life and it can happen to anyone including their family members. Moreover, as stated by Hunt 1991: 51 from literature people get certain emotions or responses.
Children will learn about certain emotions such as sadness, happiness, and the darkness of life as well as the process on how to deal with these emotions. The
support that adults give in reading children’s literature through guidance will help children shape their point of view about problems and phases of life.
In conclusion, children need literature that specially made for them not literature that can be read by them, because not all literature that can be read by
children are suitable for them. Children’s literature is the literature that can be read, enjoyed and liked by children because not only the story but the language,
setting, character even plot are intentionally made based on the children’s ability and understanding. Even parents should not prevent children to read their
literature because it can limit their exploration towards new things that will be important for their future. Children will be able to get many benefits from reading
children’s literature such as they will develop their reading as well as analyzing it by their own and it can improve their critical thought as well as widen their
expe rience. Therefore, children’s literature is very important not only for children
but also for adults.
1. Children in Children’s Literature
Children’s literature consists of two inseparable terms; children and literature. To understand better about children
’s literature, it is important to understand first about the nature of children. The position of children in literature
can be divided into two roles, children as the reader and children as the character. Both of the roles are different in presenting how children are but it should be
understood in order to give more understanding for children and adults. Children as the character in children’s literature should depict what
children really are in the real life. To show the character of children in real life, the author can use different representation. According to Lukens 1999: 80, the
representations of children as the character in children’s literature are not always in the form of human being but it can be animals or other kinds of objects.
Character pl ays an important role in children’s literature, the more important a
character, the more complex the personality will be. A complex character tends to show several changes through development. The author makes the character
developed to show that there are changes in the character at the beginning and at the end of the story. Lukens 1999: 83 explains, people will understand that they
change if they recognize the change before and after in other people. Therefore, the development of the characters in child
ren’s literature will help children to understand the complexity of character in real people by depicting the character
that shows changing and development before and after the character through certain experiences.
Character’s development shows the traits of children character that mostly are round character. According to Lukens 1999: 86, round character is the
character that has different traits, which make the character more realistic. The nature of children are always round character where they are not always do
something good, sometimes they do something bad. For example, a young boy
becomes a good boy when he shares his toy and play together with his friend. However, he can do something bad by hitting his friend with his toys when he
feels that his friend possesses his toys. The portrayal of children character in literature is very important to depict what children really are in their childhood to
make children enjoy and understand the story more. It will also help adults to understand the nature of children traits. Moreover, it helps children as the readers
to develop and understand their characters. Besides becoming the character in children’s books, children play the role
as the readers. Darton in Hintz and Tribunella, 2013: 51 argues that child ren’s
books is printed works which provide “spontaneous pleasure and not primary teach” or preach the children. From this statement, it is understood that children’s
literature is provided for children and children become the primary readers for this literary genre where they can seek pleasure and enjoyment from reading their
literature. Children as the readers of children’s literature will get different values and experiences that they cannot get in real life.
Rose in Hunt, 2002: 48 gives comment: “by a combination of textual devices, characterisation and assumptions of
value position, children’s books construct children, both as characters and as readers, as without sexuality, innocent, and denied politics, either
a politics between themselves or within wider society. As such they are
seen as beings with a privileged perception, untainted by culture.” Based on the above quotation, it is clear that children’s literature makes children
as free readers who are not bounded from weakens perception created by adults. Children will be free to explore the ideas and thought related to their roles as
readers. Children are able to express themselves as the readers without any cultural hostilities that embedded in the culture where they live.
The author of chi ldren’s literature invites child readers to positioning
themselves to view the character based on their own thought. Nodelman 2008: 18 states children way to read children’s literature clearly works in the minds of
many writers of fictional texts intended for children. Many of which not only have child protagonists but also focalize the action through those child protagonists and
ask readers to think of themselves in terms of what happens to the child protagonists. He suspects that focalization through a central child character is
another quality that marks a text as one intended for child readers. It means that the author intentionally creates and focalizes the character to invite children to
explore their ideas and opinion. Children readers will be triggered to read children’s literature and exploring the ideas without being intimidated by morals
and values that adults force to give to children.
2. Children’s Empowerment
