Overview Fantasy Literature for Children

Lesson Overview

If you look at any of the classic children's literature textbooks, such as Zena Sutherland's Children and Books, Charlotte Huck's Children's Literature in the Elementary School, or Donna Norton's Through the Eyes of a Child, you'll notice that the chapters on fantasy have something that the chapters on realistic and historical fiction don't have: a rationale for the creation and existence of fantasy literature. Fantasy is a genre that raises suspicion and therefore generates arguments in its defense. If we see a child thoroughly engrossed in fantasy literature, we may become concerned that the child is escaping from reality -- a mild kind of mental disease. This is why advocates of fantasy tend to be a little defensive and make arguments about the benefits of fantasy. In the readings for this lesson you'll take a look at four different justifications for fantasy literature put forth by Auden, Britton, Pierce, and Hunt.

Lesson Objectives

In this lesson you will:

• Consider the act of creating an imaginary world as a vital human activity.
• Learn a brief history of fantasy literature.
• Learn some of the conventional criticisms of fantasy and the rebuttals of these criticisms.

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Introduction to Fantasy Literature

Fantasy literature consists of a wide range of material. As mentioned in the syllabus, any story with a fantastic element, however small or insignificant, qualifies as a fantasy. Many of the enduring classics of literature for young people are fantasies: Winnie the Pooh, The Wind in the Willows, and Alice in Wonderland. And, some of the most popular children's books of all time are also fantasies: the Harry Potter series, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, A Wrinkle in Time, and Charlotte's Web. We also see cycles of fantasy writing come and go. Since the mid-nineties there has been a proliferation of new fantasy writing, led largely, though not entirely, by J.K. Rowlings' Harry Potter books.

Enjoying fantasy is about believing, and sometimes this can be complex. For instance, Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt's brilliant story of eternal life and the desirability of death, actually reveals to the reader no fantastic elements: there are no elves, wizards, or dragons. The fantasy exists only because the reader believes the Tuck family's claims to having drunk from the fountain of youth. Babbitt doesn't show the Tucks' defying death in any way until the very end of the story when we see the unaged Tucks some eighty years after the events of the novel occur standing over Winnie Foster's grave. (Winnie, the main character, is about 10 years old when she meets the Tucks and hears their claims to be immortal.) Until that point the only proof Winnie Foster and the reader have of the Tucks' claims to immortality is the words of the Tuck family.

And there you have it, a paradox. Though fantasy literature by definition contains an element of the impossible, for it to be good fantasy literature, we, the readers, must believe it. We must believe that the Tucks are immortal, that hobbits live in well-kept holes, and that ordinary boys just might be powerful wizards. Coleridge called this "the willing suspension of disbelief," and it is absolutely necessary for the enjoyment of fantasy.

At this point, you should go to the Lessons tab, select Fantancy Literature Overview folder, and select the presentation -Fantasy Literature for Children - Overview (or its printer-friendly version). It presents different defintions of fantasy and lists the main categories of fantasy literature, highlighting key books corresponding with the categories, some of which we will read in this course. The categories, including literary fairy tales, toy fantasies, ghosts/horror/suspense, science fiction, reworked fairy tales, low fantasy, and high fantasy, will give you a better understanding of the framework of how this course is structured. The presentation also provides a number of evaluating questions for fantasy literature. The definitions and the questions will help you examine fantasy literature in depth through the course. Please note that it will only be available online during the week of this lesson, so please print the pages in order to keep a copy.

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Reading Highlights

The following may not cover all of the assigned readings for the lesson. Always be sure to check your syllabus schedule for reading specifics.

Readers tend to have strong feelings about fantasy literature and it seems to be a genre readers either dislike or are passionately devoted to. As discussed in the Lesson Overview, in the readings for this week, you will engage four different justifications for the importance of fantasy literature.

W.H. Auden | James Britton | Tamora Pierce | Peter Hunt

W. H. Auden

The first reading, W. H. Auden's "Afterword -- George MacDonald," refers to differences between the Primary World and the Secondary World of our imagination. Auden argues that we cannot help but create secondary worlds -- our human minds just work that way. Auden seems to be anticipating an argument the great psychologist Jerome Bruner would make several decades later in his book Actual Minds, Possible Worlds: that the major activity of human cognition is to make "worlds" -- real and imagined.

James Britton

Next is James Britton's essay,"The Role of Fantasy." Britton picks up on Auden's idea of world making. He discusses the role of language in world making and moves into a discussion of "play." This takes him to D.W. Winnicott's work on play and imagination. Winnicott postulates that cultural experience begins with play, and that there exists a "third area," separate from the outer real world and the inner world of the self. This "third area" is a space where humans can try out ideas in relative safety -- in other words, this is a space for dreaming and fantasizing.

Tamora Pierce

The next essay, "Fantasy: Why Kids Read It, Why Kids Need It," is written by Tamora Pierce, a prolific writer of fantasy. You'll notice how her essay builds upon the ideas of Britton and Winnicott, how she argues for the benefits of fantasy literature. In many ways, she makes Britton's ideas more concrete and specific to fantasy literature.

Peter Hunt

Finally, you'll read Peter Hunt's "Introduction" chapter in the Hunt and Lenz, Alternative Worlds in Fantasy Fiction. Hunt's chapter rambles a bit, but he will take you through many of the criticisms leveled at fantasy literature and then will counter them. He'll attempt to define fantasy, or at least discuss what tends to be characteristic of fantasy. You'll see ideas from the other three essays popping up here and there. Hunt will also take you on a brief tour of the history of fantasy literature for children. You might find Hunt a little frustrating because he discusses many, many different books as though you already know them. He does also sprinkle in some technical terminology such as "bildungsroman" and "metafictive."

Taken together, these readings argue that pretending and making up imaginary worlds are vital to human mental health. Fantasizing through the reading of fantasy literature can therefore provide nourishment for our mental and spiritual health.

Remember that the image will indicate throughout the course the readings that deal with the overall importance of this type of reading in the lives of children.

[an error occurred while processing this directive] Activities & Assignments

Threaded Discussion: Participate in the Lesson 2 Fantasy Literature for Children discussion. To access the discussion forum, go to the Threaded Discussions folder under the Lesson tab, and choose the Lesson 2 Fantasy Literature for Children discussion forum .

• Revisit the book of fantasy you discussed in lesson 1.
• Discuss how the authors for this week would "defend" it. Also, place it in the history of fantasy literature laid out by Hunt.
• Remember for the threaded discussions throughout the semester, you should post at least twice a week, responding both to the readings and to the ideas posted by your classmates.