source of authority. Yet, the child-centered one does the vice versa. As a result, children can be placed in lower or higher position depending on
writers’ ideology. In addition, Jacqueline Rose in Nodelman, 1992:
29 says that “children’s literature is a form of
colonization”. It means that children’s literature may “colonize” children through the way the writers adults describe the children
and childhood wrongly. Those problems reveal the way adults practice the colonization for the children. They control and seemingly educate children by
using literature and their ideology which are inherent in the text. Therefore, children may be put in lower position. The researcher disagrees if children are
placed in the lower position because children’s literature is intended for
children and places them as the central of the story. Thus , children’s literature
should put children in higher position.
3. Fantasy as a Genre
Children’s literature offers variation. Yet, people think that children’s literature as similar one to another or uniform. Thus, they classify
children’s literature into one genre called fairy tale. Yet, it is not true. According to
Lukens 1999: 13, “like adults’ literature, children’s literature offers variety”.
This statement shows that children’s literature is available in variety. Thus, children’s literature is not uniform. People can find the difference among
children’s literary works but those works can share the characteristic one to
another. It happens because of no clear cut. Thus, it is very possible that there is no absolute fantastic or realistic story.
Lukens 1999: 14 mentions some genres of children’s literature such as
realism, fantasy, traditional tales, rhyme to poetry, nonfiction, etc. From those genres, fantasy is chosen because it is the most interesting one. She 1999: 20
adds that some works of children’s literature can be identified as fantasy when
readers can find the requirement to suspense their disbelief. It happens because of the existence of real people in the fantastic world or fantastic
creatures in the real world. Grenby 2008: 144 supports Lukens by stating that
children’s fantasy writing “includes stories of magic, ghosts, talking animals and superhuman heroes, of time travel, hallucination and dreams.”
The researcher believes that the incredible, the unreal, the supernatural and the impossible become the contents of this genre. However, fantasy is still
grounded in reality. It happens as no fantasy stories are pure fantasy, they are combined with realistic elements.
Fantasy has some special functions. Those special functions of fantasy are, according to Smith 1991: 265:
like that of fairytales, to express imaginative experiences and insights of human condition by images or ideas or possibilities which remain
essentially true to what we know about life and good and evil; observations about human condition without preaching.
The researcher concludes that f antasy in children’s literature can provide a
form to experience and the imagination to enjoy for children. It gives children chance to understand the world better. Thus, c
hildren’s literature through fantasy may able to give children “tools” to enter the world better.
Grenby 2008: 160 believes that the fantasy writing can be “the antithesis
of the didactic tradition in children’s literature”. It shows the way those who are subordinate in their home worlds become those who bear the fate of the
world resting in their shoulders once they enter the fantasy worlds. It can be seen through two examples namely
Bilbo Baggins’s
Hobbit
and Lucy Pevensie
’s
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
. Fantasy does not dictate children but it gives children spaces to explore their lives and world better. In
addition, the „real’ portrayal of children and childhood which ought to be the main focus of children’s literature becomes the center of the fantasy stories.
He 2008: 166 also states that the fantasy introduces children as the readers with empowerment because in this genre contains “the new world where
nobody knows the rule, children are not placed to a competitive disadvantage, and consequently feel the equal of adults in a way that they do not do in their
real lives”. Those qualities of the fantasy genre become the reasons why researcher focuses on the fantasy rather than other genres.
B. Child Empowerment
The word of “empowerment” has been popular in recent years. It happens as according to Rappaport in Lord and Hutchinson, 1993: 2 empowerment
leads people to be aware. Thus, empowerment is used to certain issues related to equality and equity. It can also be intended to solve some problems in
reality, including what happens to children. Child empowerments need to be done to make children aware with their capability, equity and position. It is in
