An Examination of Three Children's Books

This study will examine three children's books to determine how children are represented. The three books are Linda Crew's Children of the River, Michael Ende's The Neverending Story, and Virginia Hamilton's The People Could Fly. The most realistic representation of children is found in Crew's book on a Cambodian girl's experiences in the United States. The other two books are fanciful adventures, although there are important differences between them, especially in terms of the purposes of the two books.

The study will argue that the various representations of children in the three books create a comprehensive set of possibilities for young readers seeking entertainment, role models, and inspiration for perspectives on life. In other words, the books should not be seen as competitive with one another for designation as "best" or "most realistic" or "most imaginative." To the contrary, they complement one another with their various representations of children.

Ende's story is the most purely fanciful. Hamilton's collection of stories are certainly marked by flights of imagination, but authentic "American black" experiences inspired them. These specific experiences give Hamilton's folktales a foothold in reality that is missing from Ende's romantic adventure.

Ende's story deals with the development of the heroism in the boy Bastian Balthazar Bux, fulfilling every child's fantasy of being powerful in a world where adults usually have all the power. The children in Hamilton'

Related Essays

Influence of Parental Rearing on Children's Play .... a conceptual foundation for this examination, the presented .... enrolled full-time in a three-hour daily .... of sociodramatic play on disadvantaged preschool children. .... (4984 20 )

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ANGELS .... and this spoke highly of who she was and that so did the fact that her children loved bible .... This was followed by an examination of three different kinds of .... (2662 11 )

Alcohol: Effects on the Neonate and Children .... FAS) was established by a thorough pediatric examination that assessed .... Temperament and behavior problems in three-to-five .... Infants and Young Children, 6(3), 10-25 .... (7970 32 )

Influence of Cartoons on Children .... At this point an examination of child development .... cartoon programming covers the ages three through eight .... Window: Effects of Television on Children and Youth. .... (2241 9 )

Developmental Assessment .... SSS" (FDE, 2004, p. 4). A closer examination of her .... occurred with the diagnosis of Bob Jr.'s condition has .... Andrea has to look after the three children, Bob is .... (4419 18 )

Intelligence .... to understand intelligence in terms of three subtheories: a .... of test-takers with one standard examination of problem .... will only benefit all children, in allowing .... (2332 9 )

She has just been informed that her sister is alive in Thailand and her hope is that she can bring her to the United States. This hope is perhaps what allows her to open to the affection of Jonathan. Still, it is not a fantasy-based love, but rather a realistic acceptance of a greater hope for the future. As she tells Jonathan: I learn . . . that if you love somebody. . . . If you love somebody, you just better let them know while you still can. . . . Five year ago, . . . I never dream that someday I stand on the bank of a river so far from the Mekong, holding the hand of an American boy. So who can ever tell about the future? (Crew 213). The progress of Sundara may be inevitable, but it is presented by Crew in such a gradual, realistic and believable way that the reader does not feel manipulated, as he or she might feel in reading the fantastic adventures of Ende's heroic Bastian Balthazar Bux. Whereas Crew depicted Sundara as a realistic character---with realistic shortcomings and realistic strengths---who makes her way through a world of realistic problems, Ende shows Bastian to be a boy who has the whole world against him, in effect, and who is able to overcome all obstacles before him and emerge as a hero. To apprecia

Category: Literature - A