Editing Children's literature (section)

==Definition==
There is no single or widely used definition of children's literature.<ref name="int.comp.ency" />{{rp|15–17}} It can be broadly defined as the body of written works and accompanying illustrations produced in order to entertain or instruct young people. The genre encompasses a wide range of works, including acknowledged classics of [[world literature]], [[picture books]] and easy-to-read stories written exclusively for children, and [[fairy tales]], [[lullabies]], [[fables]], [[folk song]]s, and other primarily orally transmitted materials or more specifically defined as [[fiction]], [[non-fiction]], [[poetry]], or [[drama]] intended for and used by children and young people.<ref>{{cite web |last=Library of Congress |title=Children's Literature |url=https://www.loc.gov/acq/devpol/chi.pdf |work=Library of Congress Collections Policy Statement |publisher=Library of Congress |access-date=1 June 2013 |archive-date=17 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170217063505/http://www.loc.gov/acq/devpol/chi.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=20thc>{{cite book |last=Chevalier |first=Tracy |title=Twentieth-Century Children's Writers |year=1989 |publisher=[[St. James Press]] |location=[[Chicago]] |isbn= 978-0-912289-95-3}}</ref>{{rp|xvii}} One writer on children's literature defines it as "all books written for children, excluding works such as [[comic book]]s, joke books, [[cartoon book]]s, and non-fiction works that are not intended to be read from front to back, such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other reference materials".<ref>{{harvnb|Anderson|2006|p=2}}</ref> However, others would argue that [[children's comics]] should also be included: "Children's Literature studies has traditionally treated comics fitfully and superficially despite the importance of comics as a global phenomenon associated with children".<ref>Hatfield, C. "Abstract":, "Comic Art, Children's Literature, and the New Comic Studies." ''The Lion and the Unicorn'', vol. 30 no. 3, 2006, pp. 360–382. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/uni.2006.0031 [https://muse.jhu.edu/article/202582/pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215123227/https://muse.jhu.edu/article/202582/pdf|date=2018-12-15}}</ref>

The ''International Companion Encyclopedia of Children's Literature'' notes that "the boundaries of genre... are not fixed but blurred".<ref name="int.comp.ency">{{cite book |editor-last=Hunt |editor-first=Peter |title=International Companion Encyclopedia Of Children's Literature |year=1996 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P74RiK3CRGkC&pg=PP4 |isbn= 978-0-203-16812-7}}</ref>{{rp|4}} Sometimes, no agreement can be reached about whether a given work is best categorized as literature for adults or children. Some works defy easy categorization. [[J. K. Rowling]]'s ''[[Harry Potter]]'' series was written and marketed for children, but it is also popular among adults. The series' extreme popularity led ''[[The New York Times]]'' to create a separate bestseller list for children's books.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Smith |first=Dinitia |title=The ''Times'' Plans a Children's Best-Seller List |journal=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 24, 2000 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/24/books/the-times-plans-a-children-s-best-seller-list.html |access-date=24 July 2012 |archive-date=21 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090621233421/http://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/24/books/the-times-plans-a-children-s-best-seller-list.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Despite the widespread association of children's literature with picture books, spoken narratives existed before [[printing]], and the root of many children's tales go back to ancient storytellers.<ref name=Arbuth>{{cite book |last=Arbuthnot |first=May Hill |title=Children and Books |year=1964 |publisher=[[Scott, Foresman Publishers|Scott, Foresman]] |location=United States}}</ref>{{rp|30}} [[Seth Lerer]], in the opening of ''Children's Literature: A Reader's History from Aesop to Harry Potter'', says, "This book presents a history of what children have heard and read.... The history I write of is a history of ''reception''."<ref name=lerer />{{rp|2}}