University of Hannover

Magisterarbeit

The Aspect of Children′s Literature 
in Selected Fantasy Works With Respect 
to the Reading Habit of Today′s Children -
A Discussion of the Role of Fantasy Literature 
in the Juvenile Reading Habit of the Beginning 21st Century
With Examples of Representative Pieces of Children′s Fantasy

by

Kaya Hellgardt

18.07.2003

Table of Contents

1. Introduction ... 3

2. Children, Books and Reading Today - Literary, Psychological, and Sociological Aspects ... 7
2.1 Children′s Literature ... 7
2.1.1 Defining Children′s Literature ... 7
2.1.2 A Synopsis of the History of Children′s Literature ... 9
2.1.3 Genres of Children′s Literature ... 11
2.1.4 Research in Children′s Literature ... 14
2.2 Child Development Theories ... 17
2.2.1 Maslow′s Theory of Human Needs ... 18
2.2.2 Erikson′s Theory of Psychosocial Development ... 20
2.2.3 Piaget′s Theory of Developmental Levels ... 21
2.2.4 Kohlberg′s Theory of Moral Development ... 23
2.3 Children′s Reading Needs and Reading Interests ... 24
2.3.1 Reading Interests and Reading Preferences ... 26
2.3.2 Reading Needs and Psychological Background ... 29
2.4 Children and Reading Today ... 36

3. Fantasy ... 40
3.1 Defining Fantasy and Fantastic Literature ... 40
3.2 Fantastic Matters ... 44
3.2.1 Fantastic Journeys ... 45
3.2.2 Good versus Evil ... 45
3.2.3 Other Worlds ... 46
3.2.4 Time Switching ... 48
3.2.5 Visitors of the Unknown ... 48
3.2.6 Miniature Societies ... 49
3.3 The Function of Fantasy Literature, Aspects of Value ... 49

4. Motives for the Success of Fantasy in the Contemporary Juvenile Readership - Construction of a Possible Concept ... 55

5. An Analysis of Representative Pieces of Children′s Fantasy ... 59
5.1 J.R.R.Tolkien′s The Lord of The Rings ... 59
5.1.1 The Lord of the Rings - Contents 60
5.1.2 The Lord of the Rings - Analysis in View of the Work′s Popularity among Children 64
5.1.3 The Lord of the Rings - Concept Applied 71
5.2 J.K.Rowling′s Harry Potter Series 1-4 84
5.2.1 The Harry Potter Series - Contents 85
5.2.1.1 Harry Potter and the Philosopher′s Stone 85
5.2.1.2 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 87
5.2.1.3 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 88
5.2.1.4 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 90
5.2.2 The Harry Potter Series - Analysis in View of the Work′s Popularity among Children 92
5.2.3 The Harry Potter Series - Concept Applied 100

6. Conclusion 114

7. Appendix: Reader Responses to The Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter Series 118
7.1 The Lord of the Rings 118
7.2 The Harry Potter series 119

8. Bibliography 120
8.1 Primary Literature 120
8.2 Secondary Literature 120
8.3 Newspaper Articles 124
8.4 Internet Resources

1. Introduction
A discussion of children′s literature as a topic of a research paper suggests the treatment of something new, a matter rather unexplored, or at least not as exhausted as most as-pects of the quite popular area of children′s literature tend to be with respect to student′s papers in English literature. ′Something new′ would imply a book recently published, con-sidering that a new publication is not likely to be exhausted by studies. This would also call for a discussion of the readership, as time changes very fast today and people change with time, so that children living around the turn of the millennium may ′need′ and expect different things than children of the past. In fact, the present situation for children′s literature is a subject of particular concern, for technological development has influenced the matter of reading to a large extent and voices become audible that fear a decline of reading culture especially with reference to children and youths. This changed reading situation will be the starting point of my paper.
Yet, there are more possibilities to step out of the common framework of student pa-pers. In view of the current reading situation, particularly a person concerned with liter-ary studies will have an interest in books that are still popular among children - those published recently, for they reveal knowledge about how contemporary authors may meet contemporary children′s needs and expectations, and books from the past, too, since they provide information about universal validity. This interest, then, inevitably directs the eye to books like Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings, for their popularity among children is recognizable in the media, bookstores, the toy industry, schools and even on the street. However, the first similarity between the two books is that they both belong to the genre of fantasy. Moreover, in recent years there has been a wave of inter-est in fantasy observable in movies, computer games, children′s (and other) books that gives rise to the assumption of a specific weight or importance of the matter among con-temporary children. By designing a concept and thereby expanding the theoretical framework with a practical approach, I will try to find out whether the thesis of a signifi-cance of fantasy literature for young people can be upheld. I will seek reasons for the popularity of fantasy in children′s books and the possible ′therapeutic′ effect on the reader that would justify the apparent success of the fantasy trend. The application of the concept to the two works that I regard as having a strong influence on the fantasy trend will specify the topic in form of a book analysis and will hopefully give information about their success.
When dealing with the role of children′s literature today it seems reasonable to start from a discussion of children′s reading pattern against the background of the cultural, sociological and psychological conditions. We are living in an age of mass media, con-stantly differing modes and rapidly advancing modernizations that imply significant changes for children as well as adults. Today, children are granted a higher degree of equal treatment and autonomy due to the new perception of the child as it arose from developmental history and the change in family structures. Contemporary children are exposed to a wealth of leisure activities, especially designed for young people, including TV-programs, internet, computer games, periodicals, children′s sports etc.

Naturally, in the face of this enormous supply children’s reading habits have changed. According to studies of children’s leisure activities, only 43 percent of US-American fourth graders and 19 percent of eighth graders report that they read for fun on a daily basis¹. The British-American Tobacco research centre reports a change in German media habits stating that in 2001 43 percent of German youths between 14 and 29 years old prefer reading in their leisure time (compared to a percentage of 47 juvenile computer users), while only five years before, in 1996, 47 percent maintained a preference of reading, which meant a number twice as high as the number of computer users (23 percent)²; the share of television in the juvenile leisure time amounts to 93 percent³. A study, sponsored by the Kaiser Family Foundation and released in November 1999, reveals most children (age 2 to 18 years) are exposed to an average of 6.5 hours of daily media exposure, of which television is the most dominant⁴.

It is certain that today’s children, youth and society in general are increasingly confronted with all kinds of media. As is demonstrated by the studies above, in this context books come second to the diverse kinds of electronic media. Starting out from this condition, an analysis of the books children do read is particularly interesting. For there is still observable a strong tendency for young people to read, even though the supply of electronic media has influenced the matter of reading to a large extent.

One of the most striking factors that bear testimony to the fact that books still manage to attract young people, was the publishing of Joanne K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books (the first volume was published in 1997). The success of the first four volumes of the series (three are still to come) among children as well as adults was overwhelming. Within a short time there was a real ‘Pottermania’ involving the adoption of terms such as ‘Muggle’ or ‘Quidditch’ into popular culture, bookstore parties for the hundreds of disguised children besieging the stores on the release day (according to the publisher’s advice in Great Britain the books were sold only after schools were closed for the day to prevent truancy), just as the books’ domination of bestseller lists for weeks and their honouring with a variety of awards.

Although it is essential to realize that the extensive commercialisation played a major part in the books’ success, it should not be forgotten that children and youths only read books they like to read. They do not wait for hours in front of a bookstore to simply have the book; they make the intellectual effort (that most television programs, for example, do not demand from children) and read the book.

[...]

1 National Centre for Education Statistics (2001b). NAEP 2000 Reading Report Card. Office of Educational Research and Improvement. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. Source: Reading Is Fundamental. www.rif.org/news/literacyfacts.htm

2 Cf. www.edu-cyberpg.com/Literacy/stats.asp

3 Evaluation among youths between 14 and 29 years old. Cf. egora.uni-muenster.de/FmG/freiz_s0002.shtml-55k

4 Cf. Ron Kaufman. The Impact of Television & Video Entertainment on Student Achievement in Reading and
Writing. www.turnoffyourtv.com/readingwriting.html