Children’s Literature Definition of Terms

children’s literature as well as the power relation between adults and children which have led into silencing in creating stories for children so that the single definition about how children is so long understood in society is possible to question and to criticize. Especially in Indonesia, this research is expected to be beneficial as children’s literature is mostly silenced from themes like brute sides of life, sexuality, and unexpected behaviors in childhood and their literature. While practically, this study is aimed at sharing knowledge to children’s literature critics, writers, educators, and parents including local and general about the benefits of being aware of silencing in the production or understanding children’s literary works. This, then, enables the presence of more honest authors and caring adults who put children, their life, and their problems as the subject in their own literature so that pleasurable stories can be achieved to encourage wider number of young readers and the practically useful stories can be used to help children learn about their real life through literature. CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW

1. Review of Related Studies

As one of prominent authors, Judy Blume has her works been studied and analysed in many ways. There are plenty of admirations come to appraise her works despite the complaints. Yet, an interesting constructive critic by Nodelman shows the cultural arrogance in Blume’s Superfudge in a journal article entitled Cultural Arrogance and Realism in Judy Blume’s Superfudge 29 . Young readers and students respond to this book that they are reading a realistic novel. Surprised by this fact, Nodelman explains the objection to label Blume’s novel as a realistic one when he found several oddities which lead the book to be more fantasy instead of realistic. At first, he argues that the North American soul depicted in Superfudge displays some cultural arrogance and blindness because the novel makes the behaviour and the environment typically North American and thus less realistic due to the inevitable stereotyping: the large houses surrounded by lawns with the typical middle class family and circumstances. Also, in Nodelman’s observation the protagonist Peter is a typical child who does typical things without random experiences. He Peter does exactly what eleven-years-olds are supposed to do: claiming to dislike yet love his younger brother, finding modern art to be an example of the ridiculous adults’ pretension, believing his own parents are insufferably stupid, 29 Perry Nodelman, “Cultural Arrogance and Realism in Judy’s Blume’s Superfudge.” Children’s Literature in Education 19.4 1988: 230 –241.