something to do with age, physical, intellectual and spiritual development. Until the mid 17th century, infanticide was a common practice, since children were more considered as a burden rather than as a small creature that needed care and love. Children were considered as equal members of society without any particular needs or interests, who acted as everyone else did. After being born, the child was regarded as “a miniature adult” as Ariès describes him. This can be noticed in drawings and paintings, where children were not so different from adults since they were not represented with a childish face. They really looked like adults, except that they were tiny. Furthermore, as soon as they stopped being babies, they used to be dressed like adults of their class. All this tends to prove that notions about children and childhood, that is to say, a stage of life with distinct characteristics as we consider it today, are elements of a society's ideology. Yet, there is some evidence that the society of that time considered childhood as a separate stage of life with separate needs. Indeed, laws existed to protect orphans, and medicine used both different and more appropriate treatments for children. They were notwithstanding considered as vulnerable beings needing particular protection.

From the 17th century, children began to be regarded differently, that is to say as innocent, susceptible and easily influenced human beings. Since then, literature for children began to exist as soon as adults understood that children were different from them in ways that made them need a particular literature of their own.

The 17th century was also the golden age of Puritanism, which played an important role in children's literature thanks to the influence they had on it. Indeed, adults’ books were sometimes adapted to children but they were often considered as scandalous by the Puritans who attacked the clergy for allowing children to read books such as Robin Hood for instance. Puritans, who were radical Protestants, considered that everyone was born a sinner, and they thought that children may be corrupted by readings such as the numerous chapbooks that could be found during the 17th century. In a more general way, they were opposed to childhood. Two possible lives were presented to children. Either you behave well and you go to Heaven, or you behave badly and you go straight to Hell. Spiritual education was the only way to avoid damnation, and it's up to you to let God purifying you. They considered reading as a key element of this kind of education. To promote this idea, they wrote books, specially written to confirm their ideal of education. Puritan literature is essentially about innate sinfulness, scriptural fundamentalism, and punishment as the way of redemption and personal responsibility for redemption. In a more general way, Puritan literature was all about death and brutal disciplines and was very depressive. Yet, the Puritan literature was really significant in children's literature because it was among the first to be written specially for children. For instance, Token for children: Being an Exact Account of the Conversion, Holy and Exemplary lives, and Joyful deaths of Several Young Children by James Janeway, first published in 1672.

During the mid eighteenth century, things changed again. Children's mortality rate decreased. As a consequence, there were more and more children and parents began to react differently towards their children. The family bonds between children and parents were more important and parents began to spend more and more money educating their children. The way of seeing children completely differed from the previous years, and they were now considered as a separate kind of species, a separate social group. People could now make their living, and the middle-class rose, which meant that financial situation of the family rose as well, and people could afford to buy new things, and could buy books for their children who wanted their own copies and refused to share them with their brothers and sisters.

This overview of the conception of the notions of children and childhood shows us that people considered these two key notions differently from nowadays. It may make us think that what people now take for granted about childhood, is not necessarily the entire truth, and may be susceptible to change in the centuries to come. If childhood and children were a matter of ideology centuries ago, there is no reason why it may not be so today.

Besides, it seems as if childhood and children's literature can never be dissociated from each other, since each time we concentrate on either of the two notions, it cannot be done without talking about its counterpart.

The fact that the notion of childhood evolved through time can be explained by the fact that the notion of family changed as well. The way the concept of “family” is understood, has never been the same all through the centuries. Indeed, the notion of “family” in the 18th or 19th century differs from today. To understand the description of families in children's novels, we need to understand the historical and social contexts in which the novels were written. The evolution followed changes of time and ways of thinking it went through, until developing the concepts of childhood and family as we know them today. During the 18th century, families were large, notably because it was common to have four or five children, but also because the grandparents were often living with them.

In the 19th century, another change occurred, and nuclear families began to be precisely determined and modern values slowly took shape. This can be explained by a decline of infant mortality and an increase in longevity. Then, families remained together longer, and relationships between the members of family surely began to be more heartfelt. Even if families were still large, people had fewer children, which allowed them to spend more time with them, to educate and cherish them. Consequently, the parent-child relationship was more based on love than fearful respect, contrary to previous centuries.

As time went on, the family became more and more nuclear, that is to say, with the father, the mother and the children, and the bonds within the family tightened. From then on, childhood became an increasingly important notion in society, and in the 19th century, it began to be perceived as a specific and important period in life. People began to associate it with innocence and purity. Indeed, this idea is very well represented by Lewis Carol, who considered childhood as the extreme purity that came before becoming a sinful adult.

This idea of an innocent childhood is mostly a middle-class concept and as time goes on, specific treatments were devoted to children, such as a separate justice system for adults and for children and a specific medicine for instance.


Children's literature is a concept which is not so old, but it can easily be related through time. No specific literature or even specific books for children existed before 1740. Indeed, to allow children's literature to exist, children needed to be recognized as a specific social group, as we know it nowadays.

Children's literature is important since it conveys various meanings that can help children grow up. Indeed, children's literature and children's books are the first situations where children can confront and compare their way of seeing things, in comparison to adults' perception of the world in which they are living. As a consequence, it is quite naturally that books for children were written to educate them. Literature was also an efficient method of socialization, to help them to integrate themselves into the society they are living in.

Children's literature is completely different from the one for adults, which can easily be explained by the fact that it is intended for a different audience, whose skills are not the same as adults' and whose centres of interest also differ from the adults'. Children cannot and would not appreciate at all the same kind of reading as adults, simply because their vision of the world around them is different from the adults'.

On a literary level, literature for children did not really exist before the 1740's. This date is very important in the history of children's literature since from then on, the theme of children's literature really began to exist. Indeed, this change can be awarded to John Newberry with his publication in 1744 of A little Pretty Pocket Book, Intended for the Instruction and Amusement of Little Master Tommy and Pretty Miss Polly: with two letters from Jack the Giant Killer; As also a ball and pincushion; The use of which will infallibly Make Tommy a Good Boy, and Polly a good girl. In it, he tries to teach the alphabet by diversion, by inserting the notion of play and delight while learning, notably by introducing songs, moral tales and pictures engraved in wood. John Newberry is considered as the founding father of children's literature. His books fitted children's aptitudes, appetites and attitudes, notably thanks to the fact that the books were small, which allowed them to suit children's hands. The publication of A little pretty pocket book, announced a real turning point in the field of children's literature and was the beginning of a real commercial success, which allowed Newberry to make a lot of money out of it.

It is not rare to see and hear people say that they produce children's books for many good reasons, such as to pass adults' experiences and culture on to children, but we should not forget that for the ones who produce and sell those books, it was above all a business, a lucrative way to make a living. Those books were nevertheless essentially written to educate children. Indeed, until the 19th century, books were associated with instruction but not with enjoyment. This notion came later, when people began to consider the fact that learning while having fun was possible and even more efficient.

Literature is an important concept in children's education. Books act like guidelines for them, but before this ideology was taken for granted, the only books that children could read were the ones designed for adults and those read at school : the text-books whose aim was to instruct, by opposition to trade books which were designed to entertain. There were also hornbooks, covered with a thin layer of animal horn and that depicted the alphabet, religious books, conduct books and lastly chapbooks which were short stories sold by chapmen. There is no proof that they were read by children but we suppose so, notably thanks to margins that have been found in some books.

A massive awakening in children's education occurred in 1693, when John Locke published his book entitled “Some Thoughts Concerning Education”. In it, he explained that nothing is innate and that everything has to be learnt. Knowledge and morality could be gained by the means of education and books. Moreover, only few children knew how to read and only a small amount of books were written for them. The notion of childhood was not well enough developed to permit the expansion of children's literature, since childhood was completely ignored, just as if people did not exist before being adults. If children wanted to instruct themselves by the means of books, they had to borrow adults' books. It happened that children loved fables, because they involve animals, and animals’ stories have always been children's favourite stories; but they also loved medieval romances such as Robin Hood or King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. With the European Renaissance, and the printing revolution, books were much more widespread, and it was much easier to obtain copies of books. This revolution also allowed children to increase their level of education since books were more and more used in an instructional purpose. The first picture books were published, notably Orbis Pictus, published by John Amos Comenius (1657). It consists of an ABC book, illustrated with pictures that help to understand the content. It was the first time that such an emphasis was put on the importance of pictures to develop the meaning of a story. Indeed, in a book, the story is generally told through the text but also through the pictures. It generally helps the reader to understand better where the scene takes place and to visualize the characters and the places.

From the 17th century, a new turning point occurred with the rise of Puritanism. Children's literature was now seen as essential in children's lives, since it was perceived as the only means to get rid of their sinful soul and reach salvation to be able to go to heaven, notably by reading and analysing the Bible.

During the 18th century, the emphasis was put on Moral Tales, and how to make good use of their morals in everyday life, to help them be a good boy or a good girl. Nevertheless, a lot of people did not consider children's literature as a proper literature, and believed it to be inferior to adults' literature, because too simple. Yet, the 18th century and the early 19th century experienced a rise in the genre of Folktales. Indeed, the Grimm brothers' stories appeared, as well as a lot of retelling such as Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood or Sleeping Beauty. But that genre was surrounded by a lot of controversy, notably because of the fact that they were not totally considered as belonging to children's literature. In fact, those stories were accused of depicting violent and immoral scenes, not adapted to childlike creatures.

During the Victorian period (1837-1901), children's literature reached its climax. It is known as the golden age of children's literature. More specific stories appeared, intended for a specific audience. Boys liked books for boys, especially adventurous stories, such as Treasure Island by Stevenson in 1883 or The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain in 1884, although girls liked books about domestic stories such as Little Women by Louisa May Alcott in 1868. At that time, even if we can't consider that children's literature existed as a whole, books were often about children if not properly intended for children, and mostly presented their point of view.

When reading books for children, we may wonder what makes these books specifically designed for children and why children love them. To answer this question, we need to focus on the conventions required by the genre of children's literature itself. Indeed, a children's book can't be written in the same way as an adult's book if you expect a child to understand it. As suggested by its name, children's literature refers to a type of literature that represents the characteristics given by popular ideas about children, both about what they are able to understand and what they might enjoy.

To reach this result, some conventions need to be followed. First of all, to draw children's attention, the stories need to be specifically designed for them. The best stories for children are the ones which are made of simple words and sentences, with a happy ending to which the children can identify with, and it should also include bright and colourful pictures which would make the book much more attractive to the child-reader. Besides, the book must be quite short, since if a book is too long, or too difficult to understand, it would tend to prevent the child from being interested in the book and it might ruin the child's interest in literature.

For a child, a book represents escape. Magical worlds and outstanding adventures would make him dream, so it is important the story itself contains role models, that is to say, characters who act in the right way and who are rewarded for their positive behaviour. This is why it is also important that children's books are free of violent scenes and behaviours, and of immoral manners, because the danger would be that they try to imitate such bad behaviours.

The same concern can be noticed about the depiction of frightening scenes and characters. A children's book should not contain a lot of them or it might scare them and prevent them from reading again.

It is also interesting to notice that children's books tend to be optimistic rather than being sad and depressed. Besides, it is not rare to meet fantasy, magical elements and adventurous incidents.

It is also important to mention that good children's books teach useful lessons to their young readers but should do it in a discreet way so as not to appear as a boring book, whose only aim is to give them moral lessons. This didactic perspective is important even if the main intention of the book is to entertain children, since it allows the child-reader to learn from his readings, and in everyday life, he would be able to consider what he has learnt in the book he read.

As soon as the conventions have been determined and the codes have been accepted by writers of children's books, the genre becomes institutionalized, but it doesn't mean that the conventions would not change as the different genres of literature evolve through time.

Children's books have really active stories, full of action and dialogue, contrary to adults' books which favour descriptions and narration for example. The plot is usually easily recognizable. Even though some details change, we can clearly identify a recurrent pattern. A young boy or girl, or even a young animal or object with human characteristics, enjoys the safety of a cosy home until something happens to disturb this happiness. Then, the young creature leaves home and lives exciting adventures, that turn out to be dangerous, and he finally returns to the secure home he used to have, reaching the conclusion that, despite its restrictions, home is best. Some examples can be found in children's books, such as Beatrix potter's Peter Rabbit for example, in which Peter disobeys his mother and has a dangerous adventure away from home, and then, returns to his secure home afterwards. The same can be noticed in Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, in which the central character, Jim Hawkins, feels bored in the calm of his home, but after exciting but dangerous adventures with pirates, he returns home, convinced that nothing would make him wish for the same kind of adventures again.
It is obvious that not all the genres of children's literature obey this rule. Indeed, some books have nothing to do with this pattern, but it can be encountered so many times that it can't be a mere chance.

The omnipresent “Once upon a time”, appears in traditional storytelling, but does not only exist as an unconditional convention to begin the story. Above all it implies specific narrative forms with a particular vocabulary and special syntactic forms. This specific language is the key point for allowing the book to be appreciated by a child, since it needs to fit his level of understanding and therefore, his age. However, it doesn't mean that children's literature should consist only of simple words. Some difficult words can be introduced in the story, yet it doesn't mean that inexperienced readers would not necessarily understand and enjoy them. They simply need to appear in a simpler and illustrated context. The other characteristic of language in children's books comes from the fact that sentences are short, even if they sometimes appear graceless. The result of such a simple language is that sentences are easier to read, despite the fact that they are not similar to the conventions of normal speech.

Considering literary style, children's literature may lack of elegance because of its simplicity, but this is what constitutes the genre of children's literature even if the latter appears to be an abstract notion, based on personal beliefs.

Several characteristics, precisely belonging to the genre of children's literature, are recurrent and important to mention. As far as I am concerned, I believe that three of them represent the foundation of the genre. To begin with, we need to consider places that create the world of children's literature. This idea must be compared with the traditional pattern we mentioned a bit earlier. Usually, the setting is minimal, that is to say that the reader only knows the basic description of the space in which the hero takes place, contrary to what can be found in many adults' books. This can mainly be noticed in picture books, in which pictures convey precise descriptions of characters and spaces like descriptive words would do.

It is also interesting to consider the fact that many stories for children are set in places generally occupied by children, like homes or schools. This provides guidelines for the child-reader, who identifies himself and his way of living with the hero's in the story. Yet, it is not rare to see heroes dealing with adventurous experiences in castle, forests or even imaginary places. In children's books, an identification is made with the main character's home or considered as being homelike, and the ones which are not. This is the typical contrast we mentioned a bit earlier, between home and away. Every situation is characterized by specific features. Indeed, the notions of being safe but bored are related to being at home, whereas excitement and danger qualify the notion of being away. Indeed, the idea of having a home, losing one, and finding another is a common feature in children's literature.

The second characteristic that can be noticed in children's literature and which is one of its essential components is the central character. Usually, the latter is a child, reflecting the age of the child-reader, which allows him to identify himself with his hero. This youthfulness is generally associated with childhood innocence. The aim is to make the child-reader understand that he cannot succeed by himself, in this world designed for adults. Texts for children draw a parallel between this innocence and ignorance, since it leads the hero, like Winnie the Pooh for example, to do things that are wrong but at the same time funny and adorable because innocent. But this innocence can sometimes lead to dangerous adventures, like Jim Hawkins' experiences in Treasure Island, in which he recognizes, as an adult, that the adventures he had when he was younger were mere follies. Nevertheless, the reader learns that this foolishness helped him to win the treasure. This ambivalence appears in several books for children, since it can also be noticed in Hansel and Gretel, by the Brothers Grimm, in which the main characters realise that their innocence has led to danger and despair, since the gingerbread house turns out to be the witch's dwelling. Yet, their dangerous adventure, allows them to find gold and live decently with their father.

In most children's books, the central character is a child or a childlike creature. Indeed, it is not rare to meet humanized objects or animals, described as being young, so as to create an equivalent character with the child-reader. Animals are frequent in fables, in which they behave like humans and possess human attributes, such as speech, or the power to think. Nevertheless, they don't only appear in fables since this phenomenon can also be noticed in other kinds of literature, such as the tale of Peter Rabbit, in which Peter is divided between his natural instinct which would make him act like a rabbit and steal vegetables in gardens, and obeying his mother by behaving like a human and wearing clothes. Moreover, the act of wearing clothes has a great importance in this kind of tale which introduces creatures half-human and half-animal. It prevents them from acting like a real animal of their species, and often leads them to dangerous situations. Still in Peter Rabbit, the fact that young Peter is wearing shoes and a jacket as a human being would do nearly costs him his life.
This omnipresence of animals is a characteristic of fables in particular. They are the heroes that the child-reader can consider as his counterpart, and it is well-known that children, and especially younger ones, react with pleasure to fantasies in which animals are involved which act like humans, and more particularly, which possess the ability to talk.

Animals are often represented as greedy characters, whose first motivation is food. This characteristic can be noticed in Little Red Riding Hood, by the Brothers Grimm for instance, in which the only thing the wolf thinks about, is eating the old grandmother and Little Red Riding Hood. As for Peter Rabbit, he almost dies in the hands of Mr McGregor, because he was too greedy and he couldn't resist stealing vegetables even though his father has been made into a pie by Mrs McGregor.
This obsession with food is a central theme in children's literature, especially in the one designed for young children.

Not only do animals possess human capacities, but sometimes objects like dolls or toys are animated. By bringing these miniature objects to life, children's writers tend to explore the theme of childhood in depth. These miniaturized dolls and toys can be seen as the representation of young children. They are usually seen as vulnerable characters that have to cope with the dangers of life, in this world made for adults, or more exactly for much bigger people. Yet, it doesn't mean that these vulnerable characters will not triumph over the most powerful or the most dangerous, it is quite the contrary.

It is also interesting to note that the child hero is very often an orphan, and these orphaned children are a relevant key theme in children's literature. Two different causes can be put forward to explain this phenomenon. On one hand, there is the notion of death, which takes one or sometimes both of the parents away, leaving the child on his own or in the care of a relative. Being brought up by a substitute family or more generally by a substitute mother is also very common in children's literature, and it is not rare to read that the child has been raised by a aunt, as in the beginning of Heidi by Johanna Spyri in 1880, or by an uncle, like little Mary in The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett in 1911. All this also leads us to the other theme which is the stepmother. She usually appears as an evil person, who doesn't care a lot about her husband's children. She is the source of all the punishments and bad treatments that could be afflicted on children. Once more, this can be noticed in Hansel and Gretel, since the step mother is the one who forces the father to abandon his children.

On the other hand, abandonment can also frequently be noticed in this kind of literature. This is not a new theme since it can be noticed in a lot of fairy tales or folk tales, such as Hansel and Gretel for instance, in which their parents, in a time of starvation are forced to abandon them in the deep forest. Nevertheless, several kinds of abandonment can be noticed. The separation from the parents can be permanent like, Mowgli in The Jungle Book, or temporary, like in Hansel and Gretel, in which everything is restored a bit later, as the children find their way back home at the end of the story.

Another notion that should be taken into account is the didactic aspect conveyed in the literature for children. This will to educate children through reading is possible thanks to the moral, emanating from the story itself. Through the moral, the child learns what it means to be a child, but also learns to share the adult point of view of the world. The most obvious expression of this pedagogic side of children's literature can easily be observed in fables. Indeed, this kind of literature is well-known for its teaching aspects of the common lessons of everyday life, like for instance “slow and steady wins the race” in The Hare and the Tortoise. Yet, this moral is not always obviously expressed. Indeed, sometimes the moral is implicit in the text, and can be deduced by the reader as he goes along reading the fable, but the moral may also be clearly expressed, in a few lines, separated from the text itself. In other traditional types of children's literature, the characters sometimes clearly express what they have learnt from their adventures, as in Treasure Island for example, when Jim tells that he would never make the same mistakes again and leave his home.

This is very important since it allows us to understand the concept of children's literature, which would not have existed if adults did not consider children as inexperienced beings in the world in which they are living, and that they were in need to be taught about how to live in this world. In this approach, children's literature was a means to educate children about how to cope with this world. However, reading books was not the only way to become educated thanks to books. Indeed, all the advantages if the concept of reading aloud have already been proved.

The oral tradition refers to what has been read aloud from one generation to another, from one civilisation to another, centuries after centuries. Initially, children's stories and especially fables, which date back from remote ages, passed down through oral tradition, as they were told again and again, mainly to entertain people. Unfortunately, like all messages transmitted by word of mouth, they have been deformed from the original story, and it is really hard to find written versions of the original stories. Only a few were written down and collected in books for educational purposes, to allow children to practise in schools. Before the written language had been created, and even before the widespread of literacy, oral tradition had much more importance in people's everyday life than it has nowadays. Today, the concept of reading aloud mainly refers to a strategy, whose aim is to give a child the desire to read as soon as possible, that is, even before he knows how to read by himself.

Reading aloud can also be considered in the case of illiterate people and children. Indeed, in some countries, the rate of illiteracy is high and the fact of reading aloud to these people provides them with some culture. The first aim of the oral tradition is the sharing of literature and its pleasures.
Before the fable became a literary genre, it was used orally for the transmission of common values and everyday life rules.

Reading aloud is also very important when considering the parent-child relationship. Indeed, it reinforces the bonds between the two by creating a special relationship that children can easily identify as being the same as the one they often read in their books. It can also help a child to develop specific interests in literature, probably much more than if he would have experienced the reading activity on his own.
For so many reasons, the importance of reading to children is significant for his development, and this can be done by any member of the family such as parents and grandparents for instance. But we should not forget that reading aloud is also, and above all, a good way to entertain ourselves, either by the delight of hearing somebody else's voice telling us a story, or by the pleasure of reading somebody else's book. Reading a book aloud can also be a way of getting out of a difficulty. Indeed, some books are at some times difficult to understand for a few pages. The fact of reading them aloud can help the reader to understand better what occurs in the story.



Children's literature plays an important role in the education of children. Indeed, thanks to literature, they learn how to read, but also how to think by themselves and learn to analyse what they have read and compare it to their own life.
Literature allows the child-reader to develop his faculties and notably, helps him to broaden his language, a tool so important in the communication system. Language acquisition is not innate even if human beings are predisposed to the ability to talk; as a consequence, children have to learn how to expand the latter. This development of the language skill is possible thanks to the environmental influences that surround children, notably with some factors such as the social, historical and cultural backgrounds in which children are living, but also by the readings children experience during their childhood.
Some parents consider useless the fact of reading a story aloud to children who do not know how to read yet. Nevertheless, some studies have shown that the mere fact of reading aloud to children is the best way to learn how to read. Indeed, when children reach the age going to the elementary school, they will know what to do with a book, like they used to do at home with their parents. For instance, thanks to the early readings they had at home with their parents, they already know that a book must be read from the left to the right, that each page should be read from the top to the bottom, which cover is the front and which one is the back and for instance, which tone should be used to tell specific expressions. Besides, we can also say that the child-reader will quickly be aware that the vocabulary used to tell the story is not necessarily the same as the one used for the oral language. All these precise elements may seem obsolete for us as adults, but it is of great importance when speaking about children and their early experiences with literature.

It is true to say that picture books are generally the first contact children may have with literature. Nevertheless, this early experience with literature, even if it is mainly composed of pictures rather than words and sentences, plays an important role in the development of the child-reader, since it will give him the desire to read more and more over the years and over the different stages of childhood he will go through. It is now well known that picture books are essential when talking about children's development.

Actually, one type of literature corresponds to every stage of childhood. These different steps in literature are necessary for the development of children. During their childhood, children need simple sentences, with simple words, and whose rhymes are easy to remember. These are the reasons why children love picture books and nursery rhymes. For those children, literature is something quite new in their life, and most of the time, reading occurs at bed time, while the child is comforted in the arms of his parents. This is why wordless picture books are surely the best books to begin with. Parents and children can try to guess together the meaning of the pictures and what is happening in the story. They can change the essence of the story, from one reading to the next. Even if bed time stories are very pleasant for parents as well as children, it is true nonetheless that it is a very useful experience, which time after time, helps children to develop motor skills such as the development of language, notably by the acquisition of new words of vocabulary, and the ability to understand what is going on in the story, by associating some aspects of the story to others. Then, during their early childhood, children begin to be more and more curious about books and their content and about what the meaning of the pictures may be. They like books to which they can refer to, and they like books that deal with parent-child relationships as well as nursery rhymes and more generally, all kinds of books that deal with animals that are most of the time humanized. Besides, it is a common thing that children want to read the same books over and over again. Yet, this repetition of the same story has its own symbol in the development of children. Indeed, reading a book several times will help him to develop specific skills, such as order and form, since children know what to expect in the story and they will not forget to correct their parents if they miss a word or an idea in the story.

During their middle childhood, the kind of literature in which they are interested in changes again. They are more interested in books dealing with heroes confronted with the consequences of their actions and their responsibilities in everything they undertake. Most of the time, in this kind of books the hero finds himself confronted with several decisions to make, and must analyse which one is the best. The moral deals with making good choices in life and learning from our previous experiences. Through that kind of story, the child-reader can safely test the various experiences he will make in life, and that the hero of the book he is reading, is experiencing in his stead. In that kind of book, characters begin to be more complex and children are introduced to heroes whose feelings and characters are a bit more developed than in previous types of literature. Love, hate, death and vengeance for instance, are more complex notions that begin to be developed in middle childhood literature, to allow the reader to learn from what he read in those books.

All those different kinds of literature are important since they represent the different steps in the development of children. Literature for children represents the foundation of the moral and literary development of the child-reader which can be found in the linguistic, emotional, social and cognitive levels of his development, which are generally encountered in books with specific characteristics, such as a specific layout of the book, repetitive and rhyming forms, a text made of motifs, simple concepts and of a small format. Besides, these various aspects of the mental and intellectual development of children are precisely the ones that also shape their literary growth. This advance in children's development and learning can be traced from early childhood to adolescence, from the acquisition of language, to the development of thinking skills.

Storytelling and telling stories are key elements in the development of children on several different levels. First, it acts on their emotional growth, by helping them to overcome worries of everyday life, simply because they have read the same experience in one of their books. Then, books can also be a means to develop their social interests, by making them aware of social realities, by letting them read or reading to them books talking about themes like racism, exclusion or poverty for instance, and help them to build their social life with others. Maybe more than any other texts, children's texts reflect society, how it wishes to be perceived and unconsciously how it revels itself to be in reality. Lastly, children's books provide an open window on the rest of the world and its cultural wealth. For instance, some children's books tell the story of ancient or present traditions that can be found in different countries, which allow them to be aware of the cultural customs which are in practice in foreign countries. There are so many different books, from so many different genres, that children's literature is the means that helps children to develop their imagination towards elements that belong to their own life, but also towards literature itself, which can be done at all ages since children's literature covers every age of children, but is also often read by adults who want to get back a bit of their childish soul. Be that as it may, children's literature will always remain the first contact we have with pictures and words, which explains why its role is so important. Consequently, children's books convey values that must be instilled in children's minds and whose impact can be perceived all through their lives.
As they grow up, children's appetite for adventure and imagination grow as well. They are going to look for books with more and more complicated plot, and at the same time, longer books. Step by step, novels for children will be able to fulfil their desire to grow up.