In their writing careers, both Roald Dahl and Astrid Lindgren devoted themselves to producing quality children's literature that specifically addressed the concerns and interests of adolescence. Indeed, in crafting stories with these issues in mind, Dahl and Lindgren write for a particular readership, namely that of children. Certainly this type of writing has particular advantages, as the writers are able to tailor their works to a child audience instead of struggling to produce books that somehow manage to appeal to a dual readership of children and adults. There is clear evidence of the advantages of writing for a single readership in Dahl's The Witches and Lindgren's Pippi Longstocking, as both writers shape their stories in order to engage exclusively with a child readership. As a result, both The Witches and Pippi Longstocking take on a fantastic yet simple charm that would seem impossible to create when writing a book that aims for a dual readership.
Clearly, the mindset of young readers is quite different from that of an adult audience. In writing for children, Dahl and Lindgren have the advantage of speaking to a group that still possesses a sense of innocence and wonder. Adult readers tend to be more cynical and weary, scrutinizing texts with a certain amount of skepticism (Egoff 45). Indeed, Dahl and Lindgren are able to exploit the fact that children maintain a more simplified view of the world around them. They perceive their environment in black-and-white terms, rather than the shades of gray that adults might. Perhaps this is best exemplified by children's belief in the struggle between good and evil, and their strong conviction that good will inevitably triumph in the end (Goldwaithe 24). Stories aimed at a child readership are thus able to take on almost mythic proportions without the writer needing to do a great deal of work convincing his audience of the reality of the situation (Norton 15).
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