Children’s literature is obviously a genre which is aimed primarily at children. Authors use a variety of techniques whilst writing books for this genre in order to make sure that they are reaching out to their target audience. One example of such a technique is the use of short sentences. These are used in order to keep the reading relatively simplistic, yet double up to make for a dramatic, or tense part of a story. Another one of these techniques is merely keeping the wording of the story simple. This not only makes reading easier, but also allows the reader, mainly a child, to read quickly, and develop a clear understanding of exactly what is happening in the novel or story. During this essay, I am going to consider Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban of the Harry Potter series by J.K Rowling, and Peter and Wendy of the Peter Pan series by J.M Barrie
Any book in the Harry Potter series may be the perfect choice for such an essay due to the fact they are all unbelievably popular with readers of all ages. “As of June 2011, the book series has sold about 450 million copies, making it the best-selling book series in history, and has been translated into 67 languages.” As Harry Potter himself is the same age as the target audience, it allows the children reading the story to relate to him, and wish and wonder what it would be like to be like Harry Potter, and overcome the challenges that he has to in his wizarding world.
In my experience, books within the genre of children’s literature are often very descriptive, for example “A dementor rose slowly from the box, its hooded face turned toward Harry, one glistening, scabbed hand gripping its cloak.” This excessive description is done in order to let the child let their imagination run wild whilst they are reading the story and imagine what various things look like. I for one after reading the Harry Potter