Children’s Literature

The history of children’s literature begins with stories. Stories, or narratives, non-fictional or fictional, orated or transcribed, are the building blocks of children’s literature. Stories are the entire reason children’s literature exists. Stories bring together, educate, and/or entertain individuals, communities, and disparate cultures, but maybe most importantly, and probably the...

I have never been so excited as I was the day that her father finally said “Yes!” I knew that the affliction of my blue beard had always turned women away from me, but this one was so special that it was worth the try. The way she looked at...

The original Grimm version of "The Frog Prince" tells the tale of a girl who makes a promise to take care of a frog who rescues her favorite golden ball. She tries to break her promise, but her father requires her to stay true to her word. The frog then...

The setting of this story is a neighborhood at night. The story is given from the narrator’s perspective. For some reason, he is walking along near a University. He is walking along at night, when he notices something peculiar. As he is going through the neighborhood, he hears the sound...

This paper will review the theories of a resurrection and spiritual enlightenment as presented in the classic fairy tale Cinderella. The paper will review classic symbols and their relationships to spiritual concepts, demonstrating how Cinderella comes from a worldly place to a place of renewal and transformation from a spiritual...

Little Snow White belongs to one of the most famous world fairytales in humankind history. Initially, it was written by Scandinavian authors the Brothers Grimm but later on the story spread around the world and gained a number of various interpretations that include many cultural codes and national heritage. Thus,...

There are a variety of options where an additional character could fit in with Mowgli, the initial jungle character of The Jungle Book, with his ability to live and communicate within different jungle communities. Considering his primary growth within the wolf community, as a young boy there is much to...

Once upon a time, there lived a beautiful girl called Cinderella. However, Cinderella was not happy. Her mother had died when she was a young girl, and she lived a lonely time with her father. Nevertheless, her father married another widow. The widow seemed nice but deep down; she was...

The children’s picture book Cinderella or the little glass slipper is a folk story that recounts the experiences of a European girl named Cinderella and her journey to becoming the wife of country’s prince. In the beginning of Cinderella’s story, the narrator introduces her to the readers while she is...

In his influential text The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell proposes the modern mythos of the hero’s journey, an archetypal structure that Campbell finds to be common to many literary narratives, dating back to the classics of western civilization and ancient oral traditions. Essentially, Campbell finds certain defining...

The Little Prince, by Antoine De Saint-Exupéry, is a classic book which explores how the magic of childhood fades as people grow older and become focused on gaining material wealth and status. As children grow into adults, they forget to examine the world with their hearts. They forget to pretend....

Kipling has always been one of the most prolific writers who managed to capture the essence of a big country being under the imperial foot of a major European power. In Kipling's case it was India within the English Victorian Empire. The collection of works titled "The Gate of the...

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants has become one of the most celebrated works of young adult fiction targeted at girls. The four characters who serve as the novel’s protagonists are united in their affection for the titular pants, as well as in their quest for love. Indeed, romance and...

Written by Ann Brashares and published in 200l, the novel, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants has managed to capture the attention of the audience. The novel is based on the adventure of Tibby Rollins, Lena Kaligaris, Carmen Lowell, and Bridget Vreeland, who are best friends. Ann Brashares adopts a...

The essay discusses the interrelationship between Gulliver’s Travels and Freud’s psychoanalysis in terms of human identity, behavior and personality. While Swift reflects a self by condemning his aggressiveness, irrationality, and narcissism, Freud explores the development of a child during a phase of neurosis; hence both depict humans as neurotic species....

One of the most compelling parts of the famous novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is the role reversal between the main character “Huck” and his companion, Jim. This reversal exists on several levels. Jim is older than Huck, yet because of his skin color he has less power than...