Unconventional Children‟s Literature

48 This is also affirmed by Nodelman 1992: 32 saying that people, it means adults, parents, and children‟s literature writers, need to “provide young readers with a „realistic‟ description of people and events that insist on the reality of one particular way of looking at the world and themselves…” Stories such as having family member who suffers from mental disorder or autism, having father in prison, being wedded in very early age, etc are sensitive topics yet they need-to-be-recognized by children as they are part of this changed era. Adults, including parents, need to refresh their understanding about children nowadays who are different from children from past generations. Unconventional children‟s literature is someway better than the conventional one as it, firstly, opens children‟s mind that there are such complicated problems in the world. As explained before, besides providing pleasure, children‟s literature must provide as well understanding and becoming the “window” for children. By reading children‟s stories about realistic and sensitive topics which are close to their everyday life, besides fairy tales and fantasy, books can be the aids for them to encourage and motivate them in reading and learning about the world Bothelo and Rudman, 2009: 1. Through literature, children can recognize the world‟s situation. They can see issues of war, poverty, and disease from the TV or the internet, but literature gives them encouragement to read and know more about the world. 49 Secondly, unconventional children‟s books provide more critical and challenging form. There is no longer simple plot where the ending must be always “happily ever after”. Nodelman 2008: 9 agrees that “The simpler it is, then the more obviously will it say less than it hints at, demand an implied reader who knows more-and therefore, the more likely it will be that children readers who can make sense of it will understand more than it actually said.” It means the more complex the form of literature, the more challenging it will be for children to “read between the lines”. They are encouraged to find the meaning more than what has been written. If children can do it, they will get more understanding than what is written in the text only. Children need to understand as well that sometimes, ending with sadness, leaving, or even death can be happ ening in anyone‟s life. It does not mean that these stories are told in gloomy and pessimistic atmosphere; even most of them are written in playful, attractive, fun, and optimistic way. For example, Jacqueline Wilson‟s The Illustrated Mum is told in playf ul, funny, and optimistic way though the story is about two girls‟ complex life with their bipolar mother. Another example is Judy Blume‟s Are You There God It’s Me Margaret which tells about teenager‟s sexual growth in a very funny and playful way. The other is Jacqueline Woodson‟s picture book entitled Visiting Day that depicts a young girl‟s excitement to see her father in prison on the visiting day. The atmosphere is exciting as it is created by both good style of writing from Woodson and the warm, nice illustration from the illustrator Lukens, 2013: 27. 50 The explanation proves that “Mature theme can be explored in children‟s literature; they contribute to understanding when they meet the requirement of excellence” Lukens, 1999: 149, including writers‟ way of presenting the stories. By reading those kinds of stories, children understand not only general or universal theme and problem, just like in conventional children‟s literature, but also more specific theme and problem which are experienced by each different individual in the story. Thirdly, unconventional children‟s stories present children inside them. Mankiw and Strasser 2013, 85 believe children will find and recognize “themselves”, their behavior, and their experience in daily life while reading. It happens as the stories are told from the first point of view of children that makes them feel valuable and worthy. As Lukens 1999: 176 says that in the first point of view, “…the reader lives, acts, feels, and thinks the conflict as the protagoni st experiences and tells it…”, it makes the first point of view that is mostly used in unconventional children stories become useful for the readers. Besides, the reliability of the story, including the plot, conflict, and resolution, is trustworthy. It presents detail problems faced by most children nowadays, not the general ones. Problems such as being alienated, bullying, living with step mother, having lost pet, or even taking care of mental disorder brother, for instance, are problems which are experienced and close to them now. It is no longer that adults, such as parents, teachers, or aunts, who solve the problems. Even, it is not magic or a fairy godmother that helps them to 51 find a solution for their conflict. For example, the classic children‟s novel, Mark Twain‟s The Adventure of Tom Sawyer shows that the protagonist, Tom Sawyer, with his bravery, witnesses in the court for a murder case to end the society‟s worry after a long battle with himself Lukens, 1999: 106. The conflicts in unconventional children‟s stories are no longer always person-against-person, like most conventional ones. They have more complicated conflict such as person-against-self, person-against-society, even person-against-nature. Adults should not worry that children will not be capable of understanding that kind of rather complicated conflict. Huck, Kiefer, Hepler, and Hickman in Gapalakrishan, 2011: 4 argue “children have become more sophisticated and knowledgeable about certain life experiences than children of any previo us generations.” Because of technology development, adults cannot deny the fact that children nowadays are more knowledgeable and capable of absorbing certain complicated conflicts. Fourthly, unconventional children‟s literature provides what is called as multiculturalism. Multicultural children‟s stories now become one concern since people, including children, live in diversity. Jacqueline Rose in Hunt, 1999: 17 believes “„children‟ are divided by class, race, ethnic origins, gender, and soon.” It is why multicultural children‟s stories which concern on histories which are different or multiple among people, such as 52 diversity, dynamism, and cultural experience‟s fluidity are important to children. Since multicultural children‟s stories deal with representation of under repressed groups: the marginal ethnic, gender, class, they will introduce children to those groups. In addition, if the children who read those stories come from those underrepressed and marginalized groups, they will find and recog nize “themselves” as the ones who are worthy to discuss. Those stories will teach them without preaching about, for instance, gender role, sexual orientation, anti-racism, language differences, etc Gapalakrishan, 2011: 5. Afterward, children will not, in their everyday life, see those differences as bizarre things. The last is that unconventional children‟s literature provides empowerment for children. According to Seelinger in Lassen-Seger, 2006: 3, a practitioner in children‟s literature as well as feminist, empowerment refers to “agency, subjectivity, positive forms of autonomy, self expression, and self awareness.” If children are provided with good stories presenting strong child characters, they will learn how to be strong, aware, autonomous, and brave. They will find awareness that they, at their age, can defend themselves in a smart way and find some ways to express their feelings. Critical thinking can be possessed as unconventional children‟s literature offers open ending. It means to say that children as reader can have their own perspectives in responding to various stories. 53

3. Conventional Images of Children

Conventional is related to arbitrary. It is also common or universal. Based on Cambridge Electronic Dictionary, conventional means tradi tional and ordinary. Image is “a picture in your mind or an idea of how someone or something is.” Thus, conventional images are images that are traditionally, socially and universally constructed. Soon after, the conventional images are unconsciously agreed by society. Relating conventional images of children, the images are also known as social construction of children by Western philosophy. It is the social representation of children which is seen through adults‟ lens. Silvia 2014: 54 believes that “Traditionally in the West, the concept of childhood is associated with the inability to speak.” It clarifies that children are seen as innocent, powerless, not being able to express themselves, powerless, marginal, unknowledgeable and inferior. “By marginalizing the child as powerless, adults define themselves as powerful, and children‟s literature in his view becomes a means of dominating children, and of imposing on them adults assumption ab out what “a child” is or “ought to be” Lassen-Seger, 2006: 13.” It is done by adults by dominating and controlling children in order to construct them as “true” or “proper” children. Here, children‟s images in society are rather constructed by Western philosophy in order to create idealized child paradigm. Nevertheless, it is argued that adults, including parents, hide behind the mask of “protecting” them. The fact is that adults try to control them. Nodelman in Lassen-Seger, 2006: 12 supports this 54 argument by saying that the way adults control and dominate children as problem. He, therefore, sees this as, what he calls, “Orientalism in Children‟s Literature”. He makes a metaphor for that case as a form of colonialization. The orient is colonized one, and it is children. Nodelman gives this metaphor for children that are colonized by adults in some inherent characteristics of children. They are inherent inferiority, inherent femaleness, inherent distortion, inherent adult-centered, inherent silence, inherent danger, power, domination, etc Nodelman, 1992: 29-35. Here, Nodelman emphasizes that children in many stories, especially in conventional ones which are still enjoyed everywhere in the world, are depicted as incapable, weak, innocent, inferior, and dependent. The stories are made with too much adults ‟ interference in solving the problem to make children as readers absorb the ideology that they cannot be independent in their age. The social construction about children also shows how innocent they are about sensitive issues which are considered very important nowadays. The Social construction about very obedient children even to the wicked step mother, powerless princess who can be saved only by prince, or determination of fate without doing their own effort are „constructed‟ to build unconscious belief. Children‟s literature was related to something good, nice, and fun topics where sensitive issues were not appropriate for them. Adults produce stories for children with “safe” topics and children who know about those concerns sensitive and mature issues are considered abnormal Nodelman, 1992 55 Hollindale 1988: 4 agrees as well that there are child people and book people. While child people are those concerning about children and their importance, book people are people who produce children‟s stories to please themselves. It is for dominating children from knowing what is really going on nowadays in th eir life. It is only for adults‟ benefits to make them dependent and unknowledgeable. The plot, characters, and point of view, are made to be too simple. Nodelman 2008: 9 believes that simpler plot or simpler form of literature only avoids children from thinking critically, arguing their ideas, and freeing their mind to get more advanced knowledge. In the future, they can give up on reading complicated stories as they get used to be provided only with simple and easy reading including stories. Nevertheless, Huck, Hepler, and Hickman in Gapalakrishan, 2011: 4 argue that children nowadays are more knowledgeable and sophisticated about some particular experiences about life compared to children in the past. Children cannot be free totally from adults‟ interference, but adults need to understand that they grow up and need to be empowered, not controlled. Those conventional images of children as a result will be penetrated in children‟s mind unconsciously since “they have an impact on the reader‟s expectation for the text” Botelho and Rudman, 2009: 5. It means that the texts with conventional images of children will strongly influence on the way children think and behave in their everyday life. If that socially constructed images of children stay exist, both in literature and in daily