Children's literature

stories, books, magazines, and poems that are primarily written for children

Children's literature refers to books written for children and young people. Many famous authors wrote for children including Hans Christian Andersen, Beatrix Potter, Dr. Seuss, A.A. Milne, J. M. Barrie, Edith Nesbit, Enid Blyton, Lewis Carroll, Astrid Lindgren, JRR Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. The Newbery Medal is an award given to writers for children.

A mother reads to her children, drawn by Jessie Willcox Smith in a cover illustration of a volume of fairy tales written in the mid to late 19th century.

Classification

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Children's literature can be divided into several categories, but it is most easily categorised by genre or the intended age of the reader. An example of a classification based on age is young-adult fiction, which is written for children between the ages of 12 and 18.

A literary genre is the style of the book. It also refers to the technique, tone, content, or length.

Many children's books are meant to teach children the consequences of engaging in "bad" behaviour, such as running away, stealing and lying. Tom Sawyer and Toby Tyler are two notable examples of the genre.

Britsh Awards

There are a few children's literature awards in Britain. These include, Waterstones Award and the Caldecott Award.