儿童文学介绍

儿童文学介绍:
儿童文学的范畴
儿童文学通常由成人所编著，深层动机可以说是重造童年或教育儿童，许多儿童文学也会改编自成人文学作品作。

由儿童自行创作也虽可广泛包含在内，但因儿童创作常流于鸭涂或不合艺术，仍须由成人鉴定是否为具文学价值。

西方在近代有《罗宾汉》、《圆桌武士》等向儿童灌输正确价值观的故事读物，但这两本故事书，都是从成年人的文学作品里面浓缩出来。

第一本真正针对儿童创作的儿童文学作品，是1744年，由John Newbery出版的“A Little Pretty Pocket-Book”。

现时出版界普遍根据年龄划分儿童文学的类别，这个分类亦与皮亚杰有关儿童成长发展的理论相吻合。

这几个类别分别如下：
0-5 岁的学前儿童
5-8 岁的初年级小学读者
8-11 岁的高年级小学读者
11-13 岁的初中读者(英语称之为“Pre-teen”)
13-15 岁的青春期读者
儿童文学要求
教育性
儿童文学与成人文学有很大的不同，即它对教育性特别强调。

儿童的可塑性很大，古人曾用素丝来作譬喻。

由于儿童的年龄特征，使其易受周围环境的影响，所以儿童文学特别注意教育性。

形象性
抽象的说教是儿童不容易也不乐意接受的。

对儿童进行教育要借助各种各样的生动形象；儿童年龄越小，越依赖于形象化的手段。

儿童小说要求和戏剧一样富于动作性，更多的以动作来表现人物的性格和心理活动。

儿童诗需要更多的“比”、“兴”，以加强形象性。

儿童文学作品的语言要有声有色，娓娓动听。

儿童文学应调动一切艺术手段，创造出千姿百态的艺术形象来。

趣味性
儿童知识、生活经验不丰富，理解力薄弱，对那些复杂的整理不易理解，对成人的生活经验和某些思想感情也难以体会。

他们对于自己没有兴趣的内容就不喜欢看，甚至不看。

优秀的儿童文学作品，就是在轻松愉快地说笑中，在有趣的故事情节中，潜移默化地给孩子们讲述一个深刻的道理或做一些有益的启示。

故事性
儿童文学的故事情节，要求结构单纯，情节紧凑、生动。

强调故事性，并不是单纯追求情节离奇，不从生活出发，不写人，只写事。

儿童文学主要是写人，刻画人物的性格、心理、思想。

它的主人公不一定都是人，也可以使其他动物、植物，甚至无生物。

这些在作品中都是人格化了的。

不论写人还是写其他东西，他们的思想、性格都要着重借助故事情节表现出来，不宜多用静止的冗长的环境描写和心理描写。

知识性
儿童文学作品中应巧妙地穿插一些知识性的东西，以增加作品的艺术魅力，满足少年儿童的好奇心和求知欲。

儿童文学理论
概念定位
儿童文学包括：童话故事、寓言故事、神话故事、成语故事、谜语大全、民间故事、儿童故事、格林故事、幽默故事、儿童诗歌、儿童笑话。

司徒秀薇在《怎样指导初小学生的阅读》一书里指出：儿童的行为均以“追寻快乐，减少痛苦”为原则。

如果在他的经验中，觉得看书或听故事是一件享受的事，他会将它们与积极的感受连成一片。

因此，儿童文学的最基本原则，在于可以导引儿童享受阅读的过程，否则，一本书的内容不管怎样好，如果不能引起儿童的阅读兴趣，也是失败之作。

简单而言,好的儿童文学该符合以下概念:
1)有大量高潮吸引儿童阅读,避免过长的描述
2)人物角色鲜明,并有突出的故事骨干
3)有教育意义
可读性特征
可读性，狭义的界定，是指容易被了解的程度。

根据辛普森(E.Simpson)在World Book Encyclopedia“可读性公式”一节中，归纳了六个影响可读性的重要因素：
1.句子的平均字数。

2.常用字的多寡。

3.字汇的平均音节数。

4.长而复杂的句子数。

5.抽象观念的多寡。

6.人称代名词的使用。

以针对儿童的兴趣与教育并重为特征，由于某些儿童文学具启发性与教育性，成人也适合阅读。

许多成人作品引用了童话故事而改编(如《一千零一夜》原著、《令人战栗的格林童话》系列)，在购书时要先弄清楚，欲购买的的书籍是从什么语言、依据什么版本翻译，并仔细审阅其序、内容。

与成人文学的关系
最初童话故事的听众除儿童之外也包括成人，因为许多儿童尚未识字，须由成人口述讲授，许多证据显示许多之后童话故事集里的故事都是根据成人的民间故事重新编写而成的。

这些故事合集通常根据更古老的民间故事而来，像是《一千零一夜》、《吸血鬼的故事》（Vikram and the Vampire）及《彼勒与大龙》（Bel and the Dragon）。

许多儿童文学中的童话典故被成人文学大量引用，在杰弗瑞·乔叟的《坎特伯里故事集》、斯宾塞的《仙后》以及莎士比亚的舞台剧之中。

《李尔王》的故事中被认为引用了大量的童话典故。

在十六及十七世纪期间，意大利的Giovanni Francesco Straparola在《愉快的夜晚》（The Facetious Nights of Straparola）一书中重新诠释了西方文学中的故事，书中的故事包含了大量的童话故事，而巴吉雷（Giambattista Basile）的《那不勒斯人故事》（Naples）则全部都是童话。

卡洛·戈齐在他的意大利歌剧场景中用了许多童话故事的典故，例如他的歌剧其中有一幕取自于意大利童话的《橘之恋（The Love For Three Oranges）》。

与此同时，中国的蒲松龄在1766年他所出版的《聊斋志异》中也收集了许多童话故事。

而童话故事本身在
十七世纪末叶的法国上等阶层中开始逐渐风行，寓言诗人拉封丹和另一位知名作家查尔斯·佩罗（睡美人及灰姑娘的作者）两人所编纂的童话故事是其中受欢迎的代表。

虽然特拉帕罗拉（著有《穿靴子的猫（Puss in Boots）》）、查尔斯·佩罗和巴吉雷的童话集中包含了许多童话故事最早的型式，但这些编者也重新诠释这些故事以符合文学的效果。

与教育的关系
儿童文学的教育价值有语言教育、人格教育、合群合作、同理心、见贤思齐...等。

大体上，儿童读物出版与类别的多寡，以及读物品质的高低，可粗略反应出该国家的经济发展情形，以及文化、技术的进步程度；同时，也是该国文化素质与国民教育的参考指标。

Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve and is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes exclude young-adult fiction, comic books, or other genres. Books specifically for children existed by the 17th century. Scholarship on children's literature includes professional organizations, dedicated publications and university courses.
Scholarship in children's literature written in or translated into English is primarily conducted in three different disciplinary fields:
(1) literary studies (English departments, language departments),
(2) library and information science, and
(3) education.
There has historically been little overlap between the topics studied or the methodologies used to conduct research in each of these fields, but recently more attention has been paid to how scholars from across disciplines might collaborate, as well as how each field of study contributes unique information and theories to scholarship related to children's literature.
Research from a Literary Perspective: Typically, children's literature scholars from literature departments in universities (English, German, Spanish, etc. departments) conduct literary analyses of books. These studies are considered literary criticism analyses and may focus on an author, a thematic (e.g.,) or topical (e.g., ) concern, a genre, a period, or a literary device (e.g., ). The results of this type research are typically published as books or articles in scholarly journals. The highly regarded research journals that publish literary studies in children's literature include Children's Literature Association Quarterly, Children's Literature in Education, Children's Literature, The Lion and the Unicorn, and I nternational Research in Children's Literature. Research from a Library & Information Science Perspective: The field of Library and Information Science has a long history of conducting research related to children's literature.
Research from an Education Perspective: Most educational researchers studying children's literature explore issues related to the use of children's literature in classroom settings. Some educational
researchers, however, study home settings, children's out-of-school reading or parents' use of children's books, for example.
Literature is a powerful vehicle for helping children understand their homes, communities and the world. Even before young children can read, family members, childcare providers and teachers read them stories about people in far away places, sometimes from the distant past and sometimes about people whose lives are similar to their own. The impressions and messages contained in these stories can last a lifetime.
Books, at their best, invite children to use their imaginations, expand their vocabularies and gain a better understanding of themselves and others. If the books reflect the diverse groups of people in the world around them, children can learn to develop respect for self and others. Literature should be both a mirror in which children can see themselves reflected, and also a window through which children can explore the world around them; books can illustrate the concept that people from diverse groups can play and work together, solve problems, and overcome obstacles. At its best, multicultural children's literature helps children understand that despite our many differences, all people have feelings and aspirations. Those feelings can include love, sadness and fear and the desire for fairness and justice.Selecting good multicultural books involves an anti-bias approach, an active commitment to challenging prejudice, stereotyping, and all forms of discrimination; good multicultural children's books challenge stereotypes, provide a realistic glimpse into the lives of diverse groups of people, help children learn to recognize unfairness, and provide models for challenging inequity. Unfortunately, not all children's literature conveys the messages that we want young people to learn. Books often contain the same stereotypes and biases of other media, and because children are interested in a story's plot and characters, it is unlikely that they will know or consider whether a book includes racist, sexist or other stereotypical messages. If young children are repeatedly exposed to biased representations through words and pictures, there is a danger that such distortions will become a part of their thinking, especially if reinforced by societal biases. It is, therefore, the responsibility of adults to select literature that is entertaining, age appropriate, and that provides children with accurate representations of all people. For example, instead of choosing Cinderella, which perpetuates the stereotype of the lead female character as passive, dependent and naive, adults could instead chose Robert Munsch's The Paper Bag Princess in which the lead female character is portrayed as brave and independent. Additionally, because there are such a relatively small number of children's books about people of color, people who are gay and lesbian or people with physical and mental disabilities, it is extremely important that adults make every effort to ensure that high-quality children's literature by and about these groups is made available to children.
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Lesnik-Oberstein, Karin (2004). Children's Literature: New Approaches. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
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